STROOHM SME of the year UNIZO
In late 2023, Bart Massin, CEO of Stroohm, received the Antwerp SME of the Year award. Stroohm is an independent electric mobility specialist with strong expertise in the energy sector. Their consultancy offering goes from A to Z to advise clients in the transition to an electrified fleet. Bart’s team has grown strongly in installing charging infrastructure at employees’ homes and corporate parking lots of smart charging stations. We let Bart look back on the start of his entrepreneurship and SME of the Year adventure.
What was your trigger to start as an entrepreneur?
Has entrepreneurship always been in your blood?
“As a young engineer, I started within the Engie group in 2002, to stay on board with it for 15 years. So the electricity and gas markets hold few secrets for me since I helped shape them. But a company like Engie also gives you a broad education as a manager with knowledge of HR, finance and legal. All those aspects come in handy today. Entrepreneurship does not run in the family, but at a certain point I really wanted to be able to decide for myself and take speed, which proved difficult in a large company. My passion around cars combined with my professional energy knowledge turns out to be a successful cocktail today.”
What was the biggest adjustment for you?
Who could or can you turn to for advice, counsel?
“A corporate environment like Engie is a safe framework to work in. When you become an entrepreneur yourself, every decision has an impact on your business. Wrong choices can quickly undermine everything you’ve built. That risk and uncertainty is part of entrepreneurship and can be put into perspective if you work from a conviction. That balance sometimes feels like walking a tightrope and lonely when you are the sole shareholder. A stark contrast to the safe corporate environment as an employee. Within the circle of family or friends, you don’t always meet people who understand the uncertainties that rest on the shoulders of an entrepreneur. Fortunately, there are networking events within UNIZO where you can speak with like-minded people.”
What does Stroohm stand for?
Where do you make a difference?
“Our 4 core values are: sustainability, expertise, innovation and quality. Since our core activity lies in installing charging stations and advising in the conversion to an electrified fleet, sustainability is something that we stand behind tremendously. When Stroohm was founded, we were actually among the first on the market, which ensures that we can now act as a true expert both in our consulting role and in the installation of the charging stations/charging systems. However, we do not stand still and we are constantly innovating so that we can always respond to new charging points with more functionalities and, more importantly, optimize the cost of the energy consumed. This makes us unique thanks to our in-depth knowledge of the energy sector. A charging station from Stroohm pays for itself.”
You won the SME of the Year award in our province: what does that mean for you as an entrepreneur, for your team and Stroohm?
“We work tremendously hard every day as a team to assist companies as best we can in the transition to electric mobility, which can often be complex for the end user. It is also a very rapidly evolving market that requires great adaptability and in-depth expertise. The title of SME of the Year is a real crowning achievement for us. This gives the whole team a huge “Stroohm” boost. It also proves that anyone can be an entrepreneur, we started in 2017 with minimal equity and have grown into a company with more than 60 employees and a turnover above 10M EUR. We financed all the growth ourselves, so we are doubly proud with the award as we successfully compete against large oil and energy companies.”
What did you learn from this SME of the Year course and why would you recommend it to fellow entrepreneurs to participate?
“Participating in the SME of the Year was a learning process. The documents that need to be submitted and the accompanying questions make you take a moment to reflect on the whole process you went through. It brings back very fond memories, but also things we learned from. This self-reflection is necessary from time to time to take steps forward. Winning the award in the province of Antwerp makes you proud and gives you an enormous sense of urgency to continue doing business. I would certainly like to take the opportunity to emphasize to fellow entrepreneurs to participate for several reasons. Making interesting connections, getting to know the professionalism of UNIZO and its network. And certainly do not forget the positive “Stroohm” boost within your company for the existing and possibly new employees.”
Where are you today with your business?
And was that where you hoped to be?
“Currently Stroohm is among the top 3 in the market and the only one in our industry that is profitable. We have grown tremendously in recent years with figures of +80% year after year. And that is something we as a team can be proud of. As mentioned earlier, we operate in a rapidly evolving market which also comes with competition that have more financial resources. We realize that growing even faster is also in our margin, we can now also grow on our own to a company of about 150 employees. As a driven entrepreneur, reality always goes slower than what you want, but that’s part of the game. We have already covered a beautiful course as a company and are certainly happy with the result.
We are only at the beginning of the electrification of the car.
How do you view the future?
Where are the challenges?
“Indeed, today only 4% of the car fleet in Belgium drives electric. So there is still a huge challenge in greening cars with exhaust emissions. Our market will become increasingly mature, and we as Stroohm will grow with it to meet the increasing demand with new services where quality, expertise and sustainability remain central. The Flemish SME today is unfortunately still insufficiently aware of the tax reform and the impact on its diesel, gasoline and hybrid cars. Electric cars are also fiscally the best option, but we still see too little return on investment within the SME market. Not surprising in itself, since SMEs often do not have a dedicated fleet manager in-house who specializes in this. That is exactly where we see our social added value.”
Stroohm’s doors were also opened to a politician on “Entrepreneur’s Day”: what message do you have for our governments?
“The challenge will be for the new governments from 2024 to launch a new taxation system that encourages private individuals to choose a car without direct emissions. Parking and charging rules should also be harmonized since each city now applies its own rules, idem for the low emission zone. This should at least be harmonized at the regional level. A stable investment climate must be maintained for renewable energy and the electric car must be given every opportunity to offer the flexibility needed for energy transition. Our electric car is a huge home battery that can be charged during solar and wind production and can compensate for our home consumption at peak times. We in Belgium must dare to support this to the full and build up knowledge around this and export that knowledge economy abroad instead of the other way around.”
