Stef van Dongen (1976) is an impact-driven entrepreneur. He started Enviu in 2002. Through, Enviu, he combines economic insights, mass collaboration methods, branding, and new technologies to enable large numbers of people to come together, self-organize and make a positive impact. Enviu looks for ways that mass collaboration can help solve major global problems. Through creative collaboration with non-profits, government, and companies, Enviu inspires entrepreneurship among citizens and consumers around social and ecological issues such as water, mobility, food, health and well being.
Hi there, I am Stef van Dongen. Welcome to my personal website. Let me introduce myself to you.
I was born in a family of entrepreneurs and grew up in a small village in The Netherlands. My sister, is a great singer and entrepreneur. Check her site: www.charliedee.com. My parents had some companies in the financial services industry, so I got entrepreneurship for breakfast, for lunch and for dinner. When I was 17 years old I started my first company, an online (well back then by fax) grocery shopping service for the elderly and well off people in the region. After my 18th birthday I started working in the financial services industry as a new business developer. Later I worked together with my father to run the family owned business. In August 2002 I started pioneering with the concept of Enviu.
At Enviu we are exploring the new coordinates of the economy, an economy of the crowd, an economy that creates value for people and planet. We do this by developing fresh new business ideas that drive massive social and environmental change.
In the last years we started up several companies and projects (see the WOW! Projects). They were all were realized because of the thousands of people that are connected to Enviu and share their expertise, creativity and networks to make great things happen. Together we can realize so much more than if we would work alone. We can learn from each other, inspire each other and we create with each other.
Education
I did a bachelor in entrepreneurship and my Master in Business Administration at the Rotterdam School of Management with the specialisation Global Business Society Management. During my studies I got inspired by the concepts of co-creation and sustainability and started working out my ideas of the co-creation economy. Professors like Han Brezet, Rob van Tulder, Gail Whiteman and Jeroen van Wijk were a great source of inspiration to me.
Authors that changed my perspective on things:
- Plato with the Dialogues
- Max Weber on bureaucracy theory
- Scott on institutions
- Hardin with the tragedy of the commons
- Charles Leadbeater with We-think
- Don Tapscott with Wikinomics
- Chris Anderson with e.g. Makers and Wired
If you understand Dutch you could check out this video or this radio interview to understand more about who I am, what I do and why. If you prefer English, check this one.