Who we are

WHO WE ARE

WHO WE ARE

WHO WE ARE

WHO WE ARE

Business Acceleration is a business-to-business marketing and sales consulting firm. We make your company perform better by identifying your unique strengths, ideal customers and enabling you to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Business Acceleration was founded in 2015 by Swinda Hagedoorn and Hugo Koppelaars. Each has more than 20 years experience at directors level in international organisations. They understand the complexity of doing business and are passionate about discovering the true differentiators of your company.

Consultants who work for Business Acceleration all have a minimum of 10 years business experience at relevant senior positions. We carefully maintain an international network of capable and like-minded people so that we always have access to the right expertise and skills.

Business Acceleration in action

SWINDA HAGEDOORN – MANAGING PARTNER

Swinda started her career in Logistics, including running a warehouse operation for Sigma Coatings. She then had a senior strategy position for almost 4 years after which she moved into several senior roles in marketing and sales. She was Director Marketing Management Europe at TNT (responsible for a ±20 million Euro budget) before she joined Business Acceleration.

HUGO KOPPELAARS – MANAGING PARTNER

Hugo’s passion for sales started after he first spend 5 years in finance (costing and fiscal). He was one of the key contributors to building a very successful strategic accounts program at TNT. Before joining Business Acceleration he was the Sales and Special Services Director for TNT Germany, being responsible for 400 employees and a revenue of 550 million Euro.

Swinda and Hugo both hold a masters degree in Business Economics. During their business careers they followed senior management courses (among which at RSM; Insead; Wharton and IMD) and were key note speakers at many business events.
Swinda is an executive business coach. Swinda and Hugo speak English, Dutch and German.

We do more

We focus on Business Acceleration, but keep our eyes open and minds sharp by engaging in area’s that are close to our hearts.

Business

Swinda is one of the minds behind (and co-founder of) Talent Boosters. Its mission is to help organisations transform by making employees more aware of their talents and personal drivers and enabling them to shape their (and thus the organisation’s) future. Want to take more control over your life or want to prepare your company/team for a more dynamic future? A Talent Boost may be what you are looking for.

We are a member of the Holland International Distribution Council (HIDC – In Dutch Nederland Distributieland/NDL). HIDC represents the Dutch logistics sector, and helps international companies make a smooth entry into the European market through the region’s leading gateway, the Netherlands. HIDC can help you find the right logistics or knowledge partner, based on its extensive member base, years of experience and in-depth knowledge of European logistics.

brand business_2

Together with BRAND business we developed a presentation training (Perfect Pitch), using our long experience in making highly effective presentations. BRAND business offers a range of business training courses, applying their expertise in visual design. Go to their website if you are interested in improving your presentation making skills and sign-in for one of Hugo’s very practical training sessions.

Science/Culture/Arts

We lecture in the Strategic Account Management and Customer-centric Strategy for B2B Markets courses (training programs for Business Executives) at the Rotterdam School of Management.

Swinda chairs the supervisory board of the Dutch Costume Museum in Amsterdam (and Hugo supports on finance/admin). The Dutch Costume Museum shows the craftsmanship, artistry and passion that created the Dutch traditional costume. The collection encompasses a cross-section of local traditional dress and folk art per region. A must see when you visit Amsterdam, you can book your ticket on-line in advance!

Hugo is a member of the Board of the Royal Maas Yacht Club. This Rotterdam Club was established in 1851 and is one of oldest rowing and sailing clubs of the Netherlands. The club possesses a spectaculair clubhouse near the river ‘Nieuwe Maas’, from which she derives her name. Hugo is responsible for the rowing section of De Maas.

EFR Logo

Hugo is a member of the ‘Raad van Inhoud’ for EFR Business Week. They advise the organising committee about content, speakers and other business related topics. The EFR Business Week is one of the largest and most prestigious student organised events in Europe. It aspires to be the most innovative, society-aligned event that interactively connects and inspires students and companies.

RAV Animated Visuals – We hope you enjoy the artwork (icons and visuals) on our website. We thought and searched long and hard to find someone capable of creating unique visuals that express what we are about. We were looking for true art, not the usual stock photography or impersonal coolness you see a lot in business. Fortunately, we found Rafaël Croonen, from RAV Animated Visuals, who understood our ambition, challenged our thinking and created the uniqueness and creativity that we were after.  Please read this blog for more background about our website design. We intend to work more with specialists like Rafaël. Please visit his web-site to see what else he is capable of.

We used to have a broad range of products and services with insufficient connection between them. That changed once we started working with Business Acceleration. They showed us how we could segment and connect our portfolio. We now win more new customers and up-sell to existing customers.

Willemien Brand – Creative Director, Buro Brand