Benelux Enterprise Awards 2025 Featuring:
AI Global Media, Ltd. (AI) takes reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the information on this web site. However, AI will not assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, correctness or completeness of any information that is available through this web site. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them. The information available through the website and our partner publications is for your general information and use and is not intended to address any particular finance or investment requirements. In particular, the information does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation by us or any of our partner publications and is not intended to be relied upon by users in making or refraining from making any investment or financial decisions. Appropriate independent advice should be obtained before making any such decision. Any arrangement made between you and any third party named in the site is at your sole risk and responsibility. EU Business News is thrilled to announce the launch of the Benelux Enterprise Awards 2026, now proudly entering its ninth year of celebrating the most exciting, impactful, and forward-thinking organisations across Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. This long-standing programme has become a fan favourite in the EU Business News calendar, shining a spotlight on businesses that dare to innovate, inspire, and break new ground in one of Europe’s most competitive and internationally connected regions. The 2026 edition promises more buzz, more brilliance, and more opportunities than ever before. From disruptive startups and agile SMEs to powerhouse enterprises transforming their sectors, the Benelux Enterprise Awards recognises the achievements that push boundaries and raise the bar for excellence. If your organisation is driving change, building community, or setting new standards across the region, this is your moment to shine. Sofi Parry, Senior Editor Website: www.eubusinessnews.com Benelux Enterprise Awards 2026
4. RSS-Hydro: Best Geospatial Modeling & Earth Observation Solutions Company 2026 6. Hydrogen Power Solutions BV: Emerging Hydrogen Storage Innovators of the Year 2026 – Europe 8. Value Drive B.V.: Best High-Stake Valuation Advisors 2026 10. CAP-City: Best Cross-Sector Youth Employability Initiative 2026 – Belgium 11. Effortel: Best MVNE Solutions Provider 2026 & OSS/BSS Solution of the Year: EMS 13. Learn2speak Dutch: Best Dutch Language Coaching Service for Expats & Professionals 2026 Contents
EU Business News- Benelux Enterprise Awards 2026 “RSS-Hydro’s mission is to create real impact and value to those impacted by extreme weather disasters, across all communities and sectors.” Founded in 2017 by Guy Schumann, RSSHydro is a dynamic, science-driven pioneer bridging the gap between advanced research and commercial climate risk solutions. On a mission to make the world a more secure and climate-resilient place, the company is dedicated to helping communities, governments, and businesses assess, predict, and mitigate the risks of climate extremes. It focuses heavily on extreme weather events and disaster risk reduction, specifically floods, wildfires, and waterrelated hazards. RSS-Hydro’s business activities are built around three main pillars: commercial products and services, high-end consulting, and research and development. Boasting a proven track record of successful projects around the world, the team takes pride in its ability to navigate the complexities of geospatial monitoring and Earth observation, offering a comprehensive suite of tailored solutions that leave a lasting, meaningful impact on communities and ecosystems alike. The company’s Earth Observation applications utilise remote sensing and advanced modeling techniques to analyse natural hazards, providing valuable geospatial insights to better protect communities and assets. By combining radar, microwave, and multi-spectral satellite imagery, RSS-Hydro tracks fire, flood, and water stress related disasters seamlessly. Using proprietary Machine Learning models, the team can accurately detect, map, monitor, and predict disaster events across the globe, at the level of impact. Best Geospatial Modeling & Earth Observation Solutions Company 2026 The impact of global warming is exacerbating the intensity of natural disasters around the world. As climate change accelerates, so does the frequency of floods, droughts, wildfires, and more. In this high-pressure environment, RSS-Hydro has emerged as a forward-thinking, science-driven company driving climate resilience through Earth Observation, space technology, and data-driven solutions. We spoke with Founder and CEO Guy Schumann to learn more about the company’s mission, as RSSHydro is named in the Benelux Enterprise Awards 2026. May26051 Rather than simply analysing past disaster data, RSS-Hydro actively simulates hazards, events, and impacts by blending hard science, advanced AI and geospatial technology, and high-performance computing. It provides globally scalable, all-weather disaster intelligence that yields highly accurate risk models, even when up to half of the local infrastructure data is completely missing. FloodSENS is RSS-Hydro’s cutting-edge machine learning algorithm that uses satellite imagery and topographic data to accurately identify and map flood extents globally across diverse conditions. It provides timely flood information for insurance, humanitarian aid, and disaster