René Bender’s CV and profile
René Bender was born and raised in Delft and grew up in a family of true entrepreneurs. He studied law at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, following which he worked as a trainee for the European Commission in Brussels. He then worked for eleven years for HES Beheer NV in Rotterdam, initially with Graan Elevator Maatschappij, then the holding company of HES Beheer and finally European Bulk Services.
In 1994, René decided to start his own business rather than continue working for a listed company. Together with partner Han Beckmann, he built up a portfolio with a strong focus on investments in manufacturing and trading companies, with a total workforce of more than 200 FTEs. René was also the owner-manager of their first acquisition, Metaalwarenfabriek Bredemeijer in Hilversum. They soon started investing in the inland shipping freight brokering sector, ICT and Internet services as well. In 2006, the total turnover of the businesses in the joint holding company amounted to more than €50 million. Most of the shareholdings were sold subsequently.
In 2008, René decided to carry on alone and completed two acquisitions to create the basis of the Bredemeijer Group in Utrecht: an international trading company with three proprietary brands in the non-food consumer goods market. In 2011, a successor took over his role as Managing Director of the Bredemeijer Group while René continued in his role as an active shareholder in his existing companies. This change also gave René more time for his family and other activities.
As an entrepreneur and owner-manager, René has extensive expertise in the area of B2B and B2C, has run multiple businesses and is experienced in positioning, transforming and restructuring companies. He is highly involved in all facets of SME operations and feels personally responsible for how a business is run.
He is an entrepreneur, is creative, can transform vision into operations, is market-driven, communicative, a good coach and motivator and focuses on opportunities and solutions.
His hobbies are competing in classic car rallies, sailing, playing sports (fitness training and golf) and reading.
René is married to Saskia and they have three children together.