Meet this entrepreneur from Netherlands who from a home maker has turned into a Visionary Entrepreneur who is passionately working towards integration of businesses and bridging socio-cultural gaps between businesses and people in Netherlands and India. With a great Zeal and Commitment, she is working towards resolving issues the key issues of mankind in the space of Water Management and Solid Waste Management sectors and envisions to build a sustainable planet.
Which is your favourite RIVER? Can you please pause and think for a few seconds? Remember how patiently it flows without a single pause, how it pushes itself forward by overcoming each and every hurdle, how it opens its arms with love and calmly accepts everything from the nature and steadily continues to keep moving forward amidst all the challenges, and finally forms into an ocean HERSELF. Similar to a river is this entrepreneur who never stopped amidst life’s various challenges. She embraced BIG CHANGES such as moving countries, motherhood, career breaks and many other challenges with confidence and courage. She patiently kept moving forward and had faith in her own wings. She accepted the new ways, new cultures, new country, new people, new language and learnt the art of “Integration” and applied it across all aspects of her life. She opened her arms to new learning, challenges and realized her strengths and committed herself towards serving the people of the 2 nations, her motherland India and her dreamland Netherlands. She is a Multi-talented entrepreneur owning multiple businesses, she envisions to bring about real change into people’s lives and leave a legacy which will be remembered and celebrated for years to come.
Meet Vrinda Thakur-Founder of Finsourcing and Founder of few other businesses and charity organisations she has passionately founded, and is working dedicatedly towards changing many lives. Her entrepreneurship journey unfolds into a mystic way and it leaves us in awe of her courage, determination and patience with which she has build a successful business which is helping people in various ways. Finsourcing her dream organization, they are the go-to consultants for businesses in Europe and India. They help small and medium size organizations from the Netherlands who are looking for business opportunities in India and vice versa, and help them expand and grow in both markets by finding right fit, connections in both markets. Together with their customers they find value across boundaries, develop insights to act on, and energize team to sustain success. They offer Business Consultation in Waste Water Recycling, Solid Waste Management, and conduct various workshops to help people understand culture and Integrate.
Municipal Solid Waste: Her company applies modular design of the installation components all based on proven technology and release these installations in only 12 months. They have a well proven 25-year life cycle approach which ensures lowest cost of ownership due to the highly efficient operations. They are committed to deliver solutions with maximum environmental impact that are financially profitable and contribute to 11 of the United Nations development objectives. The basis of the agreement with any Municipality is a guarantee of a daily amount of unsorted MSW being provided to their plant and the Municipality makes available a land plot for a duration of minimal 25 years.
Vrinda is also associated as an Executive Director at Sustainable Business Development (SusBDe) , a Dutch Project Management Company. They hold expertise in the Solid Waste Management and are implementing and executing Municipal Solid Waste projects across India, focusing on local stakeholder management with the aim to establish zero-waste-to-energy plants within India. Their website is- www.susbde.com
She has also founded a charity organization named AADHAR4U along with few of her friends and the passionate cook and food lover in her has also founded a BIRYANI JOINT. How did she achieve her dreams and turn them into reality?
Before talking about her business she talks about life and says-
“A meaningful life is not being rich, being popular, being highly educated or being perfect. It is about being real, being humble, being able to share ourselves and touch the life of others. It is only then we could have a full, happy and contented life”.
A Little girl with BIG Dreams begins her first Job.
Vrinda is touching many people lives in many ways. As a young girl she always had big dreams, and rightly so as she was born and brought up in the city of dreams in India-Mumbai. Born in the 1960s her family was a conservative family who restricted her from adventures of life. As a young college student she was actively involved in the student’s union council of St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai, and loved organizing cultural and social events during her college days, those events certainly boosted her self-confidence. Not just that she was also selected for the leading role for the very first Marathi TV series, but due to her conservative background she was not permitted to be a part of this adventure. After her graduation in 1985 at the age of 21 years, she tied the wedding knot with Girish Thakur, and soon after in April 1986 she landed in The Netherlands. New country, new people, new cultures, new language brought along its own challenges and the young Vrinda did feel a bit lost, but she kept moving forward with confidence, patience and along the path learnt everything that this new country and life had to offer her.
“Coming from a cosmopolitan city like Mumbai, my thoughts about integration were always open and broad. Therefore, integrating to Dutch society was always one of our priorities. The first generation that migrates to any new country always faces more hurdles than the next generation. When we moved to Amersfoort, we were the only Indian family in the city! It was a challenge”…she says.....
