Upgazet: The generation that saw along

Tijl, Staf and Keet grew up in a family where entrepreneurship, pioneering and “just doing it” were everyday fare. While Upgrade Estate steadily grew into an established business, as children they walked - sometimes literally - between construction sites, meetings and the many stories.

In this candid conversation, they look back on what they inherited from their parents Nele and Koenraad, how their view of the company and the world changed, and what they take away from all this themselves into the future.

You grew up together as siblings parallel to your parents' business. At what point did you first realise what your parents did professionally? What did you find most interesting about it?

[Tijl] The big business only started around 2011 with the completion of the first big Upkot building (Ter Plaeten Upkot, nvdr.). It was during that opening that I first realised what was happening. I was 9 years old at the time and I know I had accidentally exploded those beanbags then. During that opening, I saw that big building with a garden next to it, which we would walk around in. There were a lot of people there, I remember. It did happen that we came to the office after school and amused ourselves there by, for example, sitting on the photocopier with our bare buttocks (laughs). 

[Keet] Did I do that too?

[Staf] No, not you. My first memory coincided with carnival when I was 11 years old. We had agreed with the mates to all dress up as our parents' profession. But I didn't know what my parents did, so I asked. They tried to explain it in children's language and my conclusion was that they had an office job. I then dressed up as a businessman and put on a suit that suited me. We still have photos of that, with one of those briefcases. During the period when they also had a hostel, it became clearer to me. The 'Prullenbos' near our house immediately made it much more tangible too. I used to not understand quite as well what Upgrade Estate exactly meant, so when they asked, ‘What do your parents do?’ I would think Prullenbos and a Hostel (Backstay Hostel, nvdr.) and then something else I didn't understand. I understood that they were self-employed, but I still didn't really know what being self-employed meant. From secondary school I started to understand it all pretty well. 

[Keet] With me, that really came much later, not until second secondary or so. That Hostel is my first memory. I often went there for breakfast with my mum and I liked the lasagne there so much. The 'Prullenbos too, but that's because that's super close to us. But those were also the only two things I really knew about. And indeed, Upgrade Estate itself, Upkot and the other brands didn't come to my realisation until much later.

So Upgrade Estate didn't really get meaning for you until later in life?

[Keet] Dad used to tell everyone he had a fourth child. 

[Tijl] We mostly said that ourselves after a while. We agreed (laughs). 

[Keet] Upgrade Estate is just something we grew up with and that's just normal for us, I guess. So I never really thought about that. The Hostel was the most interesting for me. There were a lot of people walking around there who were travelling. And I liked travelling too. So I was always like ‘Oh my god’. There are people walking around there who are travelling. That was also linked to having breakfast at my mum's. Fun moments.

[Staf] In the beginning I didn't find much interesting and now I find almost everything interesting. I remember always wanting to join the sales team on the road. That never happened, but in the beginning I found sales interesting and then the general purpose of the company. What purpose do you want to achieve? What social impact do you want to make? That's the most important thing for me now. But I used to think it was only about figures.

Have you ever considered doing anything in the company yourself?

[Tijl] My father took me for the first time when I was twelve years old to a project in Kortrijk. I was immediately brought in to help with the final touches and was told to vacuum and mop. The following week he took me for two days to Bru Upkot in Brussels where I was then also brought in to do all kinds of jobs. Since then, I started working on the sites as a job student every summer for weeks. I found construction interesting anyway, but more the practical side, the logistical workings of such a company. In the evenings, I used to start talking to my dad about what was going on everywhere.

[Staf] I first went along to a construction site once and discovered pretty quickly that construction sites were not for me.I found it more interesting to be hired for all kinds of administrative work, such as processing Excel tables, for example, or analysing energy data, working with the accounting department, ... Meanwhile, I have been an Upstudent in an Upkot building for three years. There, I also help run the building a bit or they call me to be behind the bar during events. So it's actually kind of my flexi-job within the company. 

[Tijl] I became self-employed immediately after training as a tree care worker last year. Because I was employed as a job student in Construction, Facility and Community for years, I still occasionally work for Upgrade Estate in the start-up phase of my activities. 

[Keet] Once, when I was 13 or 14, I asked Sofie (Upgrade Estate's chief people & culture, nvdr) what her work actually entailed because what she did seemed so interesting to me. I then said I wanted to do that later. In the meantime, though, I've moved away from that. If I was ever going to do something, it would have to have a social impact. So all three of us clearly differ in that. All three of us have very different fields of interest and are related to what Upgrade Estate does in different ways. 

What funny or striking memory/ story can you share about being a child of 2 CEOs?

[Tijl] When we were children driving along to school during the winter periods in the direction of Ghent, we had not even gone halfway down the driveway and the first phone was done. Then the three of us had to be as quiet as a mouse. And when you were picked up from school, the phone call was already in progress. Constantly calling, our dad especially.

"Decisiveness... Gaining and giving confidence, that's it for me. (Tijl)

[Keet] Mum not really. 

[Staf] But dad when he got home conveniently called another hour in the garden and just walked back and forth... 

[Keet] ...all the time. 

