In april 2025 zal een kandidaat in deze rol gaan starten
CFO-COO
Boswellia (Koster Keunen Holland BV/René Schönefeld BV): a production company specialized in waxes, incense and charcoal, with a strong focus on ESG impact
Location Bladel, Noord-Brabant Netherlands
Organization
Boswellia Holding is a family business consisting of two operating companies:
Koster Keunen Holland BV and René Schönefeld BV. These operating companies are involved in the purchasing, processing and sales and marketing of natural waxes, synthetic waxes, incense and charcoal tablets.
The production locations are located in Bladel, the Netherlands, where a total of approximately 60 people are employed. In addition, Boswellia has a minority share in Koster Keunen West Africa, which exports sustainably produced beeswax from Togo to the branch in Europe and to the sister company in the United States.
For the sake of readability, only Boswellia is used hereafter, this includes the operating companies and participation.
Boswellia is a leading player that wants to further develop in increasing its market share, innovating/developing new products (with its own R&D department) and making purchasing & production more sustainable.
The family business has a long history and a solid foundation. Boswellia is family-owned.
The company has appointed a Supervisory Board, consisting of 3 people with very relevant experience. General management lies with Gerben Boersma and the Commercial Director Giovanni Doran. They want to focus more on sales, product innovation/development, the relationship with customers, purchasing, suppliers and other partners.
Boswellia sees great opportunities in the coming years: a large and growing market, driven by structural sustainability, combined with the fact that they sell natural products. Work is also being done on more intensive relationships with (potential) customers, and there is more demand for co-creation. At the same time, there are greater challenges such as a shortage of personnel, IT and an increasing demand for sustainable solutions and innovations. A larger market share and more innovation (product/process) will enable Boswellia and its companies to better meet all challenges and continue to create value for the future.
Sustainability:
Sustainability is high on the agenda and is being addressed concretely with the three pillars in the group’s sustainability program: Environment, Social, Economic. In concrete terms, this is done, among other things, through projects in Africa: By implementing better harvesting processes, collaborating with and educating local beekeepers, and taking action to reduce negative impact on the environment.
Current developments and vision for the future
An ambitious growth plan has been drawn up for the coming years. The ambition is to become a leading player with a strong sales, innovation and sustainability agenda.
Due to the departure of the current CFO, a vacancy has arisen. The division of roles within the management team has been examined and some changes have been made. The vacancy that has now arisen will therefore be broader: in addition to finance and IT, the new CFO will also be responsible for business operations and management.
Vacancy
General description of the position of the CFO/COO:
- Makes a significant contribution to the strategic choices of Boswellia.
- Is part of the management team and thinks along about the strategy;
- Is the point of contact for the Supervisory Board together with the CEO;
- Is responsible for the financial economic policy, process of the organization and associated implementation, coordinates this with fellow directors and Supervisory Board;
- In addition to finances, also manages the internal organization in the areas of production, purchasing, Quality Assurance & Safety, IT, planning and logistics.
Sets up policy for this and has a connecting role; - Develops and optimizes (financial) processes to guarantee the continuity of Boswellia and to achieve the strategic goals;
- Uses available data from within and outside the organization to make strategic choices in the field of occupancy, market positioning and efficiency;
- Provides a management toolkit for planning and controlling the organization’s business operations, including making available & managing the right KPIs;
- Provides adequate reporting, annual cycle, annual accounts, budgeting, monitoring the liquidity position;
- Is responsible for approval of the annual accounts by the external accountant;
- Provides for the development and implementation of an adequate currency and interest rate policy;
- Ensures that tax returns are processed properly;
- Handles tax matters;
- Monitors progress in projects (time/budget/etc.) with the aim of helping the organization to the next level;
- Initiates organizational development processes and associated business processes;
- Provides an efficiently operating, stable and secure IT environment that complies with the applicable accountancy legislation;
- Makes optimal use of available data & information to advise and manage strategic choices in the areas of production planning, positioning, pricing, occupancy rate and the correct use of available resources;
- Has a vision & conceptual understanding that transcends daily concerns and speaks out about it.
Candidate profile
Knowledge, experience and competencies:
- A connecting CFO/COO with managerial and operational experience in a similar context as financially responsible in preferably a family business.
- Someone who combines strategic thinking with a down-to-earth and no-nonsense approach and realization power. Not overbearing but good in connecting with the Supervisory Board, management and team leaders. Someone who can switch and communicate well with different people at different levels.
- Someone with the knowledge to further professionalize an organization in the next phase of growth and who knows what it is like to work in and with family businesses. Someone who has a good sense of what is going on within organizations and connects with people.
- In addition, someone must make a constructive contribution to the culture and mutual cooperation. Connecting with the existing culture is very important.
- Strong interpersonal skills. People-oriented and connecting with the ability to move the different teams towards a common goal.
- Someone who is open and accessible, with a social feeling, who can still make hard business decisions.
- A (socially) intelligent leader, results-oriented with a heart for the entire company and its employees. Who works with respect for history and at the same time is focused on expanding and professionalizing growth and necessary innovations.
- Charismatic person with vision. Someone who is clear and can work systematically.
- Someone who can set the course at a strategic level and at the same time keep the current organization running.
- Someone who clearly sets the framework and makes agreements about expectations regarding output and information exchange.
- Creates support; knows how to connect people, inspire them and maintain long-term relationships. It is important to put other people in the spotlight and let successes flourish where they are achieved.
- Someone who is analytical, decisive, honest, both goal- and people-oriented, who thinks and acts sustainably, is self-aware and can reflect well. Someone who can give feedback and who is open to feedback and other views.
- Someone who is enterprising, takes initiative and is able to ‘motivate’ and hold themselves and others accountable. • Someone who can make speed when necessary (can use authority/persuasiveness);
- “Want to move forward”, can handle pressure/stressful situations. Can set a course, stay on course, flexibly anticipate internal and external changes and remain calm.
- Academic work and thinking level.
- Basic knowledge of food safety, GMP and ISO9001 is a plus.
- Experience in or affinity with sustainability, innovation and circularity is a plus.
Employment conditions:
- This is a full-time position
- This is not a hybrid role
- Salary: XXX K, excluding bonus + car
