Alumni story Tom Kloosterman

Forward·Inc is a foundation that helps newcomer entrepreneurs – entrepreneurs with a refugee background – to start and further develop their businesses. The idea started when, at the height of the refugee crisis in Europe, one of the co-founders realised that very few organisations were seeing the potential of newcomers in the Netherlands.

As Tom explains: “Bringing together people from his own network, the co-founder connected newcomer entrepreneurs with professors, students, and other entrepreneurs. The first thing they organised was a weekend bootcamp.” Currently Forward·Inc offers five different programmes and operates internationally. 

Tom’s journey at Forward·Inc started as an intern. “After graduating the MID programme, I did a three-month internship. This was my dream job to start with because it combined entrepreneurship and development and it’s based in an international environment.” In his current position, Tom’s focus is on business development.

“I write proposals for Dutch philanthropical funds and for corporate partners. For example, we have a partnership with Coca Cola. I am always looking for new angles to fund our programs to grow the impact and help the entrepreneurs in our community.”

What he enjoys most? “The team! We are twelve young people from all around the world. We are positive individuals, so working with this team gives me a lot of energy. Also, I enjoy meeting different actors outside of the organisation. I am working with a variety of partners or soon-to-be partners and there is a lot of freedom to reach out to organisations that I think are a good fit. You meet a high-level corporate partner and the same day you can sit down with an entrepreneur from Yemen. It’s very diverse and the people I get to work with have inspiring stories to share.”

Tom’s entrepreneurial mindset isn’t limited to making social impact. He is also eager to work on issues related to sustainability and has put his background from Wageningen to good use. Together with two partners, he recently launched their start-up Blauwe Bagger, which aims to turn the costly and linear chain of dredge in the Netherlands into a circular and sustainable system. With innovative techniques, Blauwe Bagger filters the dredge into separate streams of raw materials that can be reused in the building- or agricultural sector. 

“We got our first assignment from the municipality in Rotterdam. We are still in the research phase, but this is something I am very passionate about. I can use the business development knowledge that I gained at Forward·Inc in our start-up. Starting 2023 I will work one day on this project and the other days at Forward·Inc.”