management. Through FireSENS, RSS-Hydro uses nearreal-time thermal data and demographics to pinpoint wildfire risk for vulnerable populations, addressing health threats from smoke inhalation and air quality degradation. It offers real-time insights and tracks long-term impacts, with customisable data integration for tailored community information and postfire monitoring. HydroSENS extracts vegetation health and runoff data from satellite imagery at various scales. The application can also integrate Sentinel-3 imagery to generate downscaled soil moisture and water stress indicators at 20m resolution. HydroSENS offers tailored solutions for monitoring runoff, vegetation, and soil. RSS-Hydro’s flood risk modeling solutions leverage advanced remote sensing and modeling to assess flood risks, providing accurate insights to identify vulnerabilities and support effective risk management strategies. A model simulates water depth, velocity, and extent for various scenarios, producing hazard and risk maps compliant with local and national regulations. The applications of this service include flood studies, urban design assessments, environmental impact assessments, river restoration, dam break analysis, drainage design, and mitigation planning. The company’s flagship SafeCity is an award-winning flood modeling solution that creates high-fidelity Digital Twins of urban water cycles. It is designed for public and private sectors alike, including municipalities, utilities, engineering firms, finance, and insurance companies. SafeCity’s key features include comprehensive flood risk assessment for entire municipal areas, including buildings and infrastructure; underground network integration, with detailed analysis of past and future events and return periods; the incorporation of development plans; flood protection recommendations; scenario testing and 3D visualisation; and forecasting capabilities. To maximise the impact of its innovative solutions, RSS-Hydro collaborates across three distinct ecosystems. It works alongside many world-leading national and international research and innovation organisations to constantly improve its science-based algorithms and models; works in close collaboration with municipalities, local governments, and communities to improve urban planning, protect public infrastructure, and design effective disaster risk reduction strategies; and also helps corporations, facility managers, and the financial sector safeguard physical assets against climate hazards. What’s more, RSS-Hydro operates an active research department that collaborates with MSc, PhD, and post-doc researchers to push the scientific envelope in geoinformatics and hydrology. The team understands that climate data can be overwhelmingly technical, and uses immersive 3D visualisations, artificial intelligence, and geospatial innovations to turn abstract risk numbers into tangible, clear realities. This allows decision-makers to clearly see the “case for investment” in climate adaption and disaster management.
5. Best Geospatial Modeling & Earth Observation Solutions Company 2026 Where competitors are typically restricted by local desktop software or specific cloud limitations, RSS-Hydro is entirely architectureagnostic. It can seamlessly scale simulations using a combination of numerical models, AI, and GPU across cloud-native setups, national supercomputers, or deploy them directly into orbit using space edge cloud computing. “Instead of waiting hours for a satellite to capture an image, transmit it to Earth, and wait for data processing, RSS-Hydro has moved its intelligence to the orbital frontier,” said Guy. “Partnering with satellite providers, we are deploying algorithms directly onto satellites or fast on the ground. This cuts data disaster turnaround times from hours down to just minutes, giving every decisionmaker life-saving data before the water even peaks.” RSS-Hydro has achieved several major scientific milestones since its inception, though its most prominent achievement to date has been its successful transition from a specialised R&D firm into a globally recognised pioneer in automated, spacebased disaster intelligence. Its methodology has caught the attention of the world’s biggest technology ecosystems, including start-up support and ongoing partnership collaborations from Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA Inception, and Oracle OCI. “Our proudest achievement is proving that a bootstrapped, science-first company can redefine how emergency managers, disaster response teams, global humanitarian groups, and the world’s largest tech companies interpret and react to climate risks.” Looking to the future, RSS-Hydro’s primary focus is the evolution of its core products, transitioning from “mapping what happened” to “predicting what will happen”. The big target is to reach advanced Technology Readiness Levels for predictive modeling, which will be achieved through the pursuit of proactive forecasting by fusing Earth Observation data with AI-assisted predictive models. Rather than delivering historical maps after a disaster, RSS-Hydro will be rolling out automated, scalable early warning networks that give cities and corporations hours, or even days, of advanced warning regarding exactly which infrastructure assets will fail. Ultimately, it aims to take its “Earth Observation for All” philosophy to the next level by aggressively scaling pilots across highly vulnerable regions. Beyond 2026, RSS-Hydro will be moving entirely away from