The VU School of Business and Economics is holding an online open evening about its part-time programmes on Thursday 18 November 2021.

Do you want to take the next step in your career, be retrained or keep up to date with the developments in your field?

VU School of Business and Economics Executive Education offers part-time programmes in the field of finance, accounting & control, audit & compliance, coaching, management & leadership, business analytics & it.

Anyone who wants to know more can attend an online open evening on Thursday 18 November. Programme directors, lecturers and staff will be happy to answer your questions about all these part-time studies, such as International Executive MBAs, part-time Master’s and postgraduate programmes. They will do so via a LIVE Zoom session. Together with you, they look at how you can develop yourself further.

There are three different rounds.

Between 18.00 and 18.45 hours, the following courses will be discussed:

Accountancy (RA) & Part-time MSc Accounting & Control
Management & Supervision in the semi-public sector
Certified Public Controller (CPC)
Compliance & Integrity Management (CIM)
Part-time MSc Business Administration
Treasury Management & Corporate Finance (RT)

Between 19.00 and 19.45 hrs:

Action Research for Change
Certified Management Accountant (CMA) (English session)
Controller training (EMFC/RC)
Digital Innovation & Transformation
Executive Master of M&A and Valuation
Geographical Information Sciences (GIS)
RBA Programme (Formerly known as Investment Management)
IT Audit, Compliance & Advisory (ITACA)
MBA in International Business
Part-time MSc in Marketing
Public Leadership
Risk Management For Financial Institutions

The third round will take place between 20.00 and 20.45 hrs:

Action Research meets Design Research
Business Analytics & Data Science
Certified Management Accountant (CMA)(Dutch session)
Data-driven management in the public sector
Executive MBA Leading with Purpose
Masterclass Digital Auditing Essentials
Next Generation CFO: Chief Value Officer
Organisational Behaviour Management (OBM)
Fundamentals of Treasury Management

Here you can register for one of the three information sessions.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Tom van de Laar was born in Noort-Brabant, studied in Maastricht and started his career at Zuidas law firm CMS. The young lawyer loved sinking his teeth into difficult cases. Still, he decided to make a radical career change; he completed a master’s degree in Compliance & Integrity Management at VU Amsterdam and discovered where his passion lies.

When looking at Tom van de Laar’s impressive CV, you’d be inclined to think he is a middle-aged man with many decades of work experience. On the contrary: Tom is only 38 and the proud father of a one-year old girl. He and his partner live in Amsterdam – the most beautiful city on the planet, according to Tom.

“I grew up in the southern town of Helmond and studied law in Maastricht”, he says. “After graduating, CMS Netherlands offered me a job in criminal law. At the time, their office was in a building near the Amstel River so I moved to Amsterdam and found a small apartment on Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, just around the corner from Dam Square. And to be honest, from day one I took Amsterdam to my heart.”

Challenging cases

Tom stayed at CMS Netherlands for more than seven years and divided his time between their offices in Utrecht and Amsterdam. “I had a great time at CMS and loved sinking my teeth into difficult cases. Initially, in order to gain experience, I mainly worked on civil offence cases. Later on I specialized in financial and economic criminal law, focusing on occupational accidents, money laundering, investment fraud, environmental criminal law, and health & safety incidents. These were generally big, complex and challenging cases, exactly what I wanted.”

“I’ll give you an example of a case: let’s say an accident happened in a chemical plant. If it is a serious accident, it must be reported to the authorities and it will be investigated as a criminal case. You can offer the client legal advice but you could also try to convince the CEO, CFO and CRO to change the company’s policy and improve its safety standards in order to make it compliant. So compliance is all about processes and behaviour aimed at reducing risks. A kind of safety belt, as it were.”

Increasing demands

Although Tom loved working on criminal cases, he realized his heart lies with compliance. He wanted to find out how organizations could achieve their core objectives in a responsible manner. “They are facing ever-increasing demands. Moreover, organizations themselves are implementing internal integrity standards in order to minimize risks. This means there is a need for compliance officers.”

“That’s why I decided to enrol for the executive master’s programme in Compliance & Integrity Management at VU Amsterdam. To me, the VU was a logical choice: this is the only university where compliance is taught in all its broad aspects and this programme is highly regarded. For two years, I was attending lectures every other Monday from 15:00 to 21:00 hours.”

