Investor Rob van der Laan

Rob van der Laan, Managing Partner of NewPort Capital, has been involved in The Hunger Project for 15 years: as a former member of the Supervisory Board, as a Katakle investor in Benin and now as a founding partner of the Game Changers network. Rob van der Laan about doing good, building cabins, a place in the back seat and his enthusiasm for the project in Mozambique.

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About the project

“I can say with my hand on my heart: this is a good cause.”

Rob van der LaanManaging Partner of NewPort Capital

What is important to you in your entrepreneurship and life?

Rob: I was at a promotion at Erasmus MC. A young, smart 27-year-old doctor was promoted. With such a promotion you have substantive statements and a few statements that have nothing to do with the promotion. She had chosen one of Sister Klivia’s from “Ja Sister,” no sister. It came down to this: Do what you love most, it’s best to do it and then you get it done. I liked that one. What I mean by that: What feels good to me is doing good to people where you help each other, and you feel that you have the best for each other.

In that context, I have been involved in The Hunger Project for 15 years, in active and less active roles. That is how I have been a member of the Supervisory Board and I have tried to make others stick. The Hunger Project tries to give people a better life locally, people go to work on the ground themselves. We facilitate capital, because we happen to be in that bit. We help where we are good at. The Hunger Project has carefully chosen a funding model not to charge 1,000 people a month for a small amount. It’s about investors and not about donors, that appeals to me, that’s my job. I’m not investing here to make a profit in money, but in people’s joy. And I like to pay attention, love and money. I do so together with my colleague José Cubo, initiator ofThe Zero Hunger Games and our entire NewPort team.

How did you get involved in The Hunger Project?

I came into contact with The Hunger Project via Carel van Bemmelen in 2006. I got to know The Hunger Project as a charity with a clear goal; People act locally themselves. There is nothing about the summit, it is an efficient organisation with involved people, with a proven effective approach. Continuity holds, people get a better life. Also during my various trips to Benin I really experienced that. The first time I got there, the women weren’t very well cared for. The second time I was there, the hairs were combed and the women wore nicer clothes. The third time in Benin I saw proud ladies, with good shoes and handbags. Children go to school and women give birth in the clinic of the epicenter (cluster of villages, red.). Women get stronger, give presentations, take the lead and have perspective. There is a basis for the future.

Of course, there are a lot of charities that do important things, like giving kids lunches at school that don’t. Pretty complicated so many charities. You have to make choices, and the beauty of The Hunger Project is the long-term approach and continuity. It’s not a survival package that you drop, it’s a whole plan that you roll out and a path that you walk together.

“It’s about investors, not donors. That appeals to me, that’s my job.”

Rob van der Laan

What do you see as the greatest chance for the end of hunger?

Don’t be hungry is the base. You can’t live a normal life with hunger. You can do all kinds of things that are good for your own development, think of an education. But it starts at the end of hunger. With hunger no perspective. I was also triggered in this by Carel, he said briefly: You don’t have to bring fish, they have them locally, but you got to teach them how to make a rod, and a little more than that. Then you build continuity. And that’s what The Hunger Project does. In all my travels, I have seen that there are communities with people who have a normal life, where children can go to school, where there is drinking water and where people learn how to make healthy food together with local products. A life without hunger. In the end, that’s the basis.

You’re Managing Partner at NewPort Capital. What does NewPort Capital do?

We are a participatory society and we help companies to make the transition from good to good. That’s nice, that’s some kind of game you play together. And that’s what you do to the team; not only the rush hour, but also the left back. Male, female, young, old, brown, white, everyone’s in. We invest in a company and we think with the team how to accelerate, how to make that company stronger. In 2017 we started celebrating with a little money in the bank and nothing else… Now there are 13 men in the office in Amsterdam. Eventually, we also raised money from investors, who had faith in our approach, just like we did in you. We now work with 35 companies, which employ such small 3,000 people.

What’s the plan with NewPort Capital for the coming years?

We are focusing on the Hunger Project A fairly specific area where we feel at home. Those are the bigger small businesses. That’s not what I mean. Shell, but not the baker on the corner of the street. Companies that are strong with existing shareholders, where we have the opportunity to come to the table as a fellow shareholder. We work actively with management teams but we don’t manage daily, that’s what the board does. We’re here for support. Look at it this way: we’re in the car together but the board is behind the wheel and we’re in the front seat or back seat to say occasionally: Hey, switch from 4 to 5, take some gas back, or turn to the left. We’re the support team. As far as we are concerned, this is the way to increase participation in strategic and financial terms.

I got to know The Hunger Project as a charity with a clear goal; People act locally themselves. There is nothing about the summit, it is an efficient organisation with involved people, with a proven effective approach

Rob van der Laan

Managing Partner of NewPort Capital

NewPort Capital is founding partner of the Game Changers network, how are you going to fill that out?

We are convinced of what you do, for you do well. We can sell that because there is trust. We can excite other people and organisations to participate as investors, linked to events, meetings, an investor trip etc. with the aim to make more people and organisations involved. I can say with my hand on my heart: This is a good cause. And I think we can help in that with great pleasure, commitment and ambition.

How is your team involved in Mozambique and the Game Changers network?

The team is very good at it. Of course we had two teams at The Zero Hunger Games for a reason! There was no other company and there was no obligation to play football. We’ve discussed it in detail internally. This has support in the entire team. We like to help society, and this fits in well. Also with the ambition and drive of our team. Many fellow Members are around 30 years old; They’re smart, well-educated people who find this kind of activity interesting. The Hunger Project is our club and this is what we all want to go for.

Why should entrepreneurs join the Game Changers network and what does this get them for you?

My pitch is the same as it was before Benin: This is a good cause because The Hunger Project helps people locally to get hungry and lead a full life. It’s about looking forward, about the future of women, men and children. We did that in Benin with a number of entrepreneurs and proved successful. Now we want to take up the challenge in Mozambique with the same approach, partly with the same and new investors. The extra feature is wildlife; Helping the combination of people locally with the result of the next success of human, animal and nature being strong and able to benefit from each other permanently. That is a successful continuity plan.

Photo by Rob van der Laan: Anne van Zantwijk

Partners wanted!

Want to know more about Game Changers? Or join this investor network? Contact us.

Annemarie de Groot-Bakker

Tel: 06-54 23 69 78

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Saskia Beugel

Tel: 06-30 41 18 83

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