De Baak Management Center VNO-NCW opens branch in Amsterdam
On Thursday, April 24, De Baak Management Center VNO-NCW opened a new office in the monumental building of the former Burgerweeshuis orphanage in Amsterdam’s Zuidas district. It is De Baak’s third location, in addition to the existing branches in Noordwijk and Driebergen.
Learning as experience
“When you make the decision, you think you’re taking a risk,” explains General Manager Harry Starren during the opening ceremony, “but when you implement that decision it doesn’t seem so bad. Maybe we should have done it much earlier. We started 60 years ago, offering training courses in Noordwijk, and 10 years later we opened a hotel with training accommodation on the coast. It has been more than 5 years since we opened our branch in Driebergen where we share a sort of campus - a shared estate - with associates from various organizations. In Driebergen we hope that people do not confuse ‘learning’ with ‘sitting inside’. We bring people outside more and more and into the world of experience. The estate has become a profitable business and, to be honest, it’s that knowledge which has given us the courage to take this step.
An urban safari with useful differences, creative entrepreneurs and multinationals. Why have we chosen Amsterdam? Amsterdam is an international brand name, and the Zuidas is the bustling, new business heart of the Netherlands. It is located very close to the highway and Schiphol Airport, providing excellent accessibility for our professionals - most of who live in this area - as well as our customers ‘around the corner’. We have very little accommodation in our building in Amsterdam. Where are the hotel rooms for instance? They can be found all over Amsterdam, but not here. In addition, we only have 1 room in which to host our initial meetings with people. The reason for this is because we take people into the city. De Baak goes on safaris in cities throughout the world and we will also be letting people experience what the city does with people in Amsterdam, how much diversity there is, how many differences there are and how many opportunities can be found here. We will show them the excitement, the artists and creative companies, and how much there is to learn from one another. We want to bring together the unimagined and the unexpected here. We believe you can learn from differences, and that you should use them and maintain them. We don’t want monotony and we will welcome the learning experience again and again. De Baak Amsterdam is going to be a little different.”
About De Baak
For 60 years, De Baak has been an ideal place for leaders, entrepreneurs and professionals who seek inspiration, motivation, knowledge and insight - appealing to their curiosity, reflection and urge to grow. This can be done in short and long programs, in small and large groups, and individually. De Baak has a large network of over 400 specialists working in the Netherlands and abroad who are affiliated with the organization as trainers. De Baak has branches in Noordwijk and Driebergen and - since April 24, 2008 - in Amsterdam.