ground-station latency. In collaboration with partners, the company will continue expanding the deployment of its AI algorithms directly onto satellite hardware. This allows the satellite to “think” in space, filtering out unnecessary information and transmitting critical disaster alerts straight to the ground in minutes. To support this growth, the internal structure is expanding. RSS-Hydro is actively doubling its workforce, targeting highly specialised technical profiles such as data scientists and hydraulic engineers, and a dedicated global expansion team to transition its R&D breakthroughs into dominant commercial SaaS products. “The future of RSS-Hydro is about speed, scale, and insight,” Guy concluded, “processing data at supercomputing speeds, scaling our solutions globally to save lives, and ensuring decision-makers can clearly understand climate risks before they happen and act rapidly when disasters happen.” Company: RSS-Hydro Web Address: www.rsshydro.lu
Jul22546 EU Business News- Benelux Enterprise Awards 2026 “Diesel is disappearing. The grid is overloaded. Batteries fall short. We make hydrogen practical by solving the storage challenge.” Based in Haren, Groningen, Hydrogen Power Solutions is an emerging innovator in hydrogen storage technology. The company develops practical hydrogen solutions for sectors where clean, reliable, and mobile energy is essential, including construction sites, infrastructure projects, events and festivals, maritime environments, defence, and remote locations. The company was founded by Cyriaan Teunissen, whose background includes TNO, Gasunie, Vinci Energies, and international energy transition projects. This combination of technical insight, sector knowledge, and practical project experience has shaped the company’s approach: not to develop hydrogen technology for the laboratory, but to make hydrogen deployable in real world environments. The challenge in hydrogen adoption is often not the generation of hydrogen itself. The real bottleneck lies in storage, transport, safety, and practical deployment. Construction companies, event organisers, and infrastructure operators all face the same problem. Diesel generators are increasingly restricted, polluting, noisy, and responsible for a significant share of onsite emissions. Grid connections are often unavailable or delayed. Batteries are useful, but not always powerful or flexible enough for heavier and longer duration applications. Hydrogen is a logical alternative, but conventional storage solutions are often complex, high pressure, and difficult to integrate into temporary or mobile settings. Hydrogen Power Solutions addresses what many consider to be the missing link in hydrogen infrastructure: practical and deployable hydrogen storage. Its patented MHC uses metal hydride technology to store hydrogen safely at low pressure. Unlike conventional hydrogen solutions that often depend on high pressure storage, the MHC simplifies deployment, handling, transport, and safety management. “No high pressure restrictions. No complex deployment. Practical hydrogen storage, ready for real world use.” The MHC is based on patented metal hydride technology that allows hydrogen to be absorbed into a metal structure and released again Emerging Hydrogen Storage Innovators of the Year 2026 – Europe As industries move away from diesel, the need for clean, reliable, and mobile power is growing rapidly. Yet hydrogen adoption often faces one practical barrier: storage. Hydrogen Power Solutions has developed a patented Modular Hydrogen Cassette (MHC) that enables safe, scalable, and low pressure hydrogen storage for real world applications. We take a closer look at the innovation below, as Hydrogen Power Solutions is recognised in the Benelux Enterprise Awards 2026. Contact: Cyriaan Teunissen Company: Hydrogen Power Solutions BV Web Address: www.hydrogenpowersolutions.eu when heat is applied. This process enables hydrogen to be stored safely and efficiently at low pressure. The system integrates hydrogen storage with thermal management, using a dedicated heating and cooling system to control absorption and release. Built on the footprint of a standard 10 ft container, with an ultra-low profile, the MHC has been designed to fit into existing logistics flows and operational environments. Designed for substantial hydrogen storage capacity, it combines significant energy potential with a compact and mobile form factor. This makes it suitable for applications where traditional hydrogen infrastructure is too heavy, too complex, or too slow to deploy. The strength of the MHC lies in the combination of low pressure storage, modularity, portability, scalability, and infrastructure compatibility. Where many hydrogen solutions focus primarily on generation or conversion, Hydrogen Power Solutions focuses on one of the most critical parts of the chain: making hydrogen storage practical. This is especially relevant for the construction sector. Construction companies are increasingly seeking alternatives to diesel generators due to emissions regulations, nitrogen reduction targets, grid congestion, and permitting challenges. Hydrogen Power Solutions offers a pathway to clean temporary power without depending on diesel generators or heavy grid connections. The Missing Link in Hydrogen Infrastructure
