Changes at Participium don’t go unnoticed

We are pleased to see that the important changes that took place in Participium’s board of directors don’t go unnoticed. Computable.be the online platform for ICT professionals, posted a news item on its website about the new role for Paul Indekeu and our future plans.

Journalist Suzanne Martens correctly assessed that this is indeed relevant for the readers of Computable.be. The companies Participium has started up are directly or indirectly linked to technology. And we are convinced that technology is a necessity to increase the services delivery quality and to enable a steady scaling up for the long term.

Thank you Suzanne for writing about us!

Read the full article

We are looking for a business leader (m/f) for Funky & C°

About Funky & C°

Funky & C° is on the drawing board, and we are looking for a business leader who wants to help us design, create, and start Funky & C°, the final corner stone of our “Funky” branch of companies.

Funky & C° wants to help services-focused companies, that are now introducing new ways of organizing and structuring their operations. Funky & C° wants to develop the software tools, dashboards, and cockpits that are required to allow teams to self-steer. Todays preferred sectors for Funky & C° are engineering & architecture, ICT, consulting, legal & finance, R&D services, marketing services — but of course, while drafting the business plan, we might discover that there are better market segments.

What’s so new? This kind of self-steering support software is far away from the classic ERP systems. That’s why a lot of modern companies are now basing their internal information flows on Excel. We want to provide them with much much better tools, and gradually create our own portfolio of software products that are needed for the self-steering organizations of tomorrow.

So now, we are looking for someone who wants to take the lead from the very early stage of the creation of this company.

Could that be you?

Do you want to start from (almost) scratch? Do you have the guts, the experience, the attitude, and the skills to create and run a venture and make our joint vision come true? The business leader of Funky & C° is not standing alone. He or she reports to the investment company (Participium), and is supported by our company creator Jan Lagast to build a great services team and design a future-oriented software portfolio.

We have two products already in another company of the Funky branch, and that’s where we also have a some early-stage clients. This allows you to scale-up much faster and run positive on a shorter term, than you would be able with a start-from-totally-zero start-up. Even more, we have the network to get in touch with self-steering companies, from day one, and there is Forte, that is also addressing your potential clients with a portfolio of advisory services that urge many companies to switch to self-steering mode.

About the role of the business leader

The business leader will first help us design the business plan, check the market, and assemble the first team. After the creation of the company, he or she ensures the Funky & C° potential reaches the clients and keeps our small team focused on making the promises come true. After a while, the business leader will hire more commercial people (in more countries), grow the team, and imply more and more partners to get more and more clients motivated. But first, we want you to develop a battle plan together with us and start rolling up the sleeves.

Are you an inspiring leader or a classic manager?

Our investors at Participium are promoting self-steering organizations. So they want the company Funky & C° to be organized accordingly, and proof that self-steering brings results. That means there is no classic hierarchy, no command & control structure, no boss-to-boss-to-boss reporting. We want the individual co-worker to be a team player and understand his or her responsibility in relation to the purpose of Funky & C° – leading to all of the collaborators to love their work.

Do you have the right experience?

You’d have to feel at ease with the combination of advisory services and IT project management in a services and knowledge worker business environment. You’d better also love adopting modern technologies of the web, such as web services, blockchain, and APIs. We need a hands-on start-up mentality at first, but beware, we also need you to grow the team and the business towards financial profit on a short term.

Sounds interesting? Get in touch with paul.indekeu [at] participium.com.

Successful event on tax shelter for start-ups

April 27th Jan Lagast was invited as a guest speaker at Mazars for an info session on tax shelter for start-ups. The info session focused on (future) private investors who want to invest in young promising companies and fully enjoy the tax benefits the Belgium government provides.

It was a convivial meeting in the former living room of baron Braun on the top floor of the renowned UCO tower in Ghent, where the accountancy department of Mazars has its offices.

Based on his vast expertise in tax & accountancy Peter De Vos (Mazars) gave a clear explanation on the legal and the financial aspects of the tax shelter. Later Jan Lagast gave – from his first-hand experience as company builder with Participium – advice on how to inquire whether or not a company is worth your investment.

Afterwards, the public of (future) investors seemed very positive about what they had learned that night.

On 19/5 and 26/5 Luc Colebunders outlines the legal framework for investors

Luc Colebunders is wealth manager and financial advisor of ActiveCapital. He is also the chairman of the Belgian crowdfunding association. As a result of these different functions, he has a good knowledge of the legal framework for investing in companies for all budgets.

“For every budget, there is a law”, is one of his statements. You can find out exactly how this works during the two following events: “investing from the comfort of your couch”:

  • 19/5 in Knokke
  • 26/5 in Ghent

Participium builds first companies

Today, the first Investor Committee of Participium gathered to reflect on the companies that we structurally want to work on and in which we want to invest full time and effort. Last summer, Participium’s emphasis shifted from advisor-supervisor to company builder. And that has its consequences for our way of working.

As a company builder, Participium will now only lead companies for a longer period of time to guarantee success in the medium term. In existing companies we work together with the existing team that can further realize their product or service. But we also create our own companies, which we believe to be potentially successful throughout Europe. In the first years, the focus will be on two ‘sweet’ spots: Brains@Work and Living & Leisure. The first group consists of knowledge workers and their suppliers. Product manufacturers and service providers for the future of living and recreating are part of the second group.

All projects Participium was involved in, in the last few months were analyzed. The Investor Committee decided to actively engage in the reorganization of two existing companies. The first one is a management consultancy firm annex marketing communications specialist for technology companies and the second one a software producer that creates web software for consultants and freelancers. In addition, Participium is preparing a completely new franchise concept for administrative services for its first capital injection. All projects are covered by the Brains@Work sector and have an international growth perspective.

Participium will of course not abandon its customers from the advice and guidance. These customers get the opportunity to receive structural support if they are open to it. Today, however, Participium wants to invest resources and time on a number of crucial projects.

August Van Put supports the initiative

It’s almost midnight. I am driving home from Antwerp in a few minutes. I had a very interesting talk with August Van Put tonight. He used to be the CEO of HBK, a Belgian savings bank, in wich he created an ESOP “avant la lettre”. August has been retired for more than 10 years now, and he wrote a book about participative entrepreneurship some years ago. Tonight was a conceptual breakthrough evening. Providing leverage rather than total capital was the most important outcome for the future of the investment company. The fact August wants to stay in touch and wants to support our initiative feels great. On the road now.

Order the book (in Dutch) here if you’d like to read more about participative entrepreneurship …