“We all share a down-to-earth, entrepreneurial approach”

‘In the Business Development department, we look at the long-term growth of Cefetra Group,’ says Stefan. ‘We give strategic advice to the companies in the Group, manage projects as investments, acquisitions, and setting up new companies. In all these projects, I meet many different people in the Group and outside the company. That gives me a lot of energy.’ 

Stefan joined Cefetra Group in 2021. ‘I ended up here through an acquaintance I have in common with management. We just started talking: what can we do for each other? It turned out to be a good match. I am truly in my element here.’ 

Stefan studied maritime engineering. ‘After a while, I realized I found shipping more interesting than shipbuilding,’ he says. ‘I started working a ship broker. From that role I moved into various operational and commercial positions, and eventually into business development.’

‘In my spare time, I had already become interested in investing and stocks trading, and investing gradually became part of my work as well. At Cefetra Group it all comes together. It’s a specialized trading and distribution company with many different business models in the group. The investing component plays a part, for example, in the mergers and acquisitions we do.’

‘What appeals to me enormously is that we have a strategic outlook as well as an entrepreneurial get-it-done spirit,’ says Stefan. ‘The processes are not made too complex. We approach the work with a trader’s eagerness. There is a strong intrinsic drive.’ 

‘What we have here is a group of different companies, each with its own distinctive style, yet all of them with the same down-to-earth approach and entrepreneurial attitude. You take responsibility for your own path. We don’t have endless discussions about what can or can’t be done. That’s a nice starting point in business development.’ 

‘For me, the first project I did is an important milestone: setting up Cefetra Dairy from scratch. As with every project, there were challenges involved. I am proud of the way we handled those. The new company was able to keep growing as a scale-up right away.’ 

‘A more general highlight is my own growth path; step by step you can progress and I was given a lot of freedom from the outset. That also fits with the entrepreneurship that is celebrated at Cefetra Group. I am ambitious and I want to keep developing myself here.’ 

‘I hope to eventually lead my own entity, working with people with different capabilities and personalities to reach more milestones together.’