7. The technology has already been demonstrated under real world operating conditions during event testing at ESNS, providing valuable operational insights and confirming the practical deployability of the system outside a controlled test environment. For Hydrogen Power Solutions, this is an important step from concept and engineering towards commercial application and scaling. The MHC is protected by intellectual property, with a distinctive system architecture that combines metal hydride storage, thermal management, and modular deployment. It has been developed with practical use in mind, allowing customers to integrate hydrogen into their operations with less complexity and greater confidence. Hydrogen Power Solutions also supports a broader energy system around the MHC. When combined with fuel cells, electrolysers, battery buffering, and remote monitoring, the MHC becomes part of a complete clean energy solution. This allows users to generate, store, convert, and monitor energy in a more integrated and flexible way. As governments, industries, and project developers accelerate the transition away from diesel, the need for practical hydrogen storage will only increase. Hydrogen Power Solutions is positioning itself at the critical intersection of hydrogen storage, mobile energy, and real world deployment. By making hydrogen easier to store, transport, and deploy, Hydrogen Power Solutions is helping remove one of the key barriers to hydrogen adoption. This practical approach to innovation is precisely why the company has been recognised as Emerging Hydrogen Storage Innovators of the Year 2026 – Europe.
EU Business News- Benelux Enterprise Awards 2026 Best High-Stake Valuation Advisors 2026 Value Drive is a Dutch valuation boutique that focuses on high-end valuation engagements for critical management decisions in the Benelux mid-market. The company primarily serves mid-market private companies in the non-financial sector across the Netherlands, in addition to Dutch-listed companies on occasion, as well as high-net-worth individuals and foreign companies with Dutch interests. Following Value Drive’s recent recognition in the Benelux Enterprise Awards 2026, we heard more from Founder and Managing Partner Jeroen Weimer. May26051 the University of Twente, graduating in 1991 with a thesis in the combined field of strategy and finance. In 1995, Jeroen completed his PhD thesis cum laude, combining his PhD work with project-based activities for ABN Amro Bank for two years. Over the course of his professional career, Jeroen has leveraged his impressive education to advise large corporates, PE firms, medium-sized private companies, and shareholders on multiple issues with major value impact. He has provided services including fairness opinions, strategic valuations, board room advice, value-based modelling for managerial decision-support, IP valuations, tax-related valuations, and portfolio valuations for PE firms. Through the last two decades, Jeroen has applied his unrivalled expertise to valuations for dispute resolutions, including court cases, arbitration, and mediation cases. As a partner with final responsibility, he has engaged in almost 60 dispute resolutions. Jeroen has been involved in civil court cases both as an independent expert and a party-specific expert, acting in major arbitration cases both nationally and cross-border. This includes the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, and smaller cases through the Dutch arbitration institute (NAI). In 1999, Jeroen entered KPMG Corporate Finance Netherlands as an M&A Advisor. He built up his experience over the years, particularly within the consumer markets and the energy and natural resources sectors. In 2003, Jeroen established the Dutch Valuations practice for the firm, which grew from four FTE in 2003 to approximately 30 FTE in 2017. He was promoted to formally head the practice as Equity Partner in 2005. Jeroen became the Head of KPMG Corporate Finance Netherlands in 2014, responsible for M&A, valuations, and debt advisory. Between 2013 and 2015, he held the role of Head of EMA for KPMG’s Global Valuations Services. Jeroen served as lead partner on a number of major client cases, including Wolters Kluwer, Asics Europe, and the major Dutch PE firm Egeria. This varied work has allowed Jeroen to build expertise spanning a number of sectors, developing no fully-fledged focus on a particular industry. After a successful career with KPMG, Jeroen felt that it was time to embark on a new journey. He left the firm in 2018, deciding to start a valuation boutique that would allow him to enjoy more focus and entrepreneurship in his work, including the hands-on approach he was used to and passionate about in the beginning of his career. Jeroen established Value Drive B.V. on November 1st, 2019, with the aim of engaging in speciality valuations and disputes to support critical management decisions in the high-end market segment. Today, Value Drive combines decades of senior experience with the unique perspectives of its younger team members to deliver a seamless valuation experience to its clients. The firm has demonstrated the market’s demand in the Netherlands and the Benelux for a high-end, specialised valuation service that offers the quality of the Big 4 with the personalised approach of a boutique. Jeroen is a hands-on leader at Value Drive, spending at least 50% of his time on the engagement based on flexible accessibility by email, phone, and sometimes WhatsApp. There is always a younger, yet senior, team member involved in the case, typically 30 to 40 years old, who serves as both an outstanding modeller and a sparring partner based on their sectoral