AT THE KITCHEN TABLE
By means of: Wies van Erp
Sun Apr 28, 12:00
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Entrepreneurs are often busy with their business day and night. But what drives them? What is their motivation? And what keeps them awake at night? In ‘At the kitchen table with…’ we talk to them and look for the special story they have to tell. This week: Alexander Koppelmans from Xtract BV and MKB Cybertraining BV.
You’ve come a long way to get where you are now. Entrepreneurship has very high peaks and very deep valleys, you have experienced that firsthand.
‘That gives me a very rich feeling. I spent 27 years building an advertising agency in Goes. We worked for wonderful companies, more than 10 multinationals. They asked us how they could best sell their products. Record companies asked us how to sell a DVD. Isn’t that incredible, you ask Xander Koppelmans from Goes? I was the longest serving at those multinationals, although I was a supplier, but I was also a regular at home. I like to help, to solve problems. I like that, I often solve those problems with communication.’
Do you see yourself as some kind of problem solver?
‘Yes, you can say that. But I had never experienced that myself until that period. I come from a warm family and my life until then was one big party. It wasn’t difficult, it was very sweet, friendly and positive with lovely people. And then things go completely wrong all at once from an unexpected source.’
Then you are referring to the hack, because your company has been a victim of a hack. What was the purpose of that hack, did they want money?
‘No not at all. Compare it to a store where someone drives by and throws a fire bomb inside. Your whole store burns down and he just keeps driving. Then you are left with the question: why was this, hello?’
I imagine that concerned you very much?
‘Absolute. You start to think who could have done something like that. Is it a competitor, is it an ex-employee or have they made a mistake. Accidentally entered the wrong digital door. Who does something like that? The hack happened one morning. We thought we had everything taken care of with firewalls, antivirus programs, backups, etc. When it happened we had to laugh a bit at first. But that laugh wears off pretty quickly, I must say. We called our system administrator and he wanted to start things up, but the backups were gone. We had nothing left. Order data was gone, the planning, telephone numbers were gone, we couldn’t even make calls anymore, because the server we were calling about had also disappeared.’
Entrepreneurship is sometimes a lonely existence, we sometimes say. Have you also experienced that now?
‘Correct. Everyone looked at me like I know it all. I didn’t know what had happened to me, who did it and you don’t know the solution either. Then the worst is yet to come, because the hack is just the beginning. As an entrepreneur you already work hard, but now you had to step up your game for months at a time. And all this while your customers are scared out of their wits and postpone new orders or divert them to other suppliers. The stress caused by the hack was too much. I passed out for the second time at a gas station, which was when I went to the doctor. I had a burnout and ended up at home. When things got a little better and I went back to work, I saw that things were going wrong. It was not their fault, but orders fell while costs rose. The downward path had begun and there was no turning back.’
Bankruptcy was inevitable?
‘Unfortunately yes. The moment you file for bankruptcy with the thick envelope is truly terrible. I cried really hard in the car. I never knew a person could cry so hard.’
Is there shame?
‘No, I don’t feel that. I think it’s very bad. In my ignorance I have made mistakes. I made it too easy for hackers by not setting up 2-step verification and using passwords that were too easy. In fact, everyone is an IT company, if you are so dependent on automation you are an IT company. This applies not only to me, photo studios, but also bakers. Whether you store your recipes digitally, your cash register system. Everyone is an IT company. I started my new company 2 years ago to warn others, but especially to tell you what you can do about it. I really admire those companies that help me with this. They see my name, know that I am bankrupt and yet they invest several hundred thousand euros in me. I bow to that.’
A new company has emerged from this, from what I hear?
‘SME Cyber Training. We started showing it to banks and insurance companies. They really like it, this is what we need. We have only just gone live, only since April, so you really have a scoop. We want to record at least 50 podcasts on MKB Cybertalk.nl in which we talk to entrepreneurs about cyber. How do you deal with it and what can you do about it? No time for shame, it’s time for action. I went to live in Sprundel. I wrote a letter to the municipality. Introduced myself as a Communications Advisor in the field of cyber and told that I had come to live in the municipality. A few weeks later the mayor invited me and listened to my story. She immediately gave me three assignments. How cool is that, in a city where I don’t know anyone and no one knows me, I get such a great opportunity to build a new life. You really need that as a person, it is not only your own merit, but the environment must also allow it.’
Well done, hats off Xander!
‘Yes, I think it’s really cool. It’s great that it’s there.’
Then brings us back to the beginning, Xander the Problem Solver, You’re going to solve other people’s problems again, but you solved your own first. Who gave you that quality?
‘From my father, my dear father. That was really a problem solver. Not selfish, especially a creative sweet person. Always been my role model, Harry Koppelmans.’
And then the last question: who would you most like to sit at the kitchen table with?
‘Wow, what a difficult question. I am then inclined to choose a very controversial person. Not because I agree with that person, but precisely to understand what is going on in such a person. To understand how he thinks. Then I choose someone who thinks it would be a sensible idea to bomb Moscow. When I know how such a person thinks, I become calmer. I don’t understand that at all. I can have a great afternoon with Michelle Obama, but if I do have the chance, I want to sit with someone who is very far away from me.’
Passport
Name: Xander Koppelmans
Age: 59 years
Company: Xtract BV and MKB Cybertraining BV
Located: Sprundle
Marital status: Together with my fantastically sweet partner Natasja Hilverink
Children: One son, Joeri (34 years old)
Besides your daily work, what else gives you satisfaction? ‘I love traveling, but in practice that doesn’t happen. I like to work on my own house. I always call that therapeutic tinkering.’
