In January a group of ten talented young Dutch students set off for Tanzania. There they will engage in social entrepreneurship and leadership training along with ten Tanzanian counterparts, and together they will develop a number of concrete business cases for local non-governmental organisations (NGOs). After one week they will be joined by Fortis top managers and experienced Dutch business leaders who will coach the team for a further week. The business leaders are ‘recruited’ from the clients of Fortis Mees Pierson and offer their skills free of charge. At the same time these business leaders take the time to reflect on their own leadership.

The idea behind this cooperation between students and managers from the Netherlands and students from developing countries is that it opens the door to personal and professional growth. In each programme the Future Leaders will be trained in various dimensions of their leadership: what drives you as a leader? How do you present yourself as a leader and engage others? How do you make things happen?

Having started its Future Leaders project two years ago in The Gambia, Fortis has extended its programmes to India, Ecuador and Tanzania. In general the business cases are concrete. For example in The Gambia the Future Leaders have worked on four business plans: the extension of a marketplace, the building of school classes, a micro credit programme for young people and ‘Will for skill’, a plan to enthuse young people to become craftsmen.

The local NGOs are selected by Better Future, a Dutch organisation connecting leaders in business and society. Better Future specializes in leadership, sustainable development and social entrepreneurship.

Fortis Mees Pierson, part of Fortis bank, specialize managing the assets of the wealthy individuals. Fortis’s primary reason for developing the programme lies in its “strong sense of social responsibility”, says Kees Verhagen of Fortis Mees Pierson. “A fair amount of our clients – still active and retired managers - have a passion to share their experience with others.”
P+ webtip: Future Leaders