She overcame every challenge with courage and in a blink of an eye she was soon blessed with 2 children. Anand, her son is an information engineer working as an IT consultant and her daughter Anagha is a doctor. Back when they were kids the young mother in her preferred to be a full-time mother and housewife as she believed that at that age it is important to be around the children to shape their values and upbringing. She learnt the local language which is Dutch and explored her skills into cooking and loved every bit of it. But soon after her children begun their little steps into schooling, she decided to start her career. Talking about her first job she says-
“Once the younger one started with primary school, I thought of re-educating myself to enter the job market. I considered becoming a teacher and completed my English teacher’s training diploma course from the Open University, UK in order to teach at primary school level. The British School in The Netherlands offered a substitute teacher’s job and I took up the position. Unfortunately, we moved from Zoetermeer to Amersfoort due to my husband’s new job. Soon I realized that there are no English schools in the neighborhood. This was certainly a little frustrating for me but as my nature is not that of cribbing, I thought of taking up a new direction”.
Vrinda and her Family
The ambitious woman in her now wanted to start her career and soon she underwent a evaluation test and based on the results she decided to pursue a degree in finance and accounting and attained Bachelor in Finance and Accounting from ACCA UK. She soon took up a job in accounting and within a span of eight years she progressed from AP accountant to the assistant AP director. In this period, she worked very hard and was committed to continuous learning. With her work ethics and excellent organizational skills, she moved up the corporate ladder very quickly.
“Along with a sincere work ethic if you show other qualities like managing people, leadership and communicating skills you certainly have a chance to move up the ladder,” she says.
Talking about the Dutch working culture she says,
“The Dutch working environment is quite different from the one back home. You need to understand their business and social etiquettes to achieve the desired success. Transparency, commitment and punctuality are very much valued in The Netherlands. Balancing the work, household, children, and social-cultural events was certainly not easy but I got through with the unwavering support of my family”, she adds.
Entrepreneurship- A New Adventure, A New Vison to integrate people & cultures to make a difference into the society.
After working with dedication for many years in the corporate world, In 2011 she decided to take up next adventure. Vrinda decided to start her own business and use her skills and knowledge to help people in both the countries she loves the most, Netherlands and India. That gave birth to Finsourcing. Finsourcing is a consulting company to channel her passion in strengthening business relationships between both countries. Finsourcing’s understanding of the business, social and cultural etiquettes of both India and Netherlands plays a vital role in this endeavor. Her fluency in English, Dutch, Hindi and Marathi has played a key role in building meaningful partnerships between public and private organizations between the two countries.
Finsourcing focuses on Water Management and Solid Waste Management sectors. Before founding Finsourcing she under took in-depth research and study about these sectors and learnt from The Dutch about their renowned and innovative technologies and knowledge related to both these fields and envisions to apply them in the Indian market to resolve issues in these two sectors. Vrinda is passionately working towards resolving these major concerns across India. Considering the growing IT outsourcing business in The Netherlands. She along with her husband Girish has also developed a coaching program for Indian and Dutch organizations and helps expatriates understand cultural differences and better integrate into Dutch society or vice-versa.
“I think the impact of this program is much more effective than that from any theoretical sources because it is founded entirely on our personal experiences over the years. It assists every individual to overcome the vast cultural gap and gain confidence in their communication skills”.
Vrinda always likes to go the extra mile and hence she also conducts team building events through Indian cooking workshops for few Dutch organizations. The concept was highly appreciated and well received by Dutch people. It was a challenge as needed significant alterations in the selected recipes, as needed to consider the availability of ingredients in the local Dutch markets. But she enjoys conducting workshops and along the journey learns and applies those learnings back into her business.
“I always believe that if you wish to do something and do it with all your heart, follow your passion and you will be successful. Of course, success can be measured on different scales. For me a balance between my professional world, charity work and social and private life was most important. So, I measure my success in balancing my life on these factors. And I must say that yes, I do,” she says.
WASTE TO WEALTH- The wake-up call to turn her dream into reality.
In December 2016, while Vrinda was enjoying her holiday in Mumbai, one fine morning she woke up to the news of huge fire outbreak at Deonar Dumping yard and that incident was the headline news on the front pages of many leading news and media channels. That news devastated and disturbed her a lot. While the news disappeared after a few months, it haunted Vrinda for long enough to want to foray into the Waste Management sector in India. After returning to Netherlands, she decided to learn and understand the nuances of waste management. She attended a couple of seminars on the subject. She also visited a few waste management’s companies and their plants in The Netherlands. Most importantly she tried to understand the technical and commercial angle of this business.
