Thomas Schelfhout

I love the way that entrepreneurs can create something from nothing and have the ability to motivate and inspire the people around them. Being a private equity investor puts me close to those entrepreneurs, a position from which I can help them realize their growth ambitions. It gives me energy to work with hugely motivated managers and map out strategic lines with them. By nature, I have a broad scope of interest and as private equity investors we come into contact with a wide range of companies. This gives me the opportunity to constantly keep learning and apply it all in practice.

Throughout my career, I’ve sought out the people that inspire me and give me the energy to go that extra mile. From the first moment I joined Gilde that feeling of like-mindedness with my colleagues was unmistakable. They are highly motivated, they want only the best for our companies and they go to great lengths to realize our companies’ ambitions. What’s more they are great people, each and every one of them, with highly divergent backgrounds. As a team, it means we all complement one another.

The entrepreneurial odyssey made by Actief Interim. Actief started in 1988 as a modestly sized, local employment agency in Belgian Limburg. Today, it is a leading temporary employment agency that is active in four West-European countries. Every day, Actief finds work for more than 20,000 people in a variety of different sectors. It gave me immense personal satisfaction to have helped a company that started locally make the transformation into a key international player.