Living faith, revealing Christ

Walking beside you to meet, share, support and inspire you on your journey.

Why? Because we care.

As business leaders and entrepreneurs, we are all on a journey to reach our personal goals, to realise our ambition, to make a difference and take care of our loved ones. This can be challenging and difficult, but also incredibly rewarding and exciting. Sharing with friends doubles the pleasure and halves the load. Together you will gain insights that you would never find on your own.

Fellow entrepreneurs and business leaders from Europartners would like to come and walk beside you. To encourage, share and celebrate. To help you to get to know and to understand the source of abundant life and love, because we value and care about the family of people whose common language is business.

Walking together

We create places and experiences where you can meet yourself, God and peers. We hope to inspire, equip, and mobilize you to become a channel for well-being to others through your business, your community and your family life.

Our focus – business leaders and entrepreneurs
We are Christian entrepreneurs and business leaders. Our work and education is in business, therefore our heart is to serve this community. Business is the language we speak and the environment we work within.

Our foundation

Our trust is in the God of the Bible. We point to Jesus as the key for an abundant life
and to his words and example as a guide for our life and business.

Our goal

That you as a business person
discover the blessings and abundant life
that God wants to share with you.

Our team

WOUTER DROPPERS

PRESIDENT

DENNIS DE GRAAF

VICE PRESIDENT

IAN SMITH

BOARD MEMBER / SECRETARY / HIGH LEVEL BUSINESS LEADERS

OLIVIER BAUMANN

BOARD MEMBER / CHAIR | YOUNG ENTPRERENEURS

VERONIKA SELIUKOVA

MARKETING

JOEL DE VOS

FAITH COACH COORDINATOR

STEFAN VAN EERDE

GROWTH MARKETING COÖRDINATOR

DIRK GOUDSWAARD

BOARD MEMBER / TREASURER

ANNELIES LUKEN

OFFICE ASSISTANT

PETER LUKEN

ACCOUNTING

LINDA BAUMANN

COÖRDINATOR FEMALE NETWORK & YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS

Māris Dižgalvis

BOARD MEMBER

Daniel LAR

BOARD MEMBER

ArãO TOMé Guerreiro

BOARD MEMBER

DAVID MARTIN

EUROPARTNERS AMBASSADOR

ABRAHAM MALDONADO

TRAINER

About Wouter Droppers

Wouter Droppers has come alongside leaders in the business world for more than thirty-five years. He has served as the president of several companies in the automotive sector and currently is president of Europartners, a European movement for Christian Business leaders, where he advises, supports, and encourages Christian entrepreneurs throughout Europe about the topic faith and business.

He studied theology, as well as, and he is also the author of the book, ‘The Jerusalem entrepreneur, becoming a source of well-being.’ He is married, has two children and lives in the Netherlands.

Wouter’s Curriculum Vitae (PDF format) 

About Dennis de Graaf

My name is Dennis de Graaf, now reaching the beautiful age of 50. Married for 26 wonderful years to my wife Danielle. Together we are blessed with four beautiful children.

Danielle and I are passionate about discipleship and sharing the gospel. We have a great love for people and our goal is to see them through the eyes of Jesus.

I have been an entrepreneur since 2005 and have had the opportunity to contribute in various companies and positions. I am also active in several business associations and foundations, both past and present. The most valuable lesson I have learnt in my entrepreneurship is that everyone is looking for connection. There is nothing more beautiful than being able to connect people with Jesus and with each other.

My further life purpose? I sincerely pray to bear fruit for the Father, in line with what Jesus said in John 15:8: “In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and are My disciples.”

My desire is to achieve this not through hard work, but by staying in close connection with Him, despite the challenges of trial and error that come with it.

For my work, I have travelled a lot and I love other cultures. Being genuinely interested every time and letting yourself be amazed. I look forward with anticipation to working with Wouter and what God is going to do through us and Europartners.

About Ian Smith

Ian is a Director of Springbrook Partnership and is an EMCC Accredited Coach/Mentor at Senior Practitioner level. With thirty years’ experience as a senior executive with international organisations in the corporate and non-profit sectors, he brings both depth and breadth of experience to the Partnership. His role in the non-profit sector was strongly cross-cultural, establishing operational bases in eleven countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa with indigenous leaders.

 

Ian’s heart is to invest in leaders and to equip the leaders of the future enabling them to be authentic, courageous role models and ambassadors. is a core component, helping them make a difference to organisational health and culture, empowering individuals and teams to flourish and realise their potential.