She strongly believes that “Waste is not a problem; waste is a resource”. After gathering all kinds of information on MSW, she identified about 8 to 10 Municipal Corporations near Mumbai generating 500-1000 TPD (Tons Per Day). She personally visited those corporations and their waste dumping yard and noticed that there was a hesitancy among the corporations as it was difficult for them to trust and accept Vrinda as a woman, especially her background of living in Europe for over 35 years and at a field level of MSW.
“It took a while for me to build that trust and confidence among the various stakeholders. She also noticed that Municipal Solid Waste is a male dominated field in India and so far and she was the only woman dealing with it, right from ground level to Zero waste concept. I must say that I was well respected at all corporations,” she says.
Turned her DREAM into Reality. MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE TO CNG & Recyclables
Vrinda has always worked very passionately towards turning every challenge into an opportunity and with her determination, continuous learning and zeal to keep going she has conquered and turned every dream into reality.
In the year 2018 along with one of the prominent Dutch waste management companies, she collected basic available data from a few Municipal Corporations (vicinity of Mumbai and Pune), and designed sustainable Waste to Fuel solutions for capacities varying from 500 to 1200 tons per day as per Indian Waste Policy. Each plant is customized for desired results. Their plants are completely emission free, reduce the CO2 footprint and provide local employment alongside they also solve the problem of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and provide green, emission free CNG and high-quality Recyclables. They operate with selected preferred suppliers and contractors.
Her company applies modular design of the installation components all based on proven technology and release our installations in only 12 months. They have a well proven 25-year life cycle approach which ensures lowest cost of ownership due to the highly efficient operations. They are committed to deliver solutions with maximum environmental impact that are financially profitable and contribute to 11 of the United Nations development objectives. The basis of the agreement with any Municipality is a guarantee of a daily amount of unsorted MSW being provided to their plant and the Municipality makes available a land plot for a duration of minimal 25 years.
“We undertake projects by installing 500 Mt/day up to1200 Mt/day Municipal Solid Waste to Energy/Biogas Plants on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate, Transfer (“DBFOT”) model. Sustainable Waste Management has become my passion and we owe it to ourselves and future generations to give them a clean and healthy environment to prosper. Without enforcement, guidance, and collaboration, waste management simply does not work,” she says.
Your Greatness is not what you have, it is what you give
Read about Vrinda’s charity organization and Biryani venture in her own words. You will experience her passion and zeal through her words and those words will silently whisper stories of her passion, hardwork, determination and courage she has poured over the decades which teach us many stories and lessons which we can all carry along in our journey of career and life.
AADHAAR4U- Founded in 2006
“In our Indian social network, when we meet, often there were discussions about doing something for the underprivileged back home. For many years I heard of and was a part of these discussions. Again, it is in my nature to step up and take initiative e; after discussing with my husband, we decided to create a charity AADHAAR4U along with two other Indian friends. Since 2006, AADHAAR4U is registered at the Chamber of Commerce and Dutch Tax Authority. We take up annual and biannual projects to benefit causes in remote places of Maharashtra. I am proud to say that up to now we have completed 11 projects successfully. Every year we organize a Charity event to raise an amount for these projects and I am pleased to see both Indian and Dutch communities come together for this noble cause. Without their support we cannot hope to achieve our set goals. Every year we personally visit these completed projects and it gives us enormous satisfaction” www.aadhaar4u.org
Get Biryani Venture- Founded in 2019.
“Passion and love for cooking and feeding many has been a part of me. Many years many of our friends were after me to start ‘eating join
t’ here in The Netherlands, but I never took it seriously as cooking was just my hobby. In 2019, still thought of giving a try on it, as I strongly believe ‘you live only once so whatever you wish to try just do it’. Just once a week I make Chicken and Veg Biryani and sell through proper channels like UberEATS etc. Demand and response were overwhelming”
Vrinda signs offs with this heartwarming note
"I am very thankful to my parents for instilling in me the ethics and values of Indian society and I am grateful to my family and friends who have always encouraged me to be an honest and humble person. Whatever I have achieved so far wouldn’t have been possible without the support from my husband and children".....she says
We wish Vrinda Thakur all the very best in all her ventures and in her future endeavors. If you wish to avail consulting services from Finsourcing please visit https://www.finsourcing.nl/or if you wish to know more about their charity organisation please visit www.aadhaar4u.org or if you wish to relish yummy biryani please visit www.getbiryani.com