expat time

Spring 2017 • n°17

Essential lifestyle and business insights for foreign nationals in Belgium

In this issue Mastering business education How green is your garden? Exhibitions and events around the country

INTERVIEW

“ Kids need to understand things that transcend disciplines and subjects” Lee Fertig Director, International School of Brussels

A DIPLOMAT. EXCEPT WHEN IT COMES TO PERFORMANCE.

Sheer Driving Pleasure

THE ALL-NEW BMW 5 SERIES.

Environmental information (RD 19/03/04): www.bmw.be

1.9-7.4 L/100 KM • 44-164 G/KM CO2

Jean-Michel Martin West Boulevard Industriel 125 1070 Brussels Tel. 02 521 17 17 www.jmmartin.bmw.be

BMW Brussels Branch of BMW Belux Chaussée de Louvain 864 1140 Brussels Tel. 02 730 49 11 www.bmwbrussels.be

Jean-Michel Martin East Rue François Desmedt 96 1150 Brussels Tel. 02 772 08 20 www.jmmartin.bmw.be

Ginion Waterloo Chaussée de Bruxelles 54 1410 Waterloo Tel. 02 352 03 30 www.ginion.bmw.be

Ginion Overijse Brusselsesteenweg 403 3090 Overijse Tel. 02 687 91 40 www.ginion.bmw.be

Davo Tongeren bvba Maastrichtersteenweg 529 Exit 32 - E313 3700 Tongeren Tel. 012 23 71 55 www.davo.bmw.be

Bilia-Emond Arlon Route de Bastogne 394 6700 Arlon Tel. 063 23 05 60 www.emond.bmw.be

Louyet Mons Rue des Sandrinettes 48 7033 Mons-Cuesmes Tel. 065 40 02 00 www.louyet.bmw.be

Green shoots

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e are welcoming spring with a timely look at urban gardening and making the most of our outdoor space, whatever its size. Our main theme for this issue, though, is education. First, we talk to American Lee Fertig, head of the International School of Brussels. One of his challenges is equipping pupils representing 70 nationalities with the skills for an evolving world. MBA students face similar demands, and we hear from teachers and students at Brussels business schools on perfecting work skills, innovation and entrepreneurship. In our business pages, you can read about the management buzz word ‘agile’, and how this can affect workforce skills. Elsewhere, a Latvian expat tells us how he and his business partner launched a high-tech messenger service for travellers. They are proof that, despite uncertain times, Belgium is continuing to attract entrepreneurs. Also defiantly looking towards the future is the city of Charleroi, which is undergoing a facelift as it celebrates the opening of a long-awaited regeneration project. In our agenda, you’ll discover events that are brightening up the season, while Derek Blyth muses on the lighter side of life in Belgium. Dave Deruytter Head of expatriates and non-residents ING Belgium [email protected] ing.be/expat ING Expat is also on Facebook:

facebook.com/ingexpats

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IN THIS ISSUE

Editor • Sarah Crew Deputy editor • Sally Tipper Art director • Patricia Brossel Project coordinator • Thomas Buytaert Contributors • Derek Blyth • Bartosz

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Brzezinski • Paula Dear • Ronald Meeus • Georgio Valentino Vreedenburgh Expat Time is a publication of

PROFILES Meet four expats living in Belgium

Sales executive • Helena

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ING BELGIUM SA/NV, Marnixlaan 24,

INTERVIEW ISB director Lee Fertig on educating kids for the modern world

1000 Brussel, RPR Brussel VAT BE 403.200.393 and Ackroyd Publications SA/NV

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Editorial • Content Connections (department of Ackroyd) and

14 BUSINESS Demystifying the buzzword ‘agile’

ING BELGIUM Publisher • Hans De Loore,

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Gossetlaan 30 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden

Business schools in Brussels discuss the value of an executive MBA

Photo credits P5

Top © Bart Dewaele; centre, Musée des Beaux Arts

EDUCATION

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© Charleroi Tourisme Gina

entrepreneur The men behind Guideweiser, a helping hand for travellers

Santin; bottom © Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New York, photo: Nathan Keay © MCA Chicago

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P8-12 Bart Dewaele P14

CSP Bakhtiarzein/Belga

P22

2016 Asymetrie

P25

Bartosz Brzezinski

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Top, courtesy ParckFarm; Pierre et Gilles

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Iris Festival, Visitbrussels; Balkan Trafik, Gaye Su Akyol

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Nendo Thin Black Lines Bowl, Masayuki Hayashi; Sweating for Europe, Dida Zende; BSFF, Mike

TRAVEL Explore Charleroi, the capital of Belgium’s black country

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bottom, Bartosz Brzezinski P29

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LIFESTYLE Size doesn’t matter when it comes to spring gardening

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Technology Gadgets for the great outdoors

