Entrepreneur of the year 2018 by the Limburg Paper.

December 4, 2018. By: Jo Cortenraedt, Chief Editor, Chapeau Magazine. Translation by Ineke, edited by John. A just deserved entrepreneurial prize for André Rieu. André Rieu certainly is distinctive. Whoever ultimately the best entrepreneur in Limburg is, is a thing which is difficult to determine. Local newspaper "De Limburger" nominated a number of prominent Limburgers for that award, such as Dorrie Eilers from the Neptunes company, hotel entrepreneur Camille Oostwegel and Jan-Paul Rutten from Gulpener Beer brewery. All good and creative entrepreneurs from Limburg. André Rieu - who won the prize at the end - is not at all much better than any of them, and of course he does not see that of himself, but he certainly is distinctive. He of course is also by far the best known, that is also useful when you bring such a price to the market for the first time. Furthermore, it is good to once again highlight the entrepreneurship of André Rieu. Normally he is in the spotlight as a musician, and that is also how he sees himself. But from the early years on I have been able to experience close up how he, together with his wife Marjorie, started to build up his small business. That is when they had to chase down record companies and deejays to ask for attention for their music. In the beginning it was in vain. In the Nineties I was, among other things, a reporter for "De Telegraaf" (National newspaper). That is when Marjorie would sometimes called me and ask if I could not place a small advertisement in the newspaper, announcing the Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) concert of their Maastricht Salon Orchestra, five members strong at the time. At a certain point in time they bought a second-hand truck, to transport the necessities for a performance in, for example, a nursing home for the elderly. For years the "Hieringbiete" (Herring bites/eating) concert was the highlight of the salon orchestra. But André and Marjorie dreamed of much more success and they continued to believe in that. They did everything on their own, without a penny subsidy. And that makes you a great entrepreneur, you have a dream, an ambition and you have to work hard to stay on course, which becomes reality. The company grew and grew. In 1997, when regional television started in Limburg, I made a report about a concert tour in Germany. Wow, than there were halls with an audience of 1000 to 1500 people. That was a huge step forward in comparison to the beginning. And the Salon Orchestra was replaced by the Johann Strauss Orchestra, with back then at that time about 15 musicians. But everything then had also already been well taken care of, with a great discipline. And so it kept on growing. Up to and including packed stadiums with tens of thousands of people in Toronto, in Melbourne and many other world cities. Last summer, a charming and wise Colombian lady at the Vrijthof square, told our microphone that she had great admiration for him as an entrepreneur. "That man must mean a lot for the city and the region, because he provides a lot of employment and prosperity." The lady was right. From a distance you see things sometimes sharper than from close by, because for many Limburg residents it is all very obvious that André Rieu now runs a company with about a hundred permanent employees and hundreds of freelancers like stage builders, technicians and other specialists. And that for his Vrijthof concerts, the hotels in Maastricht and the entire region are filled for weeks with tens of thousands of people from all over the world, during the summer. The nice thing is that the laureate musician has a super relationship with his staff. Not only in terms of remuneration, but also in terms of comfort when traveling. For that he receives a hundred percent loyalty back from his people. Everyone goes for the optimal result. That is what every entrepreneur wants. So well deserved, that price!