experience. All these team members have been working with Jeroen in their joint Big 4 setting for many years. This unique combination ensures that clients benefit from a varied perspective, propelled by specialist expertise and a united commitment to success. Based in Amstelveen, North Holland, Value Drive engages in specialty valuations and disputes to support critical management decisions in the high-end market segment. The company is characterised by pursuing effective valuation angles to resolve client issues, applying new approaches to strengthen common practice, and providing value-based advice based on factual information. With this approach, Value Drive offers a comprehensive suite of services that includes M&A valuations, including value impact analysis of strategic alternatives, purchase price allocation and goodwill impairment testing, and valuation of financing instruments. Its tax-related valuations include valuation of intellectual property transfers and marketbased royalty rates, company valuations for family succession, and asset valuations for the emigration purposes of HNWIs. Value Drive’s dispute resolution services cover about 50% of the business and comprise valuations related to commercial litigation and damage quantification, including acting as a party expert, serving as an arbitrator or mediator, appointment by the Dutch civil courts as an independent valuator, and procedures through the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. “Our core mission is to support critical management decisions by providing solid solutions to resolve client issues based on effective valuation angles which can withstand scrutinism,” said Jeroen. “We achieve this with a team of skilled people who provide positive energy and ambition, who dare to apply new valuation approaches to strengthen common practice iof and when required.” The Founder and Managing Partner of Value Drive, Jeroen Weimer is a seasoned former Big 4 Advisory Partner boasting more than two decades of experience in valuations, modelling, and corporate finance across industry sectors. He earned an MSc in Business Science from
9. Best High-Stake Valuation Advisors 2026 Value Drive’s internal culture is a significant driver behind the firm’s success. Boasting what they refer to as a “club culture”, dedicated to working hard - and playing hard too. Each member of the Value Drive team is quite competitive and shares a passion for the valuation profession, improving themselves professionally on a continual basis to provide the best possible services to their clients. At the same time, the team members love competing in sports, varying from cycling, kickboxing, swimming, running, and tennis, and celebrating after the hard work is done. “We can achieve this work-sports-play balance because we have been working with each other in different settings over a long period of time,” said Jeroen. “We have engaged in many different projects together, and all have our own different specialties, such as industry sector knowledge, modelling skills, and valuation experience. At the same time, we know how important it is to have a different, more physical mindset every now and then and reap the mental benefits thereof” Value Drive pairs this vast expertise with the selective utilisation of artificial intelligence. Though some have feared that the introduction of AI threatens the valuation profession, Jeroen believes that it presents opportunities as long as the valuation is focused and specialised. Through its practice, the team at Value Drive has learned that AI is extremely useful and efficient for certain applications, such as finding comparable companies and transactions for peer groups or analysing source documents, especially legal documents for dispute resolutions. On the other hand, the firm has also found that AI is not suitable for other areas of operation. This includes bankruptcy prediction, feasibility, the assessment of financial forecasts, and the detailed techniques to validate WACC calculations for public versus private companies. “In short,” he concluded, “AI is useful because it is generative in nature; it is not necessarily within the context of creation. For the creation of new ideas, the assessment of future scenarios, and the craftsmanship required for the resolution of specialised valuation issues, the human valuator still rules.” The Benelux’s valuation landscape in 2026 is being bifurcated across sectors by AI. Businesses that have integrated AI are being rewarded, and legacy models are being compressed. In the short term, the scale of AI investment – such as infrastructure, data centres, and talent – is competing directly with M&A budgets. Some companies are prioritising organic AI build-over-buy strategies. In private equity, sponsors are increasingly using continuation fund structures to extend holding periods for portfolio companies needing AI-driven product transformation before marketable exit, rather than accepting depressed multiples for non-AI-ready assets. Jeroen commented, “I believe that AI is acting as both a short-term headwind and a medium-term tailwind for valuation and M&A activity in the Benelux.” Looking to the future, Value Drive intends to continue on its growth trajectory whilst staying true to the boutique nature of its operations. In relation to M&A and tax-related valuations, 2026 showed an ever-increasing demand for dispute resolution, on which Value Drive will continue to deliver as the Best High-Stake Valuation Advisors 2026. Contact: Jeroen Weimer Company: Value Drive B.V. Web Address: www.valuedrive.nl
