My Story

The Foundation

Five years that taught me more than an MBA ever would have

I left university in 1996 knowing one thing clearly: I wanted to build my own businesses. But I also knew I needed to earn the experience first.

After six months of searching, I was hired by a Belgian boutique consultancy and spent the next five years working across industries, departments, countries, and languages in ways most people never experience in an entire career. Aerospace. Chemicals. Catering. Office equipment. Pharmaceuticals. Germany, France, the Netherlands, the UK, Austria, Poland, the USA.

One engagement stands out. Working with a consortium of aerospace manufacturers, we identified €19.6 million in purchasing savings. Not theoretical savings. Money that went straight to the bottom line.

But the most important thing those five years gave me was not the results. It was something harder to name: the ability to walk into any business, in any sector, and start seeing the same patterns repeating in different disguises.

When people ask why I never did an MBA, I tell them: those five years taught me more than any MBA would have.

The Observation

The thing nobody was saying out loud at the top

Working inside large organisations, I started noticing something. The people at the top were often the loneliest people in the building. Not personally. Professionally. They were surrounded by people who told them what they wanted to hear, protected their position, or simply did not have the full picture to be genuinely useful.

Nobody was willing to look the CEO in the eye and say: this is what is actually happening. This is what you are missing. This is what needs to change, and you already know it.

That observation never left me. It became the foundation of everything I do now.

The Work

Building, investing, and staying until something moves

After consulting, I moved into building and investing in businesses. I co-founded Dynamic OpenGov Technologies with Juan Manuel Roa in 2017, a technology company that helps public organisations implement transparency and open government systems. In 2020 I established EdG Holding 1315 SL as the holding structure for my advisory work and investments.

In 2023 I co-founded The Guiding Matrix with Dr Steve Jeffs, focused on helping coaches become better coaches and better CEOs of their coaching businesses. A year later we acquired The Coaching Tools Company. In July 2025 I launched Acquisition Deal Team with Iñaki Perkins, focused on helping startups and investors grow through acquisitions.

What connects all of it: I have never been the person who hands over a plan and leaves. I have always been the person who stays in the room until something actually moves. One of the founders I worked with started by asking for advice on growth. I showed him options he had not considered, including acquisitions. He acted on them. The business shifted. He offered me equity in what we built together. We are still partners.

That is how this works. Not advisory from the outside. Inside the machine with you, until you cross the ceiling.

The Gift

Sensing what has not been said

I was once in a strategy conversation with someone building her own business. At the end of the call I told her she needed help with her organisation. She looked at me and asked how I knew. I had not analysed her business. I had sensed it in the conversation.

That is what 25 years of cross-border pattern recognition produces. I see things quickly. I name them directly, even when that is uncomfortable. And I use whatever tool the moment needs: strategy, accountability, challenge, connection, or a conversation that makes you stop and look at what you have been avoiding.

I am not a coach, a consultant, or a mentor exclusively. I am all three when the situation calls for it, and none of them when it does not. The only thing that does not change: I tell you what I see, not what you want to hear.

Today