 

A Chartered Engineer, Ian has experience and skills in strategic planning, leadership development, critical thinking, operational leadership and team building. He has also completed a Diploma at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Ian qualified as a coach through Henley Business School and is a member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and International Coach Federation (ICF). He serves on the board of two European non-profit organisations.

About Olivier Baumann

Olivier was born in Berne, Switzerland. At the age of two his family migrated to Australia, therefore he spent most of his obligatory schooling years “Down Under”. At home it was natural to talk about Jesus and Christian faith. Already at an early age, Olivier started his personal relationship with Jesus Christ, a decision he has never regretted making.

After moving back to Switzerland in 1994, Olivier completed his tertiary education, graduating with an MBA at the University of Berne. He commenced his professional career at the Swiss Government, working in and leading various projects until 2012. During this time the desire to live a life that testified completely to Jesus grew and led to a unique journey of faith.

Olivier has a passion for helping people of all ages perceive and walk in their true calling. He also has a longing to see Christian entrepreneurs and executives being equipped and living out their faith 24/7. Olivier is married to his wonderful wife Linda and loves engaging in different sports.

About Veronika Seliukova

Veronika was born in Lithuania but moved to the United Kingdom as a child and resided there since.

Having a passion for business and creativity from a young age, she started her first business at 18 and worked throughout university. After graduating from Plymouth university with a degree in Paramedic Science she decided to discover more about her capabilities and attended the LIFE church leadership college where as part of the media team and young adults leadership team she developed her skills further in the fields of media, marketing and management. Half way through the year she acquired a marketing specialist role, overseeing marketing campaigns for 7 care homes and training the staff in digital marketing. She continued in this role for 2 years, and provided freelance work to clients in marketing and management of capital on the trading market. Now fully absorbed in developing business acumen, she continues to grow her skills and knowledge in marketing and finance as she pursues her passion to provide solutions and help people to creatively market themselves.

Starting from November 2022, she has joined the Europartners team as a Marketing Manager with an aim to see Europartners develop into all it intends to be and reach a wider community online. 

About Joel de Vos

I like to support Europartners in helping entrepreneurs to find life in Christ.

Growing up in a middle-income family with changing circumstances, Joel had a difficult start into his adulthood with a cancer diagnosis at 18. After 2 years and winning the fight against cancer, he found himself with a mountain of debt, no career and no prospects in life.

With support of his faith, friends and family he was able to face these challenges and overcome them.

He worked as an HR professional with work experience in various sectors including one the most well-established consultancy firms in Europe (Big Four) and has now his own company

Nowadays, Joël is a husband, a father and as of 2022 a marathon runner.

He puts his faith into action by volunteering in his local church, serving Europartners, supporting people in the margins of society, as well as (cancer) patients and their families.

About Stefan van Eerde

Stefan (1982) is a Dutch entrepreneur, living in Portugal. He has a wealth of experience having sold his own company, worked with prestigious universities, and held positions in both large corporations, as well as small startups and NGOs. His expertise lies in strategic marketing, where he assists entrepreneurs and business leaders as a fractional CMO.

Beyond his professional endeavours, Stefan is actively involved in his community, volunteering in various roles within his church.

He also serves as an advisory board member for several Higher Education institutions.

At Europartners, Stefan contributes to the “Surpassing Success” project, with his expertise.

About Dirk Goudswaard

Dirk has been owner and managing director of VarioDrive for 25 years until 2020. VarioDrive is a company that offers motion control solutions and highly customised drive components for special machines. Since 1996 VarioDrive has established itself as one of the leading Motion Control companies in the Netherlands. 


Dirk got involved in marketplace evangelism by the Dutch CBMC team, among them Wouter Droppers. By serving Europartners, Dirk longs to contribute to reach the business people who do not know Christ and help them to find the Truth, the Way and the Life. Things that are most dear to Dirk in life are love of Christ, his family and his friends. Dirk lives in Oud-Beijerland, close to Rotterdam, with his wife and 3 children.

About Linda Baumann

Linda was born in Berne, Switzerland. After finishing her mandatory schooling, she did her apprenticeship at a bank. Shortly after, she left for Hawaii and participated in a YWAM Discipleship Training School. During the outreach in China her love for teaching was awakened and, on her return, she studied to become a teacher. Six years later, she felt led to dive into a newly developed passion – to create beautiful things.

