At the end of 2021, Emily De Baets became partner at Scopernia Europe. This is her story…
This milestone in my professional career, deserves some extra explanation. It is a symbolic benchmark for me along the path I started three years ago. Almost to the day, as my first day of work at Scopernia was February 19th, 2019.
It was in the summer of 2019 that I decided to switch my professional career to strategic consulting. The knot was tied quickly but the motivation leading up to the decision had slowly built up over time.
Every time I saw images on TV, especially of forest fires, I felt an urge to take action. To not just stand on the sidelines. At that time, sustainability was still viewed somewhat "skewed", especially in our conservative business world. Nevertheless, I was not to be put off any longer. I would help write business strategies and ensure that they were not only financially inspired. I would help map out how a company could also contribute to a better world.
In my mind, the two were not mutually exclusive either. An idea that still has little support even today.
And so it came to pass. I started working at, what was then, Duval Union Consulting. An out-of-the-box consulting firm that wrote business strategies for digital transformation. Slowly my mission seeped into the company. As it turned out, I wasn't the only one lying awake listening to the same stories. And apparently I wasn't the only one with a particular vision of fusing "doing well" and "doing good" either.
In the meantime, I am proud to announce that I am a co-partner of Scopernia and have fused my personal mission with that of the company (tip: check out our new website Scopernia.eu). All this with a great partner in crime at my side @JoCaudron, who can proclaim it like no other ;-)
And whom I hereby want to thank extensively for listening to my "rebellious mission", apparently recognizing something in it (he seems to have written a similar book about it) and even deciding to have some faith in me to give it a patch together! :-)
Together with @DadoVanPeteghem and @JeremyDenisty, we hope to spread this mission on the other side of the world too!
Emily.