🎬 Multilingual subtitles
✍️ By: Team BC1.NL
FlevoZakenfestival
The FlevoZakenfestival was held for the first time at Lelystad Airport, in the Dutch province of Flevoland. Almost all of this province was reclaimed from the sea in the twentieth century, which is why dykes, and the imagery around them, carry such weight here. The event combines a business fair with a programme of leading speakers.
What is meant by looking beyond the dykes?
That businesses in Flevoland should be better able to find one another, and that the circle in which this happens needs to widen. Companies were connecting, but within circles that were simply too small. According to the speakers, Flevoland also needs the mental courage to look beyond its dykes, and in economic terms those dykes need to be breached altogether. No fingers in the dyke, a nod to the famous story of the little Dutch boy who held back a flood by plugging a hole with his finger, but here the opposite: rather than holding the water back, businesses should let the outside world flow in.
Flevoland, look beyond the dykes!
The opening was performed by the King's Commissioner for Flevoland, Leen Verbeek. He pointed out that connectivity between businesses is becoming ever more important, and urged entrepreneurs from Flevoland to look beyond their dykes more often. That many of them share his view was clear from the answers given by exhibitors interviewed during the festival.