Ethics

“The programme enables you to study compliance in a broad context as it involves much more than just regulation. You also need to look at internal standards, risk management, behaviour, and how to deploy technology in order to comply with the rules and meet expectations from society. Compliance issues are not only about legal matters; ethics and risk assessment play an important role as well.”

Upon completing the two-year master’s programme Tom was granted the title of Certified Executive Compliance & Integrity Manager (ECIM). “I was the only lawyer in my class. Well, the switch I made wasn’t exactly an obvious one. Halfway through my studies I left CMS and made my professional start in the field of compliance at the Japanese Mizuho Bank. Then after another two years I moved to Deloitte, working at their Zuidas headquarters. Sometimes you just have to grab an opportunity when you see one.”

Back to the VU

The alumnus was asked to return to the VU as a lecturer. “That was a no-brainer for me. I was a student here and now I have the privilege to teach a subject I’m passionate about: compliance. Every other Monday I’m teaching and sharing my practical experience with my students. You’ll understand that this was another opportunity I simply couldn’t let go.”

Fast forward a few years and he is now working for Rabobank, where everything has come together in his current role as Global AML & Sanction Officer. “I’m responsible for the bank’s policy on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, and on avoiding sanctions violations. It’s the most interesting job of my life!”

Tom has been a Rabobank employee for two years now, commuting from Amsterdam to their headquarters in Utrecht. At the moment, next to his busy job and his position as a lecturer, Tom conducts PhD research into the integrity and leadership of organizations. He expects to obtain his doctorate, the highest possible academic degree, within four years.

Are you interested in a Compliance Management programme or another executive master’s programme offered by VU Amsterdam? Then come and visit our Open Evening on Thursday 19 November. Please register via our website: https://ee.sbe.vu.nl/nl

VU Amsterdam

School of Business and Economics

https://ee.sbe.vu.nl/nl

Transparent, stable and no-nonsense, that is Corum in a nutshell, This French investment company, founded by Frédéric Puzin in 2011, offers various investment solutions in 16 countries. This geographical diversification guarantees a sound spreading of risk. “The risk spread contributes to a great extent to the stable return on investment of 6%, a target we’ve achieved during each of the past eight years,” says Edwin Lips, Head of Sales of Corum’s Dutch branch.

The Novotel at Schiphol Airport, FedEx European headquarters in Hoofddorp and two shopping malls in Zaandam and Delft – just a few examples of properties acquired by Corum in recent years. In total, Corum has invested over half a billion euros on the Dutch property market. Globally, their portfolio has a value of nearly four billion euros; currently, Corum focuses its investments mainly on the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Finland. However, there is serious interest from Canada and Australia, so Corum expects to realize further growth soon.

How would you characterize Corum?

An investment firm with experienced professionals and a large network. We are able to respond quickly to situations as we have all the necessary expertise in-house: fundraising, investment, and asset management. Due to our short lines of communication we are able to make decisions faster than our competitors. Our goal is to offer our clients the best possible return on their investment; if you look at our track record, I think it shows we have always kept our promise.

Why did Corum decide to enter the Dutch market?

There are not many property funds on the Dutch market that enable private investors to invest in various countries in such a diversified manner. There are three ways to buy real estate: directly by investing in a building or indirectly through a fund, which can be either listed or unlisted. These are usually funds that focus on one market and one type of real estate, so they do not offer much spread. Corum invests in 16 countries, in 6 different industries and in 4 different currencies, so the spreading of risk is guaranteed. And I still don’t see any other company doing this in the Netherlands. That is what makes us unique.

Could you give a few examples of Corum’s investments in the Netherlands?

Corum bought the Zuidpoort shopping mall in Delft for 40 million euros and we purchased the Hermitage shopping mall in Zaandam for 27 million euros. Both these investments build on a strong business case with a good location, stable occupiers, and the right retail mix as the main pillars. And the presence of recognized brands such as Dutch supermarket giants Albert Heijn and Jumbo means this is a nice, tangible property investment for Dutch investors. That is something we find important as well. 

What is your target audience? 

Due to our accessibility we’ve attracted new clients from a wide range of backgrounds. Everyone is welcome. We have clients who have just entered the labour market or could be labelled as young professionals, but also investors who are turning away from the stock market and owners of companies who want to retire in 15 years’ time and are trying to build up a solid pension. We regularly welcome new clients who sold part of their property portfolio in order to use the easy investment options our Corum Funds offer. This is actually happening more often. But regardless of the type of investor, more and more Dutch people see our funds as a good alternative for the traditional savings account.