She started her own business in 2017 and now offers a variety of design services such as unique projects in the area of modern lettering as well as customized printing materials and business brandings.

Linda is married to Olivier, and together they are involved in the Swiss CBMC ministry in Berne since 2014. They became a part of Europartners in 2017 and started to step into what God has put on their heart as a couple: to empower, equip and encourage people in their lives in Christ. 

About Māris Dižgalvis

Māris lives in Riga, Latvia. Explicitly, he calls himself ‘I am a child of God’, as being his identity. He is married and father of 4 children.
He is the owner and founder of an engineering company offering services in Latvia and Estonia. Māris is also chair of the CBMC ministry in Latvia, a movement to help the entrepreneurs and professionals to reach out and be connected to Christ!  
His passion is to follow Christ and to be salt and light, in the environment he is acting in. He likes others to discover and see Jesus, as well as.


He tells: ‘My motivation to be a board member of Europartners comes from remembering the time when crises hit companies and people were looking for additional courage and motivation to go forward. The connection with Europartners and CBMC helped me to establish a right Biblical mindset that I am not the owner of everything I have. Only God has ownership on everything and I must be a trusty steward. I can rely on God in all circumstances in life as He controls everything and provides in His grace with peace in all situations’.

About Daniel

Daniel Lar is a senior software executive with expertise in software development, working in the corporate world in outsourcing, scaling professional services organizations as well as doing Mergers and Acquisitions in Eastern Europe. 

He is co-founder of Guild, an NGO that aims to support the professional and spiritual development of professionals in Romania. 

He is also part of the church leadership team at Teofania Church, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 

He is passionate to invest in young leaders, equip and mentor people holistically, and leading organisations by creating a healthy culture on aligned objectives. 

His education includes a Computer Science Degree from Cluj Technical University and a Master Degree in Entrepreneurial Management from Griffiths School of Management, Emanuel University Oradea. 

About Arão

Arão is a born entrepreneur passioned about creating businesses with purpose and generating impact. He splits his time between his homeland, Portugal, and Angola, where he is venturing in agriculture.

About David Martin

David is married to Helen, and together near Belfast, N. Ireland, they are parents to Catherine and Tom. Having come to faith in Jesus Christ as a child, David has enjoyed the adult lifetime journey of experiencing the truth of promises such as “In all your ways acknowledge God, and He will direct your paths.”  Proverbs 3:6. And even when not acknowledging God as we should, God constantly provides His children with paths back to Him.  

A month after finishing university David commenced self employment rather than taking the usual paths through large employers.  Business flourished even in the first year, and over the next few years David sensed that the business of financial planning and wealth management was where he was meant to be. In the very first month of business he was also introduced to marketplace ministry, and so business and business ministry have become inextricably linked throughout 35+ years.  

The purpose of those first marketplace ministry events remains David’s own purpose, “To present Jesus Christ to business and professional people, and to train them to carry out The Great Commission.”

David says,
“A love for business, ministry and travel have been bound together with the joy of being able to meet and serve Christian business and ministry leaders in 40 countries.  

Most recently this has included a Europartners project with Christian business leaders in The Balkans. The project’s primary objective is help leaders come together, build community together, and minister together for The Great Commission.”

Selling his business in 2017 and then finishing a period of consultancy has opened some new opportunities, with the peace that God will continue to provide and direct along good paths. 

About Abraham Maldonado

Abraham is our main trainer in evangelism, discipleship and leadership. Abraham studied a Political Science and International Relations at the University of Puerto Rico. He worked 14 years for the US Federal Government, 8 years as an Infantry Officer (Captain) in the US Marine Corps, and 6 years as a Special Agent of the FBI. He then worked 10 years as Director of Corporate Security and later Executive Vice President of PaviaHealth, Inc., the largest healthcare provider in Puerto Rico.

In 1998 Abraham graduated from Haggai Institute, a Christian Leadership Development School in Singapore, and later became a member of its International Faculty for 8 years. He has coordinated and participated in missionary and evangelistic events as well as leadership training seminars in over 40 countries. In 2006, Abraham and his family moved to Malaga Spain as missionaries to start the European Christian Life Academy, a ministry dedicated to training influential Christian leaders throughout Europe on advanced leadership skills for effective evangelism. By God’s grace, Abraham and his family planted two churches in the Malaga Province which he pastored for 10 years.

Abraham is married to Mayra and has three children. They currently live in Alhaurín de la Torre, Málaga, Spain.