In our ‘Under the Nobi lamp with…’ column, Nobi likes to put all our valuable team members in the spotlight. Today Nobi proudly presents: Roeland, co-founder and co-CEO of Nobi.

What does your average day as CO-founder and CO-CEO look like?

About 80% of my time is spent talking, either on the phone, online or in real life.

Why is that necessary?

Well, first of all: Nobi is an ambitious scale-up people need to know about. Also, we are currently raising funds to be able to branch out into other markets. Convincing people to invest millions in your company requires a lot of explaining, since investors want to know what Nobi stands for and where the company is heading.

What does the light at the end of the tunnel look like for Nobi?

For now we are still a small Belgian company, but our sights are set on the international horizon.  We’d like to be available in the whole of Europe within the next three to five years so we can reach out to a broader demographic of senior citizens that can benefit from the lifestyle Nobi will allow them to have. Also, we want to increase the options that are currently featured on our lamps, so that aside from fall prevention and fall detection we can accommodate elderly people and their specific needs.

And in the meantime?

We just want to help as many people as we possibly can.

How do you manage to fuse the social aspect behind Nobi and the tech side?

Our soft spot for people goes hand in hand with our love for engineering. When the first falls were detected by Nobi we were very aware of the fact that this was by virtue of the technology we provided, but at the same, we couldn’t help realizing the human implications of the service we offer. The senior citizens who had fallen were seen to almost immediately and as a result they were able to carry on with their normal lives thanks to our technology. This must have been a huge relief not just to them, but to their friends and family as well.

What is it about Nobi that lights you up? 

By 2060 the amount of people aged 80 and over will be double of what it is now. The truth of the matter is that by then, we simply won’t have enough caretakers or nursing staff to take care of them. So somehow, we will have to figure out a way of making sure our elderly can live independently longer, and that’s where technology comes in. With Nobi we are very actively addressing one of the biggest and most immediate social challenges. It’s impossible for me to turn a blind eye to the prospect of such a huge demographic being left in the dark.

How did you manage to put together such a fantastic team?

Everyone who works at Nobi is extremely talented and extremely bright as well – pun intended. There was no such thing as a winning formula as I was putting together the team, but in hindsight there is a certain logic to how it all played out. They’re all pretty much obsessed by technology and share a passion for how it can impact people’s lives. They also take full ownership of their part in Nobi, which is a testament to their commitment to the company and its mission.

How will you make sure this level of energy and dedication remains switched on?

The ambitions for Nobi are bold, but for now we’re still a relatively small team. In order for us to grow we will need to make sure our company culture remains the same. Our biggest source of energy and inspiration is our belief that we have what it takes to improve senior citizens’ overall quality of life in the future. That’s powerful stuff. If that doesn’t turn you on, the odds are you’re just not seeing the big picture.

Shine your light on the rest of our team!

• Stijn, CEO of Nobi
• Niels, head of software at Nobi
• Sven, Sales Director at Nobi
• Conny, HR, admin and project management lead at Nobi
• Bert, co-founder at Nobi