Meysmans & Sarah Ghem; QEMC, Bruno Vessiez P32

Floralia Brussels; Robert Rauschenberg, Stop Side Early Winter Glut, 1987, MoMA, New York. © Robert

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AGENDA Cultural highlights in Brussels, Belgium and further afield

Rauschenberg Foundation, New York. Photo © 2016. MoMA, New York – Scala, Firenze. Courtesy Tate; Fur & Feathers, I love The World ! Rabbit 2006

33 WHAT’S NEW Belgian fashion, gastronomy and grooming

Diasec © Marie-Jo Lafontaine

34 LAST WORD Derek Blyth muses on life in Belgium

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Profiles •

Get connected Four expats tell us about their lives in Belgium

William Paterson “We’ve really got to know the surrounding countries, and their cultures and cuisines” William is British and lives in Tervuren with his wife and daughter

“I’ve been in Belgium for three years. My wife’s work brought our family here and I took a career break to look after our young daughter and study. I have a law degree and a master’s in counter-fraud and counter-corruption studies. We live on the outskirts of Brussels – close enough for commuting and to enjoy the city, but we can be in the countryside in a few minutes. This isn’t my first time living abroad. Some time ago I completed an Erasmus year in Spain, in Granada. It was a fantastic experience and one that I would recommend to everyone – I had never really considered it before, but it gave me the confidence and curiosity to want to do it again in later life. I enjoy doing sport (both playing and watching), travel and cooking. Belgium is a great hub for all of these pastimes – we’ve really got to know the surrounding countries, and their cultures and cuisines.”

Lynn Wei “I’m in love with Belgium’s Art Nouveau architecture and its Belgitude” “I came to Brussels three years ago to study an advanced master’s degree at VUB in gerontological science, which is a programme that looks at progressive aging in society. I already had a bachelor’s degree in traditional Chinese medicine from Shanghai University. Since my studies, I have been working at the China Cultural Centre, teaching tai chi and self-healing massage and as an acupuncturist at La Cambre Medical Centre and Aspria Arts-Loi. I specialise in curative medical acupuncture, treating stress, digestive problems, musculoskeletal disorders, arthritis, pain, sciatica and smoking cessation. I also provide treatment specifically for elderly people, women and children. In the future, I may do a PhD in paediatric research. I’m quite involved in the Chinese community, interacting with Chinese researchers and artists. In my spare time I like to read, do sport, tango and listen to opera. I’m in love with Belgium’s Art Nouveau architecture and its Belgitude.”

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Lynn comes from China and lives in Ixelles

Annette Sloth “Ceramic art has become very trendy and I have clients from around the world” “I came to Brussels for love in 1998. In Denmark I had graduated from the Danish Design School as a ceramicist, so when I came to Brussels I enrolled in La Cambre school of art and design. After graduation I realised there was nowhere to show our work, so in 2000 I started a gallery on Place Châtelain where I was living at the time. For my first show I invited my teachers from Denmark who were all well-known artists. It was an instant success. I have been building the gallery ever since and I am proud to say Puls (pulsceramics. com) is one of the very few galleries in Europe to only show contemporary ceramics. Over the years we have had some of the best-known artists in the field, often from the Nordic countries but also from Belgium, France, Korea and Japan. Collecting ceramic art has become very trendy and I have clients from around the world. I really enjoy life in Brussels, the great food and the art scene. There is so much to do. And the international character means you constantly meet new people. After our two sons reached school age, we moved from Ixelles to Tervuren but the gallery is still at the heart of Châtelain, a stone’s throw from where I started 16 years ago.”

Annette is Danish and lives in Tervuren with her family

Corina Anamali “In the beginning, I felt like a tourist, eager to discover the city and the country” Corina comes from Romania and lives in Overijse with her Albanian husband and young son

“Six years ago, I was at crossroads where I had to choose between an important career opportunity and starting a family. I graduated with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in business administration and had the chance to work in an important company in my home town, in Romania. I chose to follow my heart and husband to Brussels instead. It wasn’t easy to leave everything and come to another country, knowing there is no cure for homesickness. In the beginning, I felt like a tourist, eager to discover the city and the country. Then I started looking for a job, but realised that Dutch is a must. I got a job in administration and reception in a European committee while I went back to school to take Dutch courses. This way I came across people with different mentalities and I felt like I did in the US, where I lived for about four months as a student. At the same time, with my husband, we developed a coffee and coffee machines business – Horeca Anamali. Our goal is to have our own coffee brand and roaster, named after our son, who we hope will eventually take over this business. Brussels gives you the chance to grow!” expat time • spring • 2017

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Interview •

It’s the journey International School of Brussels director Lee Fertig on involving students in their education and preparing them for what lies ahead, socially, politically and technologically