EU Business News- Benelux Enterprise Awards 2026 Best Cross-Sector Youth Employability Initiative 2026 – Belgium CAP-City is a Belgian non-profit organisation operating out of Borgerhout, Antwerp, where it empowers young people through communication, activation, and participation. The organisation works primarily with vulnerable young people, including early school leavers, NEET youth, and those with ADHD or ASD. Its partners and clients range from schools and youth organisations to businesses, local governments, and European networks. Founder Nigel Chantrain was on hand for more following CAP-City’s recognition in this programme. Building success and opportunity for the leaders of tomorrow, CAPCity offers young people the tools and the confidence they need to successfully navigate today’s society and labour market. This dynamic non-profit is committed to the development of young people, and it works towards a sustainable future by strengthening their skills and selfconfidence through a blend of workshops, training, and coaching. Its services also cover digital competence validation through Open Badges on the Antwerp City of Learning platform. Through these services, Nigel explained: “Our core mission is to bridge education, youth work, business, and policy, making cross-sector collaboration a reflex rather than an exception. We believe every young person has talent, and that society grows stronger when all sectors work together to make that talent visible and valuable.” Since opening its doors in 2023, CAP-City has grown from a small and relatively unknown organisation into a recognised cross-sector partner acknowledged by the Flemish Department of Work and Social Economy. It has built a network of more than 30 partners from across a range of sectors, earning itself recognition from local and regional institutions and constantly being invited to present its methodology to professionals and experts alike across the sector. Time and again, its work has been celebrated as both relevant and needed. The blend of network strength, institutional recognition, and digital infrastructure – all achieved in under two years – is what sets CAPCity apart. Many organisations specialise in one of these areas, but in bringing all three of them together, the team here are showing the strength, mission, and trust that partners, institutions, and young people all place in them. When it comes to young people especially, a big part of this trust stems from the fact that CAP-City starts with what they can do, not what they cannot. This resonates deeply with those young adults who often feel let down by traditional systems. For Nigel and the team here, all of this feeds into something much bigger, namely the significant trend that fragmented and single-sector approaches are no longer enough to address the challenges today’s young people face. With leaders increasingly acknowledging that school dropout, youth unemployment, and social exclusion require structural cross-sector collaboration, which is exactly the foundation CAP-City was built on, a synergy has emerged between this NPO and the wider environment, thus supporting its ambition. On the back of this, Nigel told us: “The future is both exciting and ambitious for CAP-City. We are at a pivotal moment in our development, transitioning from a promising young organisation into a structurally embedded ecosystem builder with lasting impact.” As a result, 2026 will see five new trajectories rolled out under its flagship ‘Learning Outside the Lines’ programme, as well as the expansion of its work with neurodiverse people and the delivery of its first cross-sectors future fair later this summer. This is just the beginning. “We have submitted several significant project proposals, including collaborations with Karel de Grote University of Applied Sciences and the local government, which could substantially scale our capacity and reach over the next two years”, Nigel added. “We want to establish a permanent physical location by 2027, aim to reach at least 3,000 young people through our trajectories and programmes by 2030, issue 5,000 Open Badges through Antwerp City of Learning, and grow into a recognised innovator within Flemish and European education, youth, and employment policy.” Ultimately, what CAP-City is building is a genuine learning ecosystem, an environment that elevates youth employability trajectories by outlasting any project and delivering the continuity that young adults deserve. Education, youth work, business, welfare, and policy have long operated as separate islands, and it is the young people who often fall between the gaps and pay the pay price. CAP-City exists to bridge these gaps permanently. “Every young person deserves a trajectory built around who they are: their talents, their pace, their context, and their potential. That is the ecosystem we are building. That is the future we are working towards.” Contact: Nigel Chantrain Company: CAP-City Web Address: https://cap-city.be/ May26100
