De Issuemakers is currently a communications consultancy in Amstelveen with twenty passionate employees that profiles itself in a special way by advising and supporting organizations that have or want to make a social impact. I took the first step twenty-five years ago when I started working from home. I didn't have a mobile phone yet, the internet was still in its infancy and I still remember my first email account very well. That is of course completely different now. Because what would we be as an agency without the internet, without a website and without email. Technological tools that make personal and professional life a lot easier. The use of data and artificial intelligence has become an indispensable part of our profession. But these technical tools cannot replace our thinking and creativity. I am convinced that people make the difference.
More than 25 years ago I decided to quit the agency where I was working at the time. I exchanged a secure existence for an existence that you could call ZZP+. Fortunately, we soon had a number of regular customers and after about three years the home office was exchanged for a real office that was rented. Much more professional of course and a nice place to sit together with my first employees and customers, devise and make plans. My sister Sybrig also started her own business in 1997 and ten years later we started to see if we could work together. That turned out to be the case. And now 10 years later we are still together and run De Issuemakers together.
Since 2007, our agency has been called De Issuemakers and we have managed to secure a good position in the Netherlands. Without just focusing on growth, we are now a medium-sized company and we have a portfolio with great clients - profit and non-profit - and interesting assignments. And it has been that way from the beginning. We worked a lot and with great pleasure for the NS, especially during our early years. An achievement is that, for example, we have managed to link the NS and the CPNB and developed the Time for Reading campaign. Became known for, among other things, traveling with the Book Week Gift, the reading compartments and the NS Audience Award.
Social involvement was and still is an important motivation for me and for the rest of the employees of De Issuemakers. We actually anticipated what is now called purpose thinking. However, social involvement has been our DNA for years. This is what sets us apart. And not because it is a business consideration, but because it is a personal choice. You can find out more about issue making or contact the Issumakers via .
This is the last blog in a series of five in the context of Mayke van Keep's 25 years of entrepreneurship.