✶ By Paula Dear

Photos by Bart Dewaele

T

his will probably be the easier of the two interviews he’s taken part in today, says Lee Fertig as he settles in to his office in ISB’s 19thcentury reception building, called the chateau. Earlier he was cross-examined by some of the school’s sixth-graders for a video project, who were asking some “very difficult questions”. “So I feel warmed up,” he says with a laugh. This kind of interaction with the students is typical of his attitude to education, which he vehemently believes should be something in which children actively participate. A New Yorker at heart, Fertig landed his first international school job in Ethiopia nearly 30 years ago, sparking a passion

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that’s taken him, his wife and three children to Brazil, the US, Spain and now Belgium. At the school’s wooded campus in Watermael-Boitsfort, he spoke to ING’s head of expatriates, Dave Deruytter, about savvy students, five-year-old bloggers and equipping kids from 70 countries with the skills to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

What drew you to international schools? I grew up outside New York City, then went to a liberal arts college in Ohio that was quite socially aware and politically active. That, as well as my home life, shaped me a lot. After college I worked as a maths teacher in a private school and I loved it. But I was young and free… I heard about these international

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Interview •

schools and went to a recruitment fair. I left with a contract for a job in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I’m drawn to places that enjoy the challenge of facilitating inter-culturalism. The kids at international schools are incredibly savvy about what’s going on around them and how to navigate different perspectives. They have resilience, grit and are internationally minded. They can bring in different views and ways of thinking without getting antagonistic, which is what adults in the world sometimes do, especially now. I’m a big believer that these international schools – and ISB is a prime example – are important. I feel that if all pre-teens had at least one semester in one of these schools, the world would be a different place. I really believe that.

Where has your career taken you? I started in Ethiopia in 1988, which was then a Soviet-backed Marxist state. There were soldiers, there was a midnight curfew… but I absolutely loved it. I got into school administration and I met my wife there. I thought I was crazy to go, yet here was this single young woman from Minnesota. Fast-forward to 1991, and we moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where I spent five years as a high school principal. We loved it there too – Rio is a striking city. But we wanted to start a family, and our parents were in the US, so we moved to Minneapolis. As a New Yorker, that was one of the more difficult cultural adjustments! I did some work at the University of Minnesota, and I was the director of a fascinating school in downtown

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“The kids at international schools are incredibly savvy about what’s going on around them”

Minneapolis. It was an experiment in voluntary integration, taking kids from Minneapolis, which is a urban school district with lots of students of colour, and brought them together with children from whiter, wealthier suburban districts. My time there was a learning curve; it was phenomenal, and challenging. But we knew we’d head back overseas because we wanted to give the gift of that lifestyle to our kids. We ended up going to another dream city, Barcelona, where I was director of the American school for four years. We were happy, but then another opportunity came up back in Brazil, at Graded, an American school in São Paulo, which is known as one of the better schools in South America. So we returned with our kids for another six years. In all, my wife and I lived in Brazil for 11 years. We speak Portuguese and are permanent residents. And then we came here, because another opportunity came up. I heard

wonderful things about ISB and about expats living in Brussels. We’ve been here for 18 months and our younger two kids, aged 14 and 18, are with us.

How have you dealt with the transition between countries? One of the things that has served our family well is we’ve always been happy where we are, so we aren’t leaving due to unhappiness. When that happens, people can put too many expectations on the new place. We leave only for a new opportunity, challenge and adventure. Our kids are incredibly streetwise as a result. I feel like they can navigate pretty much any city in the world. Language learning really helps. I confess that French is presenting some difficulties! It’s going a little bit slower than the Portuguese and Spanish.

Learning the local language opens doors to culture, to travel opportunities, to meeting new people. We’ve always embraced that concept of ‘when in Rome…’.

authentic challenge, they can pull from their knowledge systems, from all of those disciplines at the same time, making bridges between fields of knowledge. That’s the kind of stuff I believe employers and universities want.

How does ISB prepare students for adult life?

The skills are about giving and creating, much more than they are about consuming knowledge. When we went to school, teachers would pour information into our heads. We were a receptacle. That still happens in many schools and I think they’re doing a disservice to the kids. We believe kids have to be active participants in knowledge and skills construction. Our kids are blogging and producing their own portfolio of student work from as young as five or six years old.

The curriculum here combines conceptual learning, competency learning, and character learning – in other words, the knowledge, skills, and dispositions like grit and resilience that are necessary for deep, sustainable learning. I think ISB is a leader in proactively thinking about how things are changing so fast and which knowledge, skills and dispositions are needed. Kids need to understand things that transcend disciplines and subjects. Increasingly, as they approach an

We teach them digital citizenship: how to be good, active, engaged, appropriate global citizens, using social media. We recently partnered with a French NGO,

e-Nable, whose medical engineers came to the school and taught the 14- and 15-year-olds how to design and engineer a prosthetic hand using the school’s 3D