'Recranet is a golden goose...'
Dockwize, the maternity room of the province of Zeeland for new companies with an innovative product or service, recently welcomed the 100th startup. The latest acquisition is Stokpaard. However, there are also companies that stretch out their wings and fly out. Like Elloro and the sister company Recranet that rapidly conquer the touristic market with reservation software.
Elloro and Recranet
Fortunately some continue to grow steadily and sometimes spectacularly fast, like the internet agency Elloro that has leased space since 2012 in Dockwize, known as Dok41 up to last year. Director Milko van Sighem (33) established his company in 2009 while he was still in college. He started on a flex location, but now leases four areas in Dockwize. That makes sense because Milko now has 15 employees on the payroll. Also thanks to the success of sister company Recranet that number will soon double, says the entrepreneur. And with that, Elloro and Recranet have outgrown Dockwize. The companies of Milko therefor have moved to a building in Middelburg in the fall.
What is the secret behind the growth? Milko: "The last few years we have grown tremendously thanks to our product Recranet Booking, innovative reservation software for the tourist industry that completely unburdens hotels, campgrounds, B&B’s and operators of vacation parks. Elloro already achieved strong growth with internet services such as web applications and design and online marketing strategies. With Recranet we have achieved a breakthrough.’’
Total solution
Recranet is software that not just arranges online reservations, but it is also linked to the website and the hardware. As an example the gate and the energy supply. Milko: "It is a total solution that unburdens recreation companies completely. They now work with five or six different suppliers. Often the software is old that causes malfunctions and mistakes. Like reservations that do not go through or a bad link with the website. That costs revenue and frustrates employees. Our software fixes that and thus increases the sales for clients. Clients are astounded: software that works seamlessly and on top of that it takes care of the online marketing and drives hardware. And they only have to deal with a single supplier, so that we can answer all of their questions and ease their concerns.’’
Dubai
So, Recranet is a goose that lays the golden eggs. Internationally there is a lot of interest, says Milko. "We have clients or are talking to recreation entrepreneurs in Dubai, Curaçao, Canada, Spain, Germany and Belgium." With the 600 clients that we already have, the money stream must be flowing now. "Things go well, but the profits are reinvested right away. We hire new people to be able to meet demand. In spite of the tight labor market we can still find sufficient personnel in Zeeland. They usually hail from the HZ. We offer challenging assignments that they can execute with a lot of freedom. With this, young people are more than willing to remain in the province of Zeeland to work."
Read the complete article on the website of the newspaper the Provinciale Zeeuwse courant.
Author: Frank Balkenende
Photographer: Dirk-Jan Gjeltema