The Brief Intro
My name is Fer van Heijzen – I am an entrepreneur, business consultant, and coach.
I serve as a business coach, particularly for young entrepreneurs and start-ups. I work with all levels of organizations, always mindful of people’s motivations and cultural sensitivities.
I have extensive experience in strategy development, program management, finance, operations, and IT implementations, and a result-oriented attitude. Over the years, I have gained comprehensive expertise in starting, acquiring, merging, operating, and closing businesses.
I am adept at balancing market demands with both client and company interests while navigating legislative, fiscal, and regulatory requirements. I take a hands-on approach, readily tackling any task necessary to achieve results.
In my financial roles, beyond delivering key financial insights, I integrate strategy, finance, and feasibility into well-prepared business cases, contributing to realistic operational planning.
Since 2013, my wife and I have embraced a lifestyle change; with our children grown, we now travel, live, and work abroad during the winter months, while in the summer we reside in the Netherlands aboard our sailing yacht, currently moored at Kampen (Overijssel – Netherlands).
The Long Story
Over the years, I have undertaken numerous consultancy, interim, and program management assignments under the trade name Van Heijzen Management Consultancy. Each engagement is characterized by the common goal: implementing strategies effectively and realizing objectives sustainably and successfully. I work closely with all levels within a client’s organization, gaining insight into its unique culture and the factors that drive its people. Ultimately, it comes down to combining vision, strategy, and innovation into detailed business cases, executing smart and effective plans with realistic goals, making fact-based decisions along the way, and consistently delivering results through personal commitment.
General Business Consultancy
As a seasoned business owner and entrepreneur, I have acquired hands-on experience in every facet of launching, acquiring, merging, operating, and, when necessary, closing businesses. With an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University, my insights, analytical rigor, and effective coaching have consistently been highly regarded.
Health Care
From 2017 till 2024, I joined the PHIX Genomics project to help introduce genomics-based diagnostics to the Philippines. Initially serving as a consultant, I fully committed to the company in 2019 as CFO and co-investor. At PHIX, I oversaw the strategy implementation, led periodic planning and control cycles, and managed investor relations. I also launched and developed the PHIX Academy. I now manage the spin-off: https://genomicsacademy.org.
Financial Services
Most of my professional experience lies within the Financial Services Industry, where I have held executive management and consulting roles since 1990. My projects have spanned strategy implementation, operations management, business and product development, change management in general, and ICT systems implementations in particular—primarily for insurance companies and pension funds. In addition, I have designed and led several seminars on business and product development for the Royal Dutch Actuarial Society and the European Actuarial Society, and I have lectured in the Actuarial Master’s and Bachelor’s programs at the Actuarial Institute and TIAS Business School in the Netherlands.
Fair Trade Retail
Over the past decade, I have contributed to the Fair Trade Retail industry by serving as the CFO of a Fair Trade retail outlet and co-founding an investment fund for Fair Trade shops. In that role, I advised retail outlets on strategy, business planning, and finance, and evaluated investment opportunities. More recently, I extended my expertise advising a struggling Fair Trade production facility in the Philippines on business improvement and operational certification. They now employ +50 employees and run a profitable business.
Hospitality Services
In recent years, with the crucial support of my wife, I ventured into the Hospitality Industry, leveraging our extensive travel experience, business management expertise, and deep understanding of guest expectations. I have been involved in establishing a hotel business and managing guesthouses in Suriname. We also ran a bush lodge in South Africa, and catered to groups of cyclists in the French Alps—all projects executed to the satisfaction of guests and owners. In this field, trustworthiness, reliability, and treating the business as our own are paramount.
IT Services
Before entering the Financial Services Industry, I gained diverse experience as a lecturer, IT systems analyst and designer, consultant, and project manager in IT services. These assignments exposed me to various industries and business functions, including processing, manufacturing, logistics, sales, accounting, and ERP systems.
Acknowledgments
I earned my degree in biology from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, specializing in comparative animal physiology, social behavior, and marine biology. My studies also encompassed applied mathematical data research and a qualification for first-degree biology education. Additionally, I hold a Master’s degree in General Management and International Business from the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.