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KEES RIJNHOUT

About me

Kees Rijnhout (1963) has been an entrepreneur all his life. Representing the fourth generation in a family company, he underwrites the need for a much better and healthier world in the future. His career is based upon profitable business models and his life revolves around key issues such as sustainability and transparency.

Kees Rijnhout began his entrepreneurial career when he was only seventeen years old, by starting up a business in Saudi Arabia, where he sold fresh food from Europe to supermarkets and five-star hotels in the Middle East.

In 2007, he became the owner of Jaguar The Fresh Company, a leading sustainable supplier of fresh fruits to the EU retail market. Jaguar The Fresh Company is also involved intensively with sustainability projects that have a large social and environmental impact on several parts of the world. A few examples are increasing biodiversity in the fields, arranging schooling for children, reducing the usage of chemicals in products and bringing down water use to help grow fruits.

In the last few years of his career, Kees Rijnhout has worked mainly on sustainability projects, and gives guest lectures at several universities about ‘Social and Sustainable Entrepreneurship’. A profitable business model must support the importance of a sustainable company.

How I relate to BJF

Kees is and has been a board member of different companies and foundations, and is widely experienced through his leadership roles and work at the family companies. After being part of several successful businesses, he is now donating part of his time to the Black Jaguar Foundation, working hard in order to get as much attention and funding for the foundation as possible.

“In 2014, I heard about the BJF for the first time. The connection is our shared company name. Jaguar the fresh company and the Black Jaguar Foundation. This black predator is the strongest among other predators in the savannas and rainforests of Brazil.

The need for strong and healthy ‘lungs of the world’ is very important for mankind, now and in the future. I have made the  BJF goal of making a Green Corridor along the Araguaia River into my personal goal, and the foundation can count on me for spreading the word, fundraising and other services to make a much better world for our children and grandchildren.”