BrazilConsultants marketplace Comatch ramps up its Benelux team
Comatch has ramped up its organisation in the Benelux. The matchmaker for top tier independent consultants has added two new professionals to its team in Amsterdam: Amelie Kerne and Thijs Lambalk. Meanwhile, Tjeerd Wijffels has taken on the role of Director Benelux.
When Comatch expanded into the Netherlands in November 2015, it was the firm’s first venture outside of Germany, where the company was founded in March that year. The Berlin-headquartered company helps clients – corporates, SMEs and start-ups – with fulfilling their needs for external support by matching them with independent consultants. More than half of the 6,500+ hand-picked consultants in the company’s database boast a background at a top tier consulting firm, including the likes of the Big Four, Accenture, McKinsey and Roland Berger.
Over the past three years, Comatch has grown to become one of the leading marketplaces for consultants in the Benelux, spanning the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The region’s consulting market is estimated to be worth over €2.1 billion, with the share of work going to freelancers rising on the back of the booming gig economy and the growing acceptance by clients to use independents for their strategic challenges and complex programmes. In the Netherlands for instance, over 90% of the consulting entities registered at the chamber of commerce are self-employed consultants, while in Belgium, nearly 9% of all independents are consultants. Belgium currently counts 90,000 independent consultants, a factor of 30 more than three decades ago. 
Today, Comatch’s track record in the region spans more than 100 executed projects for organisations from a variety of industries, including banking, online, retail, telecom and private equity among others. The network the firm can tap into comprises nearly 600 management consultants and industry experts. Having played an instrumental role in the growth, Tjeerd Wijffels has now seen his undertakings for the firm recognised with the promotion to Director Benelux. Wijffels joined Comatch in September 2016 and in his new role has been tasked with leading Comatch Benelux into its next phase of growth.
Commenting on his new challenge, Wijffels said, “We see large opportunities for growth in the dynamic Benelux market. In 2019 we want to intensify the relationships with our current clients and put extra focus on expanding our network in Belgium and Luxembourg.”
Wijffels is supported in his ambitions by a team of six professionals, including two new recruits. Amelie Kerne, who joined from DaWanda, a European marketplace for unique and handmade designs, has been hired as Business Development Manager, while Thijs Lambalk, who joined fresh from college, has been appointed Junior Business Development Manager. “I am very much looking forward to work with an enlarged team of talented people to enforce the activities on the Benelux market,” said Wijffels.
UK and Spain
Comatch’s expansion in the Benelux comes shortly after the firm ramped up its UK team with the additions of Charlotte Gregson and William Jones. The office in Europe’s second largest management consulting market launched in March this year. Last month, the matchmaker for independent consultants also established an operation in Spain, taking its tally of offices to seven in Europe and one in the Middle East.
