Running a Family Business: Looking Ahead Together
Alderman Graef, along with account manager Michiel Boers, recently visited Hendrickx in Horn, a wonderful family-owned business run by father Richard, son Mike, and daughter Mandy. Hendrickx specializes in civil and agricultural earthmoving, road construction, and soil remediation, and also operates several soil storage sites. It is a versatile company that plays an important role in the regional economy.
Good business management also means maintaining what’s working well
During the visit, we discussed not only day-to-day operations but, above all, the challenges of running a family business. How do you divide up the roles? How do you Health ensure effective collaboration within the family? And how do you work together to shape the future?
Hendrickx-Horn takes pride in being a small-to-medium-sized enterprise (SME). They want to preserve what they have built and continue to invest in a healthy, future-proof organization. It is precisely in this that they see opportunities. As an SME contractor, they are flexible, committed, and close to their customers. Drawing on these strengths, they aim to continue operating successfully in today’s market and build toward the future with confidence.
Concerns and Challenges
Of course, the discussion also touched on the challenges entrepreneurs face today: finding and retaining good staff, the increasing regulatory burden, and the question of how to make sustainability truly practical and achievable within business operations.
Collaborating with the municipality
Our collaboration with the municipality was also discussed at length. We talked about what’s going well, but also—and especially—where there’s room for improvement. It’s precisely these open conversations that are valuable. They give us insight into what business owners need and where we can further improve our services.
For me, these are exactly the kinds of conversations that matter: listening to entrepreneurs, understanding what’s going on, and working together to see where we can support each other.
A pleasant and candid conversation with a family-owned business that has both feet firmly on the ground and, above all, wants to keep doing what it does best.