On Friday 6 November 2015, in De Vereeniging in Nijmegen, Jack van Poll of Isatis Group was named Nijmegen Entrepreneur of the Year 2015. He received the award from jury member Turgay Tankir, alderman of the municipality of Nijmegen, and succeeded Miriam and Ronald Thoonen of Thoonen Metaalbouw, the winners of the year before.
The jury and the nominees
It was the seventh time the election was held. The jury further included Theo Joosten of HAN University of Applied Sciences, Professor Esther-Mirjam Sent of Radboud University, Miriam Thoonen, Entrepreneur of the Year 2014, and Margriet Schoevaart of the Nijmeegs Ondernemerscafé. The other nominees were Frank Dekkers of DKC Totaaltechniek and Dennis Hegeman of the Hegeman Groep.
What the jury saw
“A broad-minded entrepreneur who shows innovative entrepreneurship. By believing in the talent of people who want to make beautiful and useful IT applications, he has brought motivated people together in many ways.”
The jury, 6 November 2015
According to the jury, Jack van Poll brought new thinking and an innovative economy to the Keizer Karelplein, and put Nijmegen on the map in a special way. He leads Isatis Group together with co-owner Aljosja Vos. At the time, more than eighty people worked in six business units on IT solutions for very different markets, and the group also presented itself as an incubator for young start-ups.
A prize for the whole group
“It is a prize for the whole of Isatis Group. We won it together, because without all our employees and fellow entrepreneurs within the group we would never have been standing here.”
Jack van Poll
That summer Isatis Group had moved to the Keizer Karelplein, in the heart of Nijmegen. Van Poll and Vos wanted to work close to the city centre, and so brought a new economy to an old economic square. The group called the award the cherry on the cake of that new chapter.
In good company
The Nijmegen Entrepreneur of the Year election has been held every year since 2009, to recognise local entrepreneurs for innovation, economic growth, employment and involvement in society. Later winners include Bastiaan Barenbrug of the Royal Barenbrug Group in 2016 and Pierre Guelen of Planon in 2019. In 2026 the election is held for the fifteenth time.
