BBK is a Banking Foundation that has held the same values and its compromise with the Biscayan society for over a century. In 2014, changes to the 26/2013 Savings Banks and Foundations Act forced it to become a banking foundation, in a context of high uncertainty and instability regarding both microeconomic and macroeconomic trends as well as in the stock markets. Instead of becoming independent from it, which was the easiest way to go after the Act was passed, BBK did not hesitate to remain in support of Kutxabank, as it had always done. BBK has always followed the same idea: to allow Kutxaba ..read more

Today Wilfa is the market leader in the small kitchen appliances sector in the Nordic countries, selling to all major retailers in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. It is also attacking export markets with gusto, starting Wilfa Germany GMBH in 2020, and opening up distributors in the UK, Netherlands and Poland and, in 2022, Spain, France, Switzerland and Austria. Hoff joined Wilfa, which is based in Oslo and was founded in 1948, just after graduating from the Norwegian school of business and economics and the University of Trier. His first role was working as a controller in Hong Kong, lear ..read more

Market demand for data centre space has been growing year-on-year and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future as more and more devices connect to the internet and more data is produced. They are the backbone of the digital economy and are critical to everyone’s lives, enabling everything from cloud computing, apps, social media, remote working platforms including meeting applications Zoom and Teams, to video and music streaming, shopping, travel, health and medical research. Without data centres, society simply couldn’t function in this digital age; everything runs from a server in a ..read more

Milena Videnova of Axpo Bulgaria has everything necessary to succeed in the complex and competitive energy industry. She has proven this with the results achieved in the almost two years since she joined Axpo Bulgaria, a subsidiary of the Swiss-holding Axpo Group. Videnova is smart, ambitious and efficient. Being a female leader in a male-dominated field is not new to her. She has a strong track record of working in different managerial positions, with over 21 years’ experience in the banking, insurance and financial sectors. Starting her career as an analyst at the Investment Bank of Brandenb ..read more

Life is what happened while Maarten van Dooren, the co-founder of successful 3D imaging software company, PixelPool, was busy making other plans. Starting out with dreams of becoming an architect, life landed him in the fashion world instead. That’s where PixelPool’s software tool, Dtail, finds itself today. It’s on the frontlines of revolutionising the industry — able to shorten production times, improve process efficiencies, and drive sustainability for major brands. Van Dooren co-founded PixelPool in 1999 with Willem van den Hoed and has grown it to over 100 people across two continents whi ..read more

The publication of the EU’s long-awaited draft corporate sustainability and due diligence directive in February 2022 marked an important milestone of the emergence of mandatory human rights due diligence legislation, laws that impose a positive obligation on companies to have in place due diligence procedures designed to identify, assess and mitigate adverse human rights impacts of their business activities. In parallel, increasing expectations from key stakeholders – including investors, shareholders, counterparties and consumers – are driving companies to increase their focus on responsible ..read more

How is the packaging industry stepping up to the sustainability challenge? We saw from the COP26 climate change summit that if the world is to limit global warming to 1.5°C or less by the end of the century, we all have to really increase our efforts. The packaging industry is taking climate change challenge very seriously. Sidel’s customers, which include well-known global brands and companies, are setting ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, not only for themselves but also their whole supply chain. We all recognise that progress on sustainability relies on cooperation, espe ..read more

‘It’s lonely at the top’ might strike you as a terrible cliché, however it is important that it is used. As we mark the start of Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK (May 9–16), which takes ‘loneliness’ as its 2022 theme, it’s clear the pressure faced by CEOs is quite unique. Let’s start by acknowledging that there is a flipside to the rewards that come with success. I often find that the people I work with have business challenges that are totally consuming – whether it’s strategy, operations, people, growth – everything they do is at the lack of themselves. CEOs are so ingrained into their ..read more

As the pandemic slowly retreats, it has left countless companies around the world short of the talent necessary to take fast-emerging opportunities that have arisen in its wake. Simultaneously though, many senior executives are unwilling to leave permanent positions for new opportunities until the economic horizon brightens. Just as crucially, the economic damage wrought by Covid-19 and, now, the war in Ukraine, means many companies urgently need prompt investment. And none more so than start-ups and SMEs, historically the most vulnerable to crises. Clearly, the demand for executive talent has ..read more

Achieving gender equality is one of the biggest challenges facing companies today. For many, it continues to be an ambition rather than a reality. Yet at Landor & Fitch, under Jane Geraghty’s leadership, gender equality has been achieved across all levels of the business, with 46 percent of its women in leadership positions and 56 percent of all employees’ being female. “There’s no silver bullet to getting gender equality right,” says Jane, reflecting on the challenges she faced in reaching this goal. “Throughout my career, it has always been a personal passion point and I’m proud to lead ..read more