
Annemarie van Gaal is an entrepreneur and investor. Her entrepreneurial career began in Russia, where she set up Russia's largest independent publishing house.
First and foremost, I am an entrepreneur at heart.
Annemarie van Gaal is an entrepreneur and investor. Her entrepreneurial career began in Russia in the 1990s, where she set up Russia’s largest independent publishing house. It was an exciting and adventurous time in a country that was in a permanent state of crisis. Every day she had to come up with unconventional solutions to the many challenges she faced.
In 2000 she sold her company and moved back to the Netherlands where she has since set up and led a number of other companies in the media, retail and real estate sectors, among others.
The best opportunities lie off the beaten track. By approaching the market differently, organizing your company differently or working with other revenue models, you can make a success of almost any company.
Annemarie is known to the general public for Dutch television programs such as Dragons Den, Een dubbeltje op zijn kant and Crisis in de Tent and she is much in demand as a table guest at talk shows. In addition, Annemarie writes a weekly opinion column in Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and columns for magazine Margriet and has written several books.
Annemarie van Gaal is a passionate speaker and knows how to captivate her audience like no other. She enjoys being on stage and sharing her knowledge and insights with others. A lecture by Annemarie is accessible, instructive, entertaining and inspiring. She talks passionately about all aspects of entrepreneurship in which guts and innovation always play a major role.
Jaco joined our extended Leadership session, organized to reflect on our Why and How in a context of an ongoing market transformation. He kindly shared with us his powerful story on how purpose and togetherness helped him to reach Mount Everest, the North Pole and other fascinating destinations.
His motivational speech reflected our company values of Joy, Care and Passion for Better and aimed to empower our team members to dream big and accomplish our goals, both individually and as a team. Jaco’s inspiring speech was a strong reminder that no obstacle should remain unchallenged and everyone can prove their passion and determination to accomplish even the most ambitious goals.
I appreciate Jaco’s proactive approach, openness and willingness to accommodate our specific needs in the process, which significantly contributed to the success of our event. I wish Jaco all the best for his next endeavors and together with UPC’s team we keep our fingers crossed for him to achieve his big dream to inspire 1 million people!
"We look back on a good meeting. Annemarie van Gaal's contribution was excellent: she is knowledgeable, asked the right questions, had an excellent role in the jury and put the pitchers at ease by the way she asked her questions. In short, highly recommended!"