Meet the Dopharma team!

In the second edition we introduced the regulatory team with Marja and Irma. Next in line are Dirk, Frank, Chantal and Ingrid from the Customer Service department!

Please introduce yourselves

My name is Dirk van Elderen, working at Dopharma for about 10 years now. I started here as a delivery driver and after about 1.5 years I made the switch to the Customer Service department which I currently manage. In terms of work, I have many different responsibilities. I take care of service towards the Dutch customers, but I also arrange a lot for export. I work closely together with colleagues from the affiliates in the different European countries. Which means working on the  the supply chain and planning for our affiliate offices. Finally, I help colleagues wherever needed.  

In my spare time I like playing padel and I walk a lot. This year I did the Nijmegen 4-day walk, for which I had to train. Besides sports, I enjoy spending time with friends, barbecuing, and I have been chairman of the village festival in Bavel for 15 years. So, I like being busy.  

 

I am Ingrid Sloot and have been working at Dopharma for 33 years now. I started as executive secretary for Wijnand de Bruijn Sr., the founder of Dopharma. After several years, I started working on export and for the past four years I support Jessica with Legal tasks for a half day a week. I also work on international pricing as part of sales support, as well as complaints handling and I am also involved in the whole order process: from the moment the order comes in until it is loaded into the container. Because each country has its own laws and regulations, it is a very varied and challenging job. It can also be hectic at times. Even after 33 years, I still run into new things, which keeps my job interesting.   

From a personal perspective, I’m married, a mother of two and we have a dog and a cat. I also like to walk the dog and I often go out with friends. Nevertheless, I also really enjoy being at home.  

 

My name is Chantal Janssens and work at Dopharma for over 2 years now. I mainly deal with export within Europe and when my colleagues Jan or Hanneke are off, I take over their tasks within the Netherlands. In between we are expanding to export outside Europe. Furthermore, I work on the internal invoicing of our affiliate in Italy. And on top of that, I am also working on the export of the autogenous vaccines. So I do a bit of everything!   

I am married, have 2 children age 8 and 11 and as a hobby I do scooter racing! Together with friends we did the scooter race from Rotterdam to den Hout! That was great fun to do. I also enjoy gardening in my vegetable garden, participate in judo activity committee and recently joined the committee of my street to organize all kind of things throughout the year. So I am a ‘’busy bee’’! 

 

I’m Frank van Enschot and I work at Dopharma for more than 25 years now. Ingrid has already explained in detail exactly what we do, only I’d like to add that we are in frequent contact with the Chamber of Commerce, transport companies and banks, because you not only have to make sure that you send out your invoices but also that you actually receive the money on the agreed date.  

I live in Berkel- Enschot, my hobbies are tennis, padel and skiing. In the future, I would really enjoy staying in Austria for a longer period of time and skiing whenever I want. I am also quite burgundy, which means I love a bite to eat and a drink. 

Can you tell a funny or amusing anecdote about your work or what you once experienced?  

Ingrid: 

We used to organize very nice fairs for clients. I can still remember one time we had dinner and afterwards we didn’t have enough room in the car. To solve the problem, one customer sat in the boot and another customer lay over us on the way back! We laughed a lot then! Moments like that were very enjoyable and that also says something about the customer contact we have.  

Dirk: 

We keep finding this funny: outside Europe, my first name is quite a thing. In Dutch is ‘’Dick’’ a common name, but for some customers I have to change my e-mail signature to ‘’Dirk‘’ because otherwise it is not really accepted. 

Frank: 

We received a question via email about a pony, we already suspected that the email was sent by a child. Her pony had a cough and the question was whether we had anything to cure this. As we are only allowed to sell and supply to vets, we were unfortunately not able to help. But of course,  consumers also find us on the internet and since customer service is often the company’s first point of contact, sometimes situations like this do occur.  

Dirk: 

A vet once ordered 20 jerry cans of a product from us on a Friday afternoon. Because it was already a bit late and the order could not be delivered with the regular delivery service, I took the jerry cans and the vet collected the cans in front of my house and loaded these into his car. You can imagine that that looked quite criminal late at night for the people who witnessed it at the time, even though it’s fully legal!   

What makes your job fun for you?  

Frank:  

Besides diversity and challenges, it is especially fun to come into contact with people from different countries and cultures. The secret of our department is that we all enjoy going to work and that we help each other at all times when necessary.  

Dirk:  

We are also often told that everything is arranged so nicely and that we are friendly on the phone, because when you call Dopharma, you don’t get to hear a tape. We get this feedback a lot in the Netherlands, but also from abroad. We take it as a great compliment! 

Do you want to read the first and the second Meet the team-interview? Click below!