This year the Royal Barenbrug Group is one of the five finalists for the prestigious Family Business Award. It's worth noting that the agricultural sector is well-represented amongst the finalists: Enza Zaden from Enkhuizen and de Heus Diervoeders from Ede are also in the running for the prize.

A team from KPMG (audit, tax and advisory) chose around 250 family businesses from a group of 500 Dutch medium-sized and large companies. Representatives of these 250 companies were then invited for an interview. Following the interview, a shortlist of 13 candidates was made.

The jury assessed these 13 candidates and then selected five finalists. The finalists were chosen on the basis of criteria such as organisational structure, corporate culture, innovation and entrepreneurship.

A jury visited Barenbrug Holding on 20 April to make a final assessment of these attributes. We will have to wait a bit longer to see whether we will win the Award: the winner will be announced on 24 June, to be awarded by the Family Business Foundation for the third consecutive year.