Get to Know Your Board

 

With Eddy Bonne

 

This month, AmCham Connect Editor Nick Klenske sits down with Eddy Bonne, Group Director of the Gosselin Group and longtime member of the AmCham Belgium Board of Directors.

Klenske: How long have you been with your company?

Bonne: I have been with Gosselin for just over 20 years. Prior to Gosselin I was primarily working for SABENA, our then national airline.

Klenske: Why is your company located in Belgium?

Bonne: Our company is located in Belgium because it is a family business established here in 1930 by the father of my past-president, Dolf Gosselin. The fact that our company is located in Antwerp is rather logical, considering that it is the Belgian – dare I say European – hub for logistics.

Klenske: What are some of the challenges of doing business in Belgium?

Bonne: Sometimes it is very difficult - even if you are a Belgian company - to stay in Belgium. The financial and administrative burdens imposed by the government are making it more and more difficult to do business in a flexible way. Take a typical business example: there is actually a document that gives you free entrance into Europe when coming overseas and passing through the UK or The Netherlands, but if you pass through Belgium you have to pay taxes? Well, I don’t want to go into detail, and this is only a small example. But these unreal situations have become quite common and I consider them very discriminative.

Klenske: Why a member of AmCham Belgium?

Bonne: I am a member of AmCham Belgium because the Chamber has a very good international network that is active in every field of industry. It is also an excellent lobby organization, and we are considered to be a valid partner when the Belgian Government requires international and/or American feedback. If you are an international business, you just need to belong to AmCham Belgium.

Klenske: What are your goals as a Board Member?

Bonne: I myself have been a member of AmCham Belgium for over 25 years, of which I spent around 10 years on the Board – and if my memory is correct, I was the co-host of the ever so successful Marketplace Luncheons for almost 10 years from 1991 to 2001. My personal goals as a Board member is to help AmCham Belgium continue to grow its reputation for being an organization that is representative of the American Business community in Belgium and that forms a strong link between Belgium and the US.