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PRODUCER
Since 1984 Silvester Slavenburg has been working at the family
business that was founded by his great-grandfather in 1906.
Starting out as one of the Ceo’s in 1998 he became the chairman
of Slavenburg’s Bouwbedrijven.
‘Twenty years ago I ended up working in this business. This
wasn’t really my intention and it didn’t work out the way I
expected it to. I wanted to be an entrepreneur but was stuck in
the restrictions of a family business. In 1996 the business went
down hill. This is often the case in a family business.
Decisions don’t get made and a lack of input for the management
team results in the business to fall behind. As they are
wealthy, financial losses aren’t seen immediately but result in
sources running out. I made a proposition to the family and the
shareholders and took over the company in 1998.
In the next few years, Slavenburg reformed the old family
business to a modern, growing business. He got inspired in
Australia.
‘In the mid nineties construction fraud was a big deal. I did
not feel the need to sit around the table and discuss
construction issues and price deals with those who knew my
father. This was not the way I wanted to work. On the internet I
read something about a congress in Australia concerning
innovations in construction. I travelled to the other side of
the world to take part in discussion groups with scientists and
entrepreneurs from America, Asia and Australia.
It was a big relief to see that they were on a higher level of
innovation than the Dutch construction world. Their mission was
to make a product for the client. In the modern western world,
if you are looking for a good stake or a suit, you go to a
store. In the Netherlands however, if you want to have your
bathroom redone in your house, you end up in an unclear
construction world.
Fixed prices end up being dubble the amount, deadlines are
passed by months and the quality is not what it should be.
Nobody can tell u why this is the case. The construction
industry is closed and not focused towards the customer.
Slavenburg’s Bouwbedrijven focuses on the client. We are a
service organisation. We deliver quality for the set price, and
this is the way we have built up a good reputation these last
years with office buildings, shops, distributing offices and
hotels.’
Slavenburg had two reasons for entering the film industry; his
faith in Laurence Lamers and his love for actors. Acting is a
huge passion of this entrepreneur. Slavenburg sees a similarity
between entrepreneurship and being a film producer: ‘As an
entrepreneur I protect the artistic vision of an architect. As a
producer I make sure that the director can execute his artistic
vision.’ |
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