What kind of investment funds does Corum offer? 

We have two different funds: Corum Origin and Corum XL. Origin is the fund it all began with eight years ago; this fund is aimed at creating a stable, long-standing return on investment within the Eurozone. Cash flow is an important factor here. In 2017, we introduced Corum XL; with this fund we focus on the increased value of property,  looking for investments worldwide (excluding France). At the moment, both these open-end funds are run by the same teams. Origin represents investments of more than 1.9 billion euros, and the investments in Corum XL are currently totalling more than 800 million euros. Investing in Origin starts at 1,090 euros and the share price for XL 189 is euros. 

What is the return on investment? 

For XL, our target is 5% and in 2019, for the third year in a row, we’ve achieved more than 6% – in fact, it was 6.26%. For Origin, we’ve realized an ROI of 6.25%. However, our goal is not to achieve the highest possible return in the shortest amount of time. We’ve agreed with our shareholders to create a stable revenue source and a solid return on investment – and that is exactly what that figure of 6% represents. And it feels excellent that for eight years in a row now we’ve been able to pay out that sum every tenth day of every month.

Open-end funds are a deliberate choice? 

Absolutely. This way Corum Origin and Corum XL will keep on growing with the investments made by private investors. With their share prices (€ 189 and € 1,090, respectively) we’ve opened a market that previously was only accessible to institutional investors.

Corum invests in offices, shops, hotels, healthcare and logistics, but not in housing. Why?

Corum has chosen to keep all the aspects of property investment in-house and our strategy is to maintain a streamlined asset management. Rental housing requires a lot of management and this simply does not fit in with our formula. We try to minimize overhead costs in order to achieve the best results for our shareholders.

In which other countries do you operate? 

We’ve invested more than 150 million euros in Poland, one of the fastest growing EU member states and a country that offers good opportunities. Apart from Western Europe we are interested in the Baltic and Nordic countries. For example, Norway – where we started investing earlier this year – is a stable, mature economy. And we’ve also got our eyes on Canada and Australia. 

Asset management company BlackRock made sustainability an integral part of its investment strategy. To what extent are sustainable investments important to Corum?

Corum’s properties in the Netherlands are at least A-label office buildings, and all our buildings have a Breeam or Leed certificate. Corum is very much committed to sustainability and we really value the use of green energy and solar panels. And sustainability is also important in our sport sponsoring: we do not sponsor Formula 1, but focus entirely on international sailing races. Since 2018, we are the sponsor of one of the best-known skippers, so his beautiful mono-hull IMOCA 60 sailing boat carries the Corum name and company colours. 

Picture: Edwin Lips, Head of Sales Corum Netherlands

Due to the Coronacrisis, VU Executive Education organizes an Information Evening online on May 13th. There will be several ‘live’ presentations and Q&A sessions for professionals about: Accounting & Control, Finance and Management & Leadership.

Under the roof of Epicenter, a community of start-ups, scale-ups and established companies is working side by side, inspiring and learning from one another, pushing innovations and growth. Epicenter opened its doors more than a year ago, so we were wondering what it is like to actually work there. And how do companies benefit from this digital innovation house? Four members tell us about the added value of Epicenter.

“The first time I walked in here, the paint was still wet but it felt like the lobby of a five-star hotel. We decided on the spot that we wanted an office here”, David Kat remembers his first encounter with Epicenter. He was looking for a workplace in Amsterdam as three months earlier he and his business partner had decided to introduce their Israel-based start-up Wasteless to the Dutch market. 

“Epicenter is perfectly located: close to Schiphol Airport and within the A10 ring road. From here, it’s only 10 minutes by bicycle to the city centre. And the building is very sustainable. Wasteless uses artificial intelligence to provide supermarkets with dynamic pricing for their products, with digital tags displaying a smart price incentive on the product with the shortest expiration date. This way, the 500 million euros worth of goods that Dutch supermarkets discard on a yearly basis, can instead be sold and turned into a revenue stream. As these products don’t end up in a landfill site, this leads to a considerable reduction in carbon dioxide emissions as well. We bring our customers profitable sustainability, so it makes sense that we hold office in a sustainable and smart building.”