[Tijl] Until mum had to call out.... ‘Are you finally coming to eat?’ and then he still did not come. No, he just kept going. [Keet] We also had au pairs. It's not because we had an au pair that our parents were never at home. Because that was actually just for the hours after school. At night, they were just at home. I also have a funny memory of this. One of our au pairs came from China. When she came to pick me up from school, children would ask me the next day if my mum was Chinese and why I was talking in English to my mum (laughs). 

[Staf] Once I came back from a party at around 1.45 a.m. and I arrived on the driveway of our house at the same time as my parents. And if you then asked why they only got home then, the answer I got was that the meeting had run late. That doesn't happen now. 

[Tijl] I've never known anything but that bustle.

[Staf] I did notice at one point that this was not the case everywhere. My friend's parents have fixed working hours. There, everything is really well organised. With her, you know who is at home at all times. When I come home, it's... ‘hello...?’ and waiting to see if there is an answer.

What did you learn from your parent(s) as entrepreneurs?

[Staf] Just do it. Beware, that's also the slogan of the VLD, so maybe don't take it that way (laughs). Our dad and mum used to say, ‘You have to do it, stop talking about it, just do it.’

[Tijl] Decisiveness. Sometimes I might be able to do that a bit more. Most of all, I learned to have the confidence to try something. I became independent. If I have a question, I can go to them immediately. They give me tips and tricks.I really like that safety net and would have no idea how I would do without them. I am given a framework, a safety net and a very large network. Gaining and giving trust, that's it for me.

"Openness and how you treat other people. It's about respect, but also about when you can or should stand your ground. (Staf)

[Staf] I feel we can do anything. We've just inherited good morals and I'm also one of the few in my group of friends who tells his parents everything.

[Keet] I have that too.

[Staf] First of all, I don't do anything that they will find despicable. I have no secrets from my parents. Even if I know they're not going to like it, I still say it. They trust me. There are no taboos at our house.

[Tijl] You can really talk about everything at the table at our house.

Good morals, the values you have been given. I already heard trust as a value, what values do you still uphold?

[Staf] Openness and how you treat other people. It's about respect, but also about when you can or should stand your ground. 

[Tijl] When it's time to say f*ck it.

[Staf] On the one hand, you have to respect everyone and listen to people. But at a certain point you do indeed have to say ‘f*ck it, now I'm going to do it the way I want to do it.’ And we got that. So you can always weigh up and see what you are going to do in a given situation. By including those values in your thinking, you almost never come to wrong decisions.

[Keet] What I especially take away and have remembered is that open-mindedness, because there is no idea too crazy for my parents. They say about everything, ‘Try it.’ The only thing that can happen is that it doesn't work out and then you try again or just completely different. Trust is also super important to me. I also tell my parents everything because I know they are always going to respond to that in the right way too. Otherwise, they just keep quiet for a while. With “standing my ground”, I still have a hard time with that sometimes. My parents are not going to do it for me then, but they are going to motivate me to do it myself. 

[Staf] I remember in secondary school I had set up a kind of trade in soft drinks because they had taken away the soft drink machines at school. I saw an opportunity in that. I told this to my parents and they secretly liked my “entrepreneurship”, but warned me that it was at my own risk. And they also immediately gave me some tips on how to sell more. I can always turn to them for advice and help. 

[Tijl] For me, this manifested itself when I was tired of school at the end of the fourth secondary school. I could no longer charge to sit in school all day, but I had many interests. My parents quickly realised that it was going in the wrong direction and immediately started looking for a way to make it work. Six months later, I had graduated from high school through the examination board. A year early, so I started working as a job student in a Delhaize and on Upgrade Estate sites. During my higher studies, after much pondering, I realised that I wanted to follow my vocation and become an arborist. My parents always gave me good advice in this regard. 

[Staf] That's something our mum is very good at. Assessing what people can do and like. She sometimes knows better than us. Yes, that's also sometimes annoying. 

[Keet] And she's always right afterwards. 

You may at some point later in your job start working with people you will need to give direction to. So how would you do that? One thing that stands out for each of you?

[Tijl] For me, that's working together. In my job, that's definitely important, that's really a core value. You make sure you match and that you can work together. If you can already do that, then the work comes naturally. Really sincere. I've already noticed that over the past few months. 

[Staf] Openness and transparency. If you have something on your mind, say it. 

[Keet] I was going to say honesty. That's not the same as openness, because you can be open and not say everything.

[Staf] That's exactly what I mean. That's allowed of course. But I'm talking more about, ‘Who did that, but he didn't do it well.’ Then say: ‘I don't think it's right.’ ‘We will solve it together.’ ‘That person doesn't like that other person.’ Speak to each other. Especially in larger organisations. If you work with five people, that's still quite easy. If you're with more than 100 people, it's obviously a lot more difficult.

[Tijl] The personal contacts are less. 

[Staf] I don't really understand the reasoning: ‘That's my boss and that's your boss’, this highly developed hierarchy. It's important to have a manager, someone who can decide, but you don't have to be afraid of ‘the boss’ for that reason. 

[Tijl] You have to have someone who can take ultimate responsibility, but you have to get things done together.