Tanido has made it their mission to support the maritime industry in correctly assessing the weight of bulk and fuel loads on board both seagoing and inland river barges. The nautical-technical expertise bureau executes lightering of bulk carriers, draught surveys, bunkering, condition surveys, damage prevention surveys, laser gauging of inland vessels, and consultancy.
Tanido surveyors are trained to perform bunker surveys according to the strict SS-600 code of practice,
and stay on board to supervise the entire bunkering process
.
‘Big cargo problems make us smile’, so it says on Tanido’s website. The marine surveying company is proud of handling things differently – whether it is in cargo problems or in running a business. Tanido was established by Mr Jaap Beemster in 1986. In Dutch, Tanido is an acronym for ‘Tot Aller Nut Is Deze Onderneming’, meaning something along the lines of ‘this enterprise is beneficial to us all’, which is what Mr Beemster strives for with boundless dedication.
Individuality as key to healthy unity
Mr Beemster attributes the quality of Tanido’s service to the drive of the people that work for the company who are legally speaking, not ‘employees’. Tanido aims to ensure the careers of its surveyors by encouraging them, after three years of training in regular employment (provided they demonstrate their capability), to establish their own company. As self-employed entrepreneurs, they legally connect their own company to the parent enterprise Tanido. According to the entrepreneur, this strengthens their self-respect, as they become directly responsible for their accomplishments. As a result, they are inspired and willing to go the extra mile. Mr Beemster is an outspoken advocate for entrepreneurship. He does not believe in a business model based on employees, and encourages other business owners to share their company, and the responsibility that comes with it. Something he feels he should have done a lot sooner in life himself.
Mr Beemster established Tanido as a one-man business in 1986. In 1993, he got in touch with Arie Kleingeld, who also owned a one-man business and suggested the two should cooperate. Mr Kleingeld’s company worked under a French parent company. Mr Beemster changed his one-man business to a private company with limited liability: Tanido BV, and founded a holding company called Tanido Beheer BV. Half of the Tanido shares belonged to Mr Beemster and his wife Ellen, and half to the French parent company. Things remained this way for 22 years. At a certain point, Tanido ended the cooperation with the French parent company and Mr Beemster bought back his company shares. He is now the only shareholder of Tanido Beheer. To safeguard the continuity of the company, he has separated profit shares of Tanido Beheer from control rights. The control rights are currently being transferred into a Trust Foundation, which is managed by a board consisting of the seven people closest to him.
A different business structure
He felt that being the boss first and foremost meant dealing with whatever was going on with his employees as a ‘pater familias’. He barely got around to doing his actual job. After the financial crisis, during which Tanido lost 85% of its revenue, Mr Beemster and his wife decided they did not want to hire new employees. In 2009, they sought the advice of a tax lawyer, a jurist, and several leading entrepreneurs. Together, they created a concept for a different kind of business structure. The result was the establishment of an operating company under Tanido: the International Marine Surveyors Alliance Holland BV (IMSA). All of Tanido’s work in the Benelux is now carried out by IMSA.
People nowadays start out with a paid position at IMSA. They learn skills, and get to know both the company and the work. If both parties are still pleased after a period of at the most 3 years, , the employee quits working for IMSA and founds a private company (BV) and holding of their own. Their own operating company becomes an IMSA stakeholder and participates in IMSA. As these entrepreneurs work for one single company (IMSA), it is viewed as potential disguised employment. This is where Uniforce comes in. Uniforce is an independent organisation that has created the Declarabele Uren BV (DUBV), which is an entrepreneurial form for independent professionals. As employer, the DUBV is the contracting party towards the client. The entrepreneur can be seconded from the DUBV and work with all agreements (for services). In addition, they are covered by social insurance. Uniforce guarantees the government and tax authorities that all these entrepreneurships will pay their taxes and premiums, and keep their finances in order.
With so many entrepreneurships in their portfolio, Uniforce gets good deals with insurance companies for health care, disability insurance, and so on. In Tanido’s case, entrepreneurs are not allowed to work for parties other than IMSA. The surveying techniques that were developed in Tanido belong to the company. They can work for any IMSA division. In the future, another IMSA could be set up in a different port. IMSA II could be founded in Singapore, for example, or IMSA III in Richards Bay, South Africa. The entrepreneurs can choose which IMSA division (and thus Tanido) they want to work for. Once established, local people can be recruited for establishing their own entrepreneurships. Because these entrepreneurships exclusively work for IMSA, Mr Beemster feels Tanido has the obligation to offer them a future. A certain income needs to be guaranteed for the system to work.
Mr Jaap Beemster
Trial and error
Plenty of companies get bought out by competitors. They merge, or are simply taken off the market. The former owner receives a golden parachute, and the employees are out on the street. And this was exactly what Mr Beemster and his wife wished to avoid. He promised his late wife that in 250 years’ time, Tanido will still exist. Everyone in the Tanido workforce now shares the responsibility. When one surveyor underperforms or has personal issues, others help out. Everyone is well aware that if they mess up, they will drag others down with them. The development of this business model saw a lot of trial and error. Through the years, Mr Beemster has found the right format, which he now wants to share with others. Giving people more independence somehow increases solidarity. It is a light-hearted way of doing business, that makes Mr Beemster feel at ease, as an employer – his business card reads ‘LWT, NP’, which stands for ‘Leader Without Title, Nice Person’. When Ellen fell ill in 2011, he was able to take care of her for 11 months, without worrying about his company. What boss, he asks, can say the same? He trusts the people he works with to make their own decisions. Clearly, guidance is needed, but when people make a wrong decision, he knows he will hear about it and deal with it. For the system to work, everyone involved needs to be honest. This is why Tanido has installed some house rules that everyone that works for IMSA knows and respects.
Tanido House Rules
An organisation only becomes truly powerful when everyone’s right for individuality is ensured. Copying one another does not get you anywhere, and comparison leads to failure.
Every right-minded organisation can use these focus points:
- When something disturbs you, say it. Discuss it with the person that can change this, instead of complaining to others about it.
- Dare to be open. Trust your gut.
- Talk to each other, not about each other. If a member of the team is brought up in a conversation, make sure this always happens in a positive context.
- Humor is allowed and encouraged. No problem can be solved without it.
- Take good care of yourself.
- Treat another with the same respect you treat yourself with.
- Nobody and/or nothing is ‘crazy’.
- Try to listen. You want others to listen to you, too.
- Do not give ‘advice’ unless requested.
- It is an individual, fundamental right to change your opinion, to say “no” or to say “I don’t know”.
