Introduction to WillPower Group
Under Dr. Robert Baeyens, WillPower Group grew into a pragmatic global real estate development group where dynamic willpower, perseverance and a conservative financial policy are at the heart of the daily operations.
WillPower Group is the virtual name for a multitude of global companies, holding and developing real estate assets.
The name of the group comes from a medal that Dr. Baeyens received from the Belgian government for his efforts, perseverance and “willpower”; both the logo and name of the group are based on this medal. After finalizing his medical university studies and radiology specialization, Dr. Baeyens started building out various medical imaging cabinets throughout Flanders.
In the early 80s, Dr. Baeyens, together with some befriended partners, started building out the family real estate patrimony in Belgium. By gradually accumulating expertise and the required partnership, the group succesfully marketed small-scale residential real estate developments in Flanders and Brussels, with a clear focus on the city of Ghent, in which WillPower Group is headquartered. Today the group holds 436 units of apartments, studios and houses in patrimony, which are being rented through its real estate agency Combi Wonen.
In the 90s, the first cautious steps towards internationalization were taken; initially in Poland, with later extensions to Romania and the South of France. In 1998 a bigger jump was done by investing in the West-Cape of South Africa, where through various partnerships, a multitude of allotments, private estates, villas, apartment buildings, office parks and a participation in a game reserve park were, and still are, successfully marketed.
The team
Generations follow each other up and the once young man who received a medal in the 60s is now assisted in the daily management by his son John Baeyens, who gained international, financial and marketing expertise in management positions at EUnet International (Qwest), British Telecom and Neo Group Investments (Capricorn) and his Brazilian wife Simone Mendonça, who gained a 12 years expertise as the only female architect/project manager at Construtora Norberto Odebrecht (Sao Paulo: ODBE), where she was responsible for the construction and renovation of airports (Galeão International Airport, Santos Dumont) and megarestorts (Costa de Sauípe). Odebrecht is Latin America’s leading engineering and construction company and ranks 20th in revenues among 225 international contractors and is Brazil largest services export organization. Both Simone and John assist Dr. Baeyens in managing the daily operations in Belgium, South Africa and Brazil.
The office in South Africa is supervised by Stephan Muller who is the local director of the South African companies of the group. Stephan oversees the South African projects and runs the local accounting and financial management. He is supported by Wilma Van Den Berg, responsible for accounting and administration.
The Florianópolis office of Vinlanda in Brazil is operated by Alexandre Favarin who supervises the project development, construction works and financial management of the developments in the state of Santa Catarina, in which he also facilitates the acquisition proposals for new projects in the area. The Rio de Janeiro Globalpoint office in Brazil is operated by Lucyana Oliveira, who administrates the office and manages the overall architectural studies of the Vinlanda projects and Ana Paula Sachi Sá, who manages the detailed architectural studies as well as the technical projects and cost control of the various Vinlanda projects.The team members and management of the group speak fluently English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Dutch, Afrikaans and German.
Key summary
The Belgian family patrimony is further being extended as an asset basis and buffer for the future, managed by our real estate agency Combi Wonen, in which the family is directly represented through the youngest daughter Kim Baeyens.
Belgian promotions of new projects are further being extended.
The existing international projects are further executed and future-wise evaluated in the light of future local and global macro economical trends.
The target focus is becoming increasingly Brazil, especially the Southern states of the country, in which economical prospects the group has a strong long-term believe and where the group has build-up a strong experience, partnership base and foremost local team. Not forgetting that all Brazilian ventures are being managed directly in-house through Simone Mendonça who operates in both the Belgian headquarters and local Brazilian offices.
In essence the strategy remains that a future generation, under the umbrella of the family-umbrella will further base its values and beliefs on the initial “willpower”; realizing a pragmatic, straightforward and ethical sound growth path.