Aug22136 11. Best MVNE Solutions Provider 2026 & OSS/BSS Solution of the Year: EMS Effortel is a leading telecom technology provider specialising in MVNO enablement, digital BSS/OSS transformation, and next-generation connectivity solutions. From its headquarters in Belgium, the company empowers mobile operators, MVNOs, enterprises, financial institutions, retailers, government organisations, and digital service providers to launch, scale, and monetise innovative telecom services. As Effortel is named in the Benelux Enterprise Awards 2026, we heard more from Marketing Specialist Alexandra Gitsova. “Clients choose Effortel because we combine enterprise-grade capabilities with the responsiveness, flexibility, and customer focused of a specialised telecom partner.” Where many technology providers focus solely on software, Effortel acts as a strategic transformation partner that helps organisations turn connectivity into a competitive advantage. Its work spans technology, operations, business strategy, and customer experience, delivering meaningful and measurable business outcomes. Unlike traditional OSS/BSS providers, Effortel delivers a truly integrated ecosystem rather than a collection of disconnected products. Effortel’s flagship EMS platform combines billing, charging, customer management, analytics, product catalogue management, and automation capabilities into a single, cloud-native ecosystem. Its low-code approach allows customers to adapt services, products, pricing models, and operational workflows quickly without extensive development cycles. This agility enables faster innovation and significantly reduces operational complexity. “Our mission is to democratise access to telecom innovation by making enterprisegrade telecom technology more agile, scalable, and accessible,” Alexandra told us. “We achieve this through continuous innovation, deep industry expertise, a lowcode operational approach, and a customercentric delivery model that enables clients to launch and evolve their businesses faster than ever before.” Effortel is dedicated to the continued evolution of its EMS platform, transforming its offerings into a comprehensive, awardwinning OSS/BSS ecosystem capable of supporting operators from startup MVNOs to large-scale telecommunications providers. In 2025, the company was recognised with the prestigious OSS/BSS Solution of the Year award at the MVNOs World Congress, validating its commitment to innovation and excellence within the telecom sector. Beyond awards, the Effortel team takes particular pride in helping clients successfully launch and transform mobile services across multiple continents. Today, its solutions power services for customers across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, helping them to accelerate time-to-market, reduce operational costs, and improve customer experiences. “Our platform has enabled organisations to significantly reduce infrastructure costs, shorten launch timelines from many months to just weeks, and create entirely new digital revenue streams,” Alexandra shared. “The success of our customers remains our greatest achievement. Every successful MVNO launch, digital transformation project, and operational modernisation initiative reinforces our position as a trusted partner in telecom innovation.” The telecom industry is currently experiencing one of its most transformative periods in decades. Digitalisation, AI-driven operations, cloud-native architectures, and the convergence of telecom and fintech services are reshaping how operators deliver value. Across the Benelux region, Effortel has observed strong demand for digital-first Contact: Alexandra Gitsova Company: Effortel Web Address: www.effortel.com AIM-Jun26098 customer experiences, increased adoption of eSIM technology, greater emphasis on operational automation, and growing interest in private mobile networks and IoT connectivity solutions. Enterprises are increasingly looking for flexible connectivity offerings that can be integrated directly into their digital ecosystems. The MVNO market continues to evolve beyond traditional consumer propositions, with new opportunities emerging in sectors such as banking, retail, energy, transportation, and government services. These organisations are leveraging connectivity as a strategic customer engagement tool rather than simply a telecommunications service. Looking ahead, Effortel predicts that AIpowered customer engagement, autonomous network operations, real-time personalisation, and API-driven telecom ecosystems will become mainstream. Alexandra commented, “Operators that embrace automation and data-driven decision-making will gain significant advantages in the coming years.” The remainder of 2026 and beyond represents and exciting phase of growth for Effortel. The company will continue to invest heavily in its EMS platform, with a strong focus on AI-driven automation, enhanced real-time analytics, advanced digital customer engagement capabilities, and further expansion of its cloud-native architecture. Geographically, the team is looking to strengthen Effortel’s presence across Europe while accelerating growth in North America, Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. The company sees substantial opportunities in supporting both established operators undergoing digital transformation and new entrants launching innovative MVNO propositions. “We are also expanding our ecosystem of technology and channel partners to create additional value for customers and accelerate innovation across the telecom landscape,” Alexandra concluded. “Our long-term vision is to become the preferred digital enablement partner for organisations seeking to launch, transform, or scale connectivity services in an increasingly connected world.” “As a Belgium-founded company operating globally, we are proud to demonstrate how innovation originating in the Benelux region can successfully compete on the international stage.”
