Engagement and sustainability according to Alexander Saverys

Degroof Petercam - Marketing & Communication Specialist

'Sustainable entrepreneurship? No one will be talking about that in five years. You will do sustainable business or not,' says Alexander Saverys of CMB. In his spare time he is vice president of field hockey club Gantoise. 'Working with others to push a club like this to the top, that gives enormous satisfaction.'

"Look, that's my youngest daughter. Alexander Saverys points to a field hockey field where 10-year-old girls are training. When his daughter sees him, she starts waving. And then all the other girls. 'I coach the group. Every weekend I accompany them to the games. Hence also my commitment to Gantoise. When my children started here, we parents realized that we would spend our weekends here for the next twenty, twenty-five years,' Saverys laughs. He himself still plays a game every Monday evening.

Sponsorship community

Gantoise has a long history. The club was founded in 1864 as an athletics club, from which several clubs have flowed, with KAA Gent being the most famous. 'The tennis and field hockey club was in a dip in 2013,' Saverys looks back. 'With motivated volunteers, we then put our shoulders under this project. Sport has an enormous recruiting power. When I walk around here and see more than two thousand people together on and around the field, it gives me an incredible feeling. You cannot quantify that satisfaction in terms of money.'

'Although for a successful sports club you need money,' Saverys comments. For that he can count on Degroof Petercam. You can't do it with membership fees and income from catering. Every sports club needs sponsorship.'

According to Saverys, the people behind Degroof Petercam are in the fabric of the club. 'The first criterion for volunteers is "'not having time'. That means being efficient. What you do for Gantoise, you do before or after your hours - that applies to all sports clubs. The volunteers do not all have to be CEOs, by the way. The biggest common denominator of all these people is passion. They have the gusto to go for it.'

By 2030, Gantoise wants to move from the Belgian top to the European top. This is only possible if we make the framework even more professional. At the same time we have to make sure that we can absorb the turnaround of the past years as a non-profit organization. We will need a few more years for that. Yet I hope that by 2030 we can bring a major tournament to Ghent, a European championship would be wonderful. No lack of ambition.

I hope we can bring a major tournament to Ghent by 2030, a European championship would be brilliant. No shortage of ambition.

Alexander Saverys, CEO of CMB, Vice president of Gantoise

Greenness and diversification

Equally ambitious, Saverys shows himself as CEO of CMB, one of the country's oldest and largest shipping companies. 'Sustainability is perhaps the most expensive and at the same time most hollow word spoken in recent years. It's about the future of your business, thinking about added value.'

'Sustainability as such, no one will be talking about that in five years,' Saverys believes. 'It will be part of normality. If you don't do it, you're out of the picture. Period. A regulatory framework will also emerge, but it will be slow. That's why I choose the flight forward. Simply put: we need to green and diversify.'

'The turnaround obviously doesn't happen overnight. Fortunately, we are a family business. By going off the stock market, we can accelerate our sustainable transition. At the same time, the stock market is a wonderful tool. I do not rule out that we will return one day, but then with our cleantech story.'

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