Sunken sitting area

Like so many others, David started in the open office space at Epicenter. He and his business partner worked from the sunken sitting area and this really helped them to meet all kinds of interesting people. In the meantime, Wasteless has grown into a team of 4 people and often gets visitors from abroad, so they decided to move into a studio. 

The flexible staffing options are a big plus for many members, confirms Michel Spruijt of Brain Corp Europe. “We look 90 days ahead and adapt our staffing plans for Brain Corp Europe accordingly. At the moment, I’m the only one here but by the end of this year we could well have 12 people at this location”, he says. In July, Michel started setting up the European branch of American-bases Brain Corp, a company developing software for machines (e.g. cleaning robots) navigating autonomously in public spaces. 

Flexibility

“Developments are going very fast and we’re adjusting our plans all the time. We need to be able to act swiftly as we want to be the Microsoft of autonomous navigation and robotics. If I need more staff tomorrow, I simply get a subscription for them and they can start working right away; that’s the flexibility I require’.”

For Antler, a start-up generator and venture capital fund with a global mission to help driven people set up ground-breaking businesses, scalability is a requirement and crucial to the way they operate, explains Kim Oreskovic. “Our basic team consists of 11 employees; we rent a meeting room for them and use the open co-working space. When a new programme starts, we’ll get in another 100 people for two months. In that period, we help start-ups form teams in order to build up their business from scratch.”

Positive vibe

“These teams pitch their plan to the Antler investment committee and then around 40 founders will stay on at Epicenter for another 3 months during the follow-up phase. That works out very well here, because there is a good mix of open and confined spaces of various sizes. What’s extra special, is the positive and creative vibe in this place. There is so much room to meet people, but at the same time the acoustics is so good that you can have a good conversation without others hearing what you’re saying.”

Scaling up without any hassle is also one of the advantages Katinka de Korte of DEARhealth mentions. “We started out three months ago with four people, now we are a team of fifteen and before Christmas there’ll be 25 of us”, she explains her need for flexibility. The international Epicenter locations have proved a big bonus for her company as well. 

“DEARhealth is a digital platform that connects all carers of a patient with the actual patient. And using Artificial Intelligence it presents the most accurate care path for the patient by, amongst other things, steering the patient away from predictable risks. This way, medical teams are getting support in their decision-making regarding treatment. As a result, patients are healthier and care costs are significantly lower”, Katinka explains. This system has been developed with the help of a team of medical specialists in the US. With the support of its investors, DEARhealth will be scaling up in the US and will start implementing programmes in Europe in the next two years.  

Epicenter Stockholm

“This summer we started in Dutch and Belgian hospitals, and the next priority on our list is Sweden because of the country’s innovative healthcare system. When I told that to the staff here at Epicenter Amsterdam, they immediately put me in contact with their branch in Sweden. That helped me tremendously as the Swedish office opened a box with index cards and I was introduced to various companies. Moreover, together with people from Epicenter Amsterdam I went on a business trip to Epicenter Stockholm, where start-ups from both countries were pitching plans to each other. Offering people these opportunities is what makes Epicenter so unique. Their team knows all Epicenter members personally, they know what your ambition is and they often ask: ‘Is this connection useful to you?’ That really helps.”

David Kat is also very happy with the Epicenter team. “I appreciate the fact that they’re not only very nice and professional people, but they also think along with us. When our guests come in, they are welcomed in a pleasant and dedicated manner; that builds trust.” Michel Spruijt adds that the atmosphere in the building and between companies makes it even better. “It’s always busy here – in a good sense, the place buzzes.” 

Douwe Dirks, the manager of Epicenter Amsterdam, is happy to hear that Epicenter is such an attractive business partner for so many companies. “Innovating and growing is a lot easier when you’re part of the right community. We are that community and we do everything we can to connect people and help them share their knowledge. We like building a strong business environment for Amsterdam where local companies get the chance to learn and new digital opportunities arise.” 

Epicenter Amsterdam offers: 

Knowledge Memberships
Flex Memberships
Community Events
Office spaces
Top-of-the-line event spaces
Meeting room facilities 
Innovation Labs & Digital Safaris
Hackathons & Ideathons
Management Days

Epicenter Amsterdam
Fred. Roeskestraat 115
Amsterdam

W www.epicenteramsterdam.com