Rotterdam pioneers make their dreams come true!

This is Tan Do, the owner of the restaurants Little V and grand café Dodo. Just Like Rotterdam, his business is never finished. In an industry that is currently  facing incredibly difficult times he is thinking of possibilities to make his product better than ever before. there are no limits to his vision when it comes to dining well and the experience that goes with it.

Tan Do is genuine entrepreneur with guts. Passionate and trusting in his own strengths, he has done what many entrepreneurs simply wouldn’t dare to do at this point in time: he openend the doors of grand café Dodo right in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Do never fails this pinpoint options and countless opportunities.

Meet Margaret West, a true-born Rotterdam resident with two shops and her own clothing label. She is proud of Rotterdam’s resilience. Just like her city, West responds to change by keeping moving. After all, Rotterdam is always on the move. Indulge in some inspiration and find out how Margaret’s businesses add colour to the street image of the Maho quarter.

Fashion has been in West’s DNA for many years; she began work as a stylist before opening fashion boutique Ginza. Says West: ‘Thanks to my experience and feel for fashion trends, I know exactly how to translate a private label into the needs of modern women’. On the basis of this asset, West started her own clothing brand under the name ‘Margaret West’, a label that provides women with high-quality garments at affordable prices.

Meet Wesley dos Santos, a young Rotterdam entrepreneur and a role model to many. The founder of the circular water recreation business IKapitein continues to spot opportunities and develop solutions that will contribute to making the city of Rotterdam more splendid and sustainable even in these difficult times. ‘The past two years have made me realise that it really is essential to stand like a house but to move like a ship. I have found that this is the only way to achieve your aims time and again’, explains dos Santos. Wesley is a classic Rotterdam type: enterprising, pushing the envelope and raw

This ambitious pioneer has started not just one, but three businesses in recent years. Alongside IKapitein he also set up Aqua Mobility, a concept for sustainable water bicycles, as well as starting his own brand of leisure trainers, Diversité Footwear. Sustainability has always been the key to to dos Santos, not only in relation to the Aqua Mobility water bicycles but also to his trainer label. For example, the soles of the trainers are made from 70% recycled rubber, and ‘vegan leather’ is also used.

This is Malou Zuur, born and raised in Rotterdam and the owner of the LouZen yoga & fitness business. More than ever in these time, it is her challenge to get people to move. Her solutions for keeping people fit and flexible are just as creative and versatile as the city of Rotterdam itself. From great heights to sheer nature; there is always a place that fits.

Zuur has been committed to fitness from a young age, and has always been involved in several types of sport. She likes to share this passion with others. Zuur says; ‘You have to be creative in thinking of solutions to get people fit and flexible’.

Meet Frankie Dros, co-organiser of the Blijdorp Festival, Containerbar Noord and the recently openend nightclub RTM. Now & Wow, which Dros first visited at the age of eighteen, was quite an experience and a great source of inspiration for him. After that momentous night, he began to organise his own events, which became a huge success.The first edition of the Blijdorp Festival, now one of Rotterdam’s major festivals, took place in 2014.

As a creative entrepreneur, Dros is always looking for new inspiration. A few years ago he spotted the then rather nondescript Noordplein, where he started Containerbar Noord. Says Dros: ‘The Noordplein was such a cool place that it would have been a shame to leave it unexplored’. Meanwhile, the popular pop-up bas has grown into a permanent catering business that includes a temporary take-away, and which, in combination with the weekly Harvest Market, has brought the Noordplein to life, even in such difficult times.

This is Nacho Velasco. He is working as an Associate Architect at MVRDV, an international architect bureau with its roots in Rotterdam.

Pushing the envelope and with a passion for architecture is a good way to describe Nacho. Nacho says: ‘Anyone attending an event like the Rotterdam Month of Architecture or the Rotterdam Marathon can feel the cultural diversity of the city, and it is this diversity that keeps Rotterdam on the move, adjusting effortlessly to any new reality’.

Nacho is working on the Sax, the newest asset at the Wilhelminapier. This is spectacular design consists of two interconnected towers of no fewer than 51 storeys and is undoubtedly going to be a new eye-catcher on the Rotterdam skyline. As ever, Rotterdam is building for the future.