Nijha management: “Give space to the new generation”

LOCHEM – Nijha Lochem acquired the ‘Hoof supplier’ predicate two weeks ago. This festive moment was used to announce to the world that owners Kees van Marion and Rob Zwiers will step down as board members on January 1. “It’s time to give space to the new generation”, is one of the arguments.

Kees van Marion joined the company in early 1984, having been chosen to work as a junior representative from among 1352 applicants. A few years later, he became district chief. In the early 1990s, he switched to American Little Tikes. This toy and play equipment company was already working closely with Nijha and Van Marion was asked to become product manager for Europe.

Shares

“During my time at Little Tikes I had a lot of contact with Nijha. In 1999 co-owner Geert Kroon wanted to return to Australia, where he had lived long before his time at Nijha. I took over the shares of Kroon and at the same time joined the management”, explains van Marion.

Four years later, then-general manager Henny Nijenhuis announced that he wanted to quit. Van Marion took over the management and – together with Nijenhuis – hired Rob Zwiers from Diepenheim as financial manager. First as controller, but Zwiers eventually took over the shares of Nijenhuis and thus became co-owner and board member alongside Van Marion.

Last count

With Henny Nijenhuis, the last member of his family closed the door of Nijha behind him. After all, Nijha originally meant ‘Nijenhuis Harfsen’. It started in 1922 as a village blacksmith shop. Kees van Marion says: “The DNA of a family business is still in Nijha and we hope it will stay that way. From January, Van Marion and Zwiers will be part of a newly formed advisory board. “We want to give space to the new generation and not get in their way too much,” says Zwiers. “We set a performance requirement and provide guidance if needed, but otherwise they do it themselves,” adds Van Marion.

In this case, “they” are Frank Kroeze and Henk van de Steeg. The first is currently chief operating officer and will become general manager. Van de Steeg is the financial man and as such succeeds Rob Zwiers. The outgoing duo are very confident. “They have drawn up a 5-year plan and it looks promising. The new generation is more results-oriented. That’s good, but we also like to stay ‘this small company’ where everyone interacts with each other in a friendly way,” says Kees van Marion.

mega job

The new management will have a huge job to do in the years to come. Nijha has known for years that she should move away from her current location on Hanzeweg. The new district of Kop van Oost is built there. The municipality bought the building and the land a few years ago. Initially, Wila and Nijha were to build new buildings together on the Kwinkweerd, but it soon became apparent that Wila needed all that land to provide space for expansion.

Since then, Nijha has been targeting the Diekink business park, which is being developed in the armpit of Rossweg and Rengersweg. It’s quite a long wait. A protest from local residents has been awaiting consideration by the Council of State for two years. When it will be available is unknown. The Crown has a considerable backlog in dealing with such cases. Mayor Sebastiaan van ‘t Erve says the Council of State’s prioritization is inscrutable. He says: “We can’t stress enough that getting these cases processed faster is very important. For the company that wants to move forward, but also for us as a municipality that wants to keep the employer. Nijha employs 90 people.

Space for movement

During the years that Kees van Marion was active in Nijha, he saw his production drop from 80% to around 20% today. Parts such as sports floors and grandstands have also been eliminated. Trade in all imaginable materials for sports and games is now the main thing. From balls to full equipment for gyms and playgrounds. The slogan is: ‘We make room for movement.’ It is estimated that around 3 million Dutch people use Nijha products every week.

Because the new construction is still a long way off, the management recently made a drastic decision. 680 solar panels have recently been installed on the roof. “Some thought we were crazy to do this now, but something had to be done. Our energy bill threatened to increase by several tons,” says Van Marion. permanently on the roof. So they can move with you when the time comes. And moving is not only necessary because the municipality has plans for the land. “The jacket no longer corresponds to the contents”, it seems -he.

Also see: nijha.nl

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