The helm has been handed over, the new helm awaits. GWW luminary chooses the high seas

Hans is a true GWW coryfee, who has more than earned the title 'Kei van de GWW'. The co-founder and now former director of Soltegro has won his spurs with, among other things, the introduction and expansion of integral working within our sector and is -still- personally involved with issues and innovations surrounding energy transition.

Setting the stage

Trading business for a long trip around the world by boat did not come out of the blue. It is a dream that Hans and Annette have long cherished and have been actively working towards. Hans explains, "The founding of Soltegro took place in 2009. In 2018, I knew that if I wanted to realize our dream, I first had to put Soltegro in safe hands. Two interested parties presented themselves, one of which was TBI. We had a clear preference for them, because we had been working with them for some time and in terms of organization Soltegro could continue to run autonomously. For me personally, it was very important that TBI is not listed on the stock exchange. I didn't want chilly interference from shareholders."

The talks that followed lasted three-quarters of a year, until the takeover was a fact. By now the time has come to go, Hans believes. "I am now of a nice age (57) to embark on this sailing adventure. That a trip around the world by sailboat is a deeply cherished desire, I have never made a secret of that. Exactly three years after the deal with TBI, Annette and I cast off the mooring lines of the Janjorem. For boat lovers: this is a Dutch sailing yacht, a C-Yacht 1250. The boat was adapted for long trips and, professionally deformed as I am, I built all the systems myself for the trip. In a creative way and fully redundant in every detail."

A piece of history

The idea for Soltegro came about in 2008. Hans explains, "I myself was delivery director at Logica. There I saw other opportunities for customers and staff. Slowly the idea emerged that software 'an sich' is not a problem, but cooperating parties get problems due to technical diversity. After consulting with Jan-Martijn Teeuw and André Stehouwer, the decision was made: we are just going to start creating an integrated solution. We really started with empty hands, but on the first working day the first customer already presented itself. We were allowed to provide support for the integral design of the second Coentunnel. We could immediately put our ideas about integral working into practice. We drew the people who worked on that assignment from our own network."

After the second Coentunnel, the proverbial stop was lifted and the infra assignments were released. Over the past 11 years, Soltegro has paved the way within the GWW sector for integral working and can safely be seen as standard-setting. "When we presented our projects, ideas and working methods at tunnel congresses, we saw many eyes being opened."

The desire to broaden

Soltegro was and is a dynamic company, with broad horizons and a natural drive to innovate. Energy and the environment are personal hobbyhorses of Hans, reason for Soltegro to enter energy engineering as well. "We design energy distribution systems. In doing so, we try to solve old pain points. For example, by being innovative we manage to keep the 'not available' time as low as possible when working on power stations.

Another innovation from Soltegro is the Digital Twin of a tunnel. "By building a tunnel completely virtually, it can also be managed and tested virtually. Digital Twins can be used from the design process until after completion. People can be trained virtually, we can simulate traffic situations and calamities. The Digital Twin more than pays for itself and prevents failure costs. A real 'quantum leap'."

Man always in the first place

Hans' personal motivation for becoming an entrepreneur in the first place was that it allowed him to create a working environment for and by people. "My credo is that everyone should be able to work with pleasure. Employees are your most important assets and it is okay to invest in them. Costs that come with that disappear like snow in the sun when you see the result of putting people first."

The new captains at the helm of Soltegro are now doing their jobs. "My job has been taken over by Harry Halman and Jan-Martijn Teeuw. Harry will focus mainly on operational management and Jan-Martijn will turn his attention to sales and marketing. They are supported by an excellent management team. I am not worried about the future of the 50 employees of
Soltegro," Hans said in conclusion.

Grond-, Weg- en Waterbouw Magazine thanks Hans de Man for the fine cooperation and the knowledge he shared. We wish Annette and Hans a safe journey!