From a bachelor’s degree in Human Geography to specialising with a master’s in international development studies, Alfons van Duijvenbode has known his direction in life from early on. Characterising himself as harmonious, ambitious and inspiring, he has been striving for purposeful work during his entire career. “We do what we do, because we want to contribute to a better life for many.” Who is Alfons as a person, what is his role in Globally Cool and what does the company mean to him?
“Mutual respect and mutual listening are the foundations of harmony.” – Gautama Buddha
Ambitious, curious, perfectionist, responsible, all adjectives most people would use when asked: “How would you describe yourself?” Well, not our Alfons. He labels himself as a harmonious person and the more you get to know him, the more you’ll understand why. “If I look at the world, I don’t see many good things arising from conflict. There are people that have adopted the conflict model: whenever there’s friction, there will be energy – and something good will come out of it. I’m not that kind of guy.”
Peace, respect and harmony
“I’m more inspired by Buddhism. In the sense; a peaceful world, respect for everything and everybody and living in harmony. I like that philosophy and I try to apply it in my personal life. Of course, I can get frustrated – people can get under my skin – but that’s especially when I feel people are not listening to reason or are applying unfair practices.”
Always looking for common ground
Being diplomatic and avoiding unnecessary conflict has helped Alfons build trustworthy bonds with his peers, protégés and clients for years and all over the world. “By and large I try to be harmonious, also at work. I always weigh my own opinions with those of others and try to look for common ground. Surely, I provide my opinion with supporting evidence or arguments – and I often think I am right (giggling) – but I don’t try to force things.”
Desire to create impact as a driving force
When choosing his professional orientation, Alfons had two choices to specialise: spatial planning or development studies. He chose the latter, where he’d learn about the ongoing issues of developing countries and how to contribute to their advancement. “There is so much more meaning in that! Going back to describing myself as ambitious – in my life I’d like to contribute in a meaningful way. I don’t want to waste my time on bureaucracy and paperwork. I want to create an impact!”
Globally Cool is a company with meaning
Alfons lives with a mission and throughout the years he learnt and built as he goes, inspiring people and generating a positive impact wherever in the world he found himself. In 2010, he joined forces with Joost van der Kooij and Onno Roukens. Together they laid the foundation of the business we now know and love as Globally Cool. “Globally Cool is a company with meaning. We do what we do because we want to inspire people and help professionals in (primarily) emerging countries to develop and grow. To improve economies and hence – to contribute to a better life for many.”
“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” – Coco Chanel
“Technically speaking, what makes us unique is that there are very few organisations like us, doing the kind of work that we do, for the clients we have. In the world of development corporations, projects are usually executed by individual professionals or by big contractors. Organisations like ours, with 15 to 20 professionals, are hardly found. Something else is the wide scope of services we provide. Over the last 25-30 years the mantra in companies has been: specialise, specialise, specialise! But that’s very unlike what we do. We don’t specialise, but approach projects from a rather holistic point of view. We try to help organisations from A to Z.”
