"From the beginning of my time here, FMO has the guts to be at the forefront of our industry, a stance it upholds till this day."
On April’s Fool Day 2000, a colleague and I joined FMO as Environmental Officers, effectively tripling FMO’s E&S resources in one day. I was referred by someone for the position at FMO. For me this role was the perfect mix of environmental aspects in an international setting.
Prior to my time at FMO, I worked for a Dutch environmental consultancy firm, where I expanded my background in mechanical engineering into environmental analysis and advice. My professional career at FMO has become more and more extensive over time, which is also related to the significant advances in the field of ESG.
My scope of work has seen significant growth from evaluating E&S risks and client’s/investee's compliance to improving their organizational capabilities on ESG issues.
My scope of work has seen significant growth from evaluating E&S risks and client’s/investee's compliance to improving their organizational capabilities on ESG issues. I really welcomed FMO’s decision to move me and the other E&S Officers from the credit department to the Front Office. This meant being challenged by dedicated E&S Officers at the Credit Department and securing a four-eyes-principle. It reflected our customer-facing role much better, as it put us on the front lines alongside the investment officers. Up to about half a dozen times a year, I travel for discussions with clients and investees for due diligence and monitoring, during which we focus on ESG solutions and opportunities rather than just constraints and required data. More recently, I took on a new position in a new team, where I feel I can use my accumulated knowledge to support my colleagues by streamlining and facilitating the increasingly complex E&S-related work processes, allowing them to have more effective engagements with clients and investees on E&S challenges and opportunities.
From the beginning of my time here, FMO has had the guts to be at the forefront of our industry, a stance it upholds. Our approach is rooted in practical application of ESG principles. Many years ago, we were early adopters in considering labor conditions in our investment decisions, and later the same applied to human rights. This places us among the leading DFIs in integrating ESG in their finance and impact proposition.
I participated in an investment aimed at launching an energy initiative across Africa. The main hurdle was ensuring that the local community reaped the benefits and demonstrating this to external stakeholders. Eventually, we moved from problems and dissatisfaction to dialogue and remarkable solutions that are helping the community tremendously. This example resonated with me deeply. It is one of the crowning achievements of my career. It was our responsibility to facilitate the process of moving from discussion to dialogue, bringing in our knowledge and that of specialized experts to achieve the expected results. Supported by our engagement, our investee is delivering on improving the standard of living and empowerment of the local community, an outcome we secured together.
In my view, it's a mix of elements. A fundamental understanding of the ESG field is essential. It's crucial to be decisive and transparent and focus on problem-solving. So, it's not just about understanding the 'what' but also about mastering the 'how'. Achieving this requires both the ability to influence others and cross-cultural sensitivity.
I'm a big fan of jazz and classic cars. I am looking forward to attending the upcoming North Sea Jazz Festival, which was the nice goodbye present of my previous team. I also like to sing, and besides singing in a choir I am the singer of the Dutch repertoire of our own FMO band.
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