NIELS ANDELA

Niels is tech-savvy and finds everything innovative and new interesting. Having children inspired him to think more about the planet. He took a break from his career in marketing to begin a start-up to produce a bicycle from recycled plastic collected from the Ocean Cleanup. He conducted a feasibility study together with a spin-off from the Eindhoven University of Technology and a bioplastic developer. The final design turned out to be a big plastic ‘something’ to cycle on and unfortunately not the cool plastic bike he had in mind.

Sustainability and innovation go hand in hand, says Niels. He wants to commit himself to reach out to more sustainable companies at BEACON. It is no longer a choice between commercial and sustainable, it is one. There are great opportunities in product innovation to make a difference. He is convinced that companies that embed sustainability in their organization will soon emerge as the winner.

NIELS’ STRENGTHS

Niels is a good listener. He likes to interact with new people and companies and is genuinely interested in what is going on. He is absolutely not a pushy salesman and, according to acquaintances, has the likability factor. What drives people? What do companies want? He would like to understand that. Niels likes to talk to large and small parties about their product portfolio and quickly gets to the heart of the matter. He asks open and bold questions and quickly creates clarity about the innovation challenges that companies face. After that, the trick is to see whether there is a match between their innovation objective and the specific skills and experience that BEACON has to offer.

NIELS’ EXPERIENCE

Niels worked at various marketing agencies, from old school to hip & happening. He started in the sponsored media and then worked for a long time in the music and film business, dealing with LP covers and later CD and blue-ray covers. First as a marketer and later as a co-owner.

After his plastic bike adventure, he worked for a marketing automation agency, where he learned the ins and outs of digital marketing. His experience as a marketer, but also as an inventor and entrepreneur, makes Niels an interesting discussion partner for a wide range of parties.