Masha Hennequin appointed partner at consultancy firm Improven

Masha Hennequin joined consulting firm Improven as a partner at the beginning of this year. Hennequin has the Sales & Marketing portfolio under her belt; in addition, she has been the driving force behind Young Improven together with Guido Anninga since last year.

Jan Bosman, managing partner of Improven, is excited about joining and stresses that he is proud of the fact that Hennequin comes from our own breeding: "It is good to see a woman from our own organisation, with so much drive and focus on the business, joining our partner group," Bosman said.

The new partner joined the consultancy in 2009, when it was still operating under the name ConQuaestor. Over the past decade, she remained loyal to the firm despite two major changes in its structure: the merger with Grant Thornton in 2013 and the return to independence in 2016. In addition to her contribution in sales, marketing and business development, Hennequin now sees her dedication to the company rewarded by joining the partner team. "Since the launch of Improven two years ago, Masha has found it a great challenge to give the organisation a new face and put the name firmly on the map," said Bosman.

Improven helps clients improve performance by optimising processes, information provision and projects, among other things, with the agency focusing on finance, IT and risk. The agency's consultants are distinguished by "a pragmatic and tailor-made approach", with the main premise of achieving "demonstrable results". "No thick reports but working solutions and implementation power", is therefore the agency's credo.

Today, Improven has a team of around 100 consultants, a substantial increase from when the company was founded. "Masha has played an important role in this," says Bosman. "She is responsible for commerce within which, as Director, she has laid down both the processes and the inspired team."

Commerce flows through Hennequin's veins. After graduating in 1999, she joined a training agency and soon found herself in a sales environment. She then made the move to secondment provider Brunel, where Hennequin werte as Sales manager and later Commercial Manager - in her last role she was responsible for some of Brunel's largest client accounts and a sales team of 10 account managers. "My heart is still mainly in business, developing new customers and connecting relationships to each other and to Improven," Hennequin says.

Young Improven

Last year, Hennequin's role was expanded and she became responsible for establishing and expanding Young Improven - Improvens breeding ground for talented consultants. With success, as Young Improven can now look back on a successful first year. The two-year traineeship programme for talented young professionals has already appointed more than ten young talents so far. And that while Improven selects strictly and carefully: "We select the pearls. Pearls who already have a completed bachelor's or master's degree at a young age, complemented by international internships, board and volunteer work, tools and techniques."

Combined with the extensive training & development programme Improven has rigged for its talents, the young consultants are able to "add great value" to clients in roles such as PMO, business analyst or process consultant. "After two intensive years, they are therefore ready to enter one of our specialist groups as consultants," Bosman explains.

In her new role as partner, Hennequin will continue to divide her attention between sales and Young Improven. Asked about her ambitions for 2019, she says: "My ambition is to expand the Sales team as well as double the size of Young Improven." To achieve her goals, she will work closely with the other partners in the company - Jan Bosman, Louis de Koning, Oscar van Leeuwen, Ramon van den Heuvel and Sander van Meurs.

Bosman added: "Improven wants to grow further in the coming years as the leading consultancy for improving processes, projects and information provision. Masha's ability to understand customers and translate their demand into our pragmatic solutions is going to help us realise our ambitions. On top of that, since we started Young Improven, we have noticed that we are making bigger strides as an organisation in terms of innovation and digitalisation. We are keen to put more effort into that in the coming years."