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Jul22493 13. professional goals in the Netherlands, Learn2speak Dutch’s services are a musthave. The company strives to engage with students on a deeper level, going beyond a more conventional language lesson to help shape their understanding of some of the wider factors that will define their life and career in the Netherlands. Effie enthused: “Our philosophy is not simply to teach students Dutch, but to help them understand how to learn effectively, build confidence, and continue growing independently. This mindset is at the heart of both our teaching approach and our company culture.” Additionally, Effie and her team are committed to learners’ development in ways most others may not consider. Effie shared: “Mental wellbeing and emotional support are also very important to us. Relocating to a new country and adapting to a different culture can often be emotionally challenging and isolating. “For this reason, we regularly collaborate with psychologists and organise group sessions for our students, where they can openly discuss challenges related to integration, stress, confidence, and life as an expat in the Netherlands. We believe that successful integration is not only about learning the language, but also about feeling emotionally supported and connected.” Awarded for its combination of personalised coaching, blended learning, proprietary educational materials, and commitment to supporting both the professional and personal integration of expats, Learn2speak Dutch takes its place in the spotlight within our Benelux Enterprise Awards 2026 with its title of Best Dutch Language Coaching Service for Expats & Professionals 2026. Contact: Effie Alexiadou Company: Learn2speak Dutch Web Address: learn2speakdutch.com Learning a language is an incredibly rewarding experience, and it can have an awful lot of benefits for a person’s career, too. Although Dutch may not be the first language many people think of when it comes to this prospect, for those who have recently moved to the Netherlands, have lived in the country for a while but seek a better understanding of the language, or for whom Dutch is not their native language, it can be a really worthwhile investment. There to support all of these groups is Effie Alexiadou, the woman at the helm of the award-winning coaching business Learn2speak Dutch. In 2012, Effie Alexiadou moved to the Netherlands with her husband. The move has been everything she hoped and then some, but one thing she has come to believe is that people looking to follow in her footsteps (or who have already made the move) will only truly feel at home here if they have a good command of the Dutch language. This is why she offers simple, accessible Dutch courses and resources for non-native speakers. Effie explained: “As an expat myself, I understand first-hand the challenges of learning Dutch and adapting to life in a new country. After learning the language and becoming a certified Dutch teacher, I developed a teaching approach that helps students learn Dutch in a way that is practical, structured, and time-efficient.” Students also get a Dutch grammar book that Effie herself Best Dutch Language Coaching Service for Expats & Professionals 2026 has written in clear and accessible language for both English- and Greek-speaking learners, ensuring the utmost clarity and ease. The purpose of Learn2speak Dutch’s language courses are first of all help people feel at home in the Netherlands as quickly as possible, but also to support their development in a professional sense, increasing their chances of success in the Dutch labour market. Since almost everyone in the Netherlands speaks Dutch, it is taken for granted in most circles, so not being able to do so is seen as a big disadvantage. Delivered through a blended learning approach, Learn2speak Dutch effortlessly combines live lessons with access to Learn2speak Dutch’s online academy, guaranteeing practical and learner-centred methodology ultimately helping students to gain confidence and make real progress in everyday life and professional situations. Therefore, Learn2speak Dutch’s reputation is more than that of a course provider, it is a lifeline for individuals searching for a personalised coaching experience. “Rather than focusing only on grammar and theory, we place strong emphasis on communication, confidence-building, and real-life language use. Our goal is not simply for students to ‘study Dutch,’ but to actually feel comfortable using the language in their everyday lives, workplaces, and social environments.” For those looking to develop themselves in a professional sense and achieve their
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