Meet our Minds

About our collective

Started as a consultancy for Good Business in 2009, Ronald Beuk (Initiator Generous Minds) concluded in 2011 that Generous Minds with a 'BV as a legal entity', was stuck in the old system that earned too much money in the short term and made too little lasting social impact in the long term. That is why he came up with the current concept of Generous Minds, designed as a global organization that challenges the 'old system' with loving intentions for lasting impact. With the goal that all organizations work with the core of their product or service towards a fairer and more sustainable world. From that moment on, a growing group of Minds joined who further developed the concept for a year. Finally, on May 3, 2013, the licensed concept of Generous Minds was founded as the Generous Minds Coöperatie UA, and evolved step by step into the 'steward owned' organization we are today.
As Generous Minds, we have a strong drive to leave the world a better place than we found it. When we started in 2013, we didn’t have all the research and information about the famous ‘tipping points’ and the inspiring view of the ‘donut economy’. But deep down, we just knew that the system we were part of was ruining the world, and that a radical system change was needed! We also knew that it would be a challenging, long and hard journey to a better future for everyone, and that it would probably take generations before we could bring the world back into balance. To succeed, we realised that we had to respectfully challenge the current system and bend the current rules for the better.
When we visualize a simplified Maslow pyramid, we imagine ourselves as the 'happy few' at the top of the pyramid with all the possibilities. These happy few consciously or unconsciously consume and produce for their own short-term pleasure and maximum profit. At the expense of the world's resources and the lives of the less fortunate who struggle to survive. When we mentally, physically and financially make the shift from short-term pleasure to long-term meaning, it brings prosperity for everyone. In this way we move from the old system that is ruining the world through greed, to a new system in which we bundle the power of impact-driven entrepreneurs, financiers and experts for a world in balance. Driven by a caring, nurturing energy of generosity. Creating a better world is easy because the system change is within all of us, it is only a 'generous mind shift' away!
As Generous Minds we see the company as a vehicle for lasting impact. While doing this, we constructively challenge the 'people, planet, profit' principle to a higher level. People, planet, profit with the intersection we call corporate social responsibility is all about focusing on 'minimizing the footprint', which is indeed a good start, but when we look at the current state of the world, we know that it is simply not good enough. That is why we challenge companies to focus on 'maximizing their goodprint' by directly contributing to society with the core of their product or service, while organizing themselves legally and financially for lasting impact and a healthy financial return. Where we strive for win-win situations for all involved, instead of shareholder maximization for the few at the expense of the many.
We work with impact-driven entrepreneurs who see their business as a means to create lasting impact, who believe in equality and who operate from a 'Win-Win' rather than a 'Win-Lose' perspective. For these companies, our Minds and network of investors are ready to help scale their business and impact during all subsequent growth phases. Together we analyze what is already going well and what can be improved with our integrated Covesment method. Our expertise is available through the 'fair pricing principle' that makes us financially accessible for every company at every stage. And our 'no value no pay principle' that ensures that no money and time are wasted. In summary, we as Minds only get paid when we add value to the Good Business. When value is added, social impact will emerge and growth capital is subsequently attracted to finance the next phase of life. In this way, we build long-term, impactful and financially healthy relationships together.
For every stage of a company’s lifecycle, Generous Minds can help grow their impact and financial return with our nurturing ecosystem of ‘Generous Minds’ and ‘Generous Money’. We support the company from a strong vision to a clear and relevant concept, to a working prototype that gets access to the market, and grows and scales to increase impact and business results. For this, we have designed an integrated methodology called ‘Covestment’, which we apply to every new lifecycle of the entrepreneur’s company; a 360-scan to identify where the company can be supported with expertise and/or funding to accelerate. In this way, we support Good Businesses that bring balance to the world, while creating a win-win-win situation for all stakeholders.
Since 2013 we have been set up as a steward-owned non-hierarchical organisation. All Minds are independent owners of the Generous Minds cooperative, earning fair priced income in the short term and building long-term ownership in our cooperative for every hour they contribute to a better world. Minds cannot extract shareholder value from our cooperative. 100% of Generous Minds' profits are reinvested in the businesses we support with our 'Tickets of Trust', as are all future investment returns. With our Tickets of Trust we safeguard the impact in the businesses we work with. Conceptually developed as a global organisation we are making our steps towards an international organisation, following the example of the Good Businesses who are scaling internationally, creating a copy of our nurturing minds and money ecosystem in every country. In addition, we welcome Good Businesses who come from abroad and want to scale their business through our local ecosystem. In this way we grow organically as Generous Minds into a global organisation with 1 legal entity from the Netherlands.
As Generous Minds, we care about the world and each other. Generous Minds will continue to exist until the world is back in balance and impact-driven entrepreneurship is the new normal. That is why we invite entrepreneurs, financiers and experts to join our Generous Minds cooperative worldwide, so that together we can grow Good Businesses for a better world faster. Whereby we transfer our built-up value in Generous Minds to the next generation, so that we can continue to reinvest in the world.
A life with meaning is worth living for – for us and for generations to come.

We are a diverse collective of experts who want to help entrepreneurs. We each have (or had) our own business and want to help others in their success. We share the same values from different backgrounds and specialisms. We go all-in for a better, fairer world for everyone.

Our Minds master various areas of expertise. From finance and (digital) marketing to innovation and branding. From making your products circular to building a community. And scaling your local business to new (international) markets.

All Minds are co-owners of our Generous Minds cooperative. In addition, we work with a number of special partners.

Facts we are proud of

40 Generous Minds experts

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250+ Impact-driven companies supported

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11 years of successful support for impact-driven companies

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45M Euro successfully financed to date

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200M Euro in current investable deal flow

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2015 One of the first B Corps in the Netherlands

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17 Countries active

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5 Continents Active

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400+ Financiers in our warm network

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3000+ Financiers & Investors in our general network

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We reserve 100% of our profits to invest in impact-driven companies

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0 Euro of accumulated shareholder value can be withdrawn from our cooperative

Aart van den Bos

I train, advise and coach entrepreneurs, impact investors, NGOs, governments in innovation in the agricultural sector, among others, by setting a good example (setting up their own companies).

International expert in innovative agriculture

Meet our Minds

Read more about what drives us and who we are here

About our collective

Facts we are proud of

Aart van den Bos

Anneke Wieling

Brian Kwakman

Denise Krul

Emiel van Sambeek

Emile Kouwenhoven

Fer Kitzen

Frank Härte

Geertje Spanjaard

Gert-Jan Maasdam

Huib Maaskant

Jacco de Haan

Jan Willem Elffers

Jean - Pierre Houtkoop

Jeroen Slappendel

Joep Trappenburg

Johannes Leerink

Joost Verheijen

Jop Blom

Jos van der Meulen

Jurek Hryniuk

Lotte Knechten

Maarten Witte

Mike Dijkstra

Njord Pattiasina

Pablo Groglopo

Paul Vanhauw

Peter de Vries

Petra Benes

Plamen Ivanov

Raoul Kuiper

Ronald Beuk

Ronald Lewerissa

Sabine Beuk

Twan Voss