Winny Hoffmann

Winny Hoffmann

Some entrepreneurs make a flying start by taking over their parents' company. Others - like Winny Hoffmann - literally create their own company, starting from nothing. In more than 25 years, this woman entrepreneur from Beek en Donk has built up a very strong business. What's more, she has done so in an industry that is dominated by men.

The first things that Winny Hoffmann saw when she started selling her company's services at the beginning of the 1980s were frowns. And that wasn't so surprising, because even today there aren't too many women with companies that build vibration-proof shoring walls and piling. "The fact that as a woman I was working in a man's business was a disadvantage at first, but now it's an advantage", she explains. "In the beginning there were some people who wondered if I knew enough about what I was doing. And that was very frustrating at times." However she soon proved that those doubts were misplaced. Customers and banks quickly gained confidence, and the Hoffmann Group started to grow very rapidly. And the advantage? "There are still hardly any women in this business. That means people don't forget me, and that can be very useful."

Hoffmann built up a company with an excellent reputation, which now has sixty employees. The Hoffmann Group constantly invests in new technologies, and it looks as though Hoffmann always manages to take the right decisions. Which was a good reason for the ‘Beste Ondernemers Visie' (Best Entrepreneurs Vision) jury to award her the BOV trophy in early 2006. Hoffmann: "I owe a lot to my employees. They're a really strong team, with a good balance of men and women. Both have their strong points, and we use them to the full. For example we have two women who operate a concrete mixing plant on site. The mixing process has to be very carefully controlled, and you also have to keep a very careful record of what you do. That kind of work is more suited to women than to men."

Why did she start her company in the Eindhoven region? Hoffmann: "I come from this region and I feel at home here. That's why. But we work all over the Netherlands. As well as in Germany, Belgium and northern France. And for that reason, this region has a good, central location."

For more information, visit http://www.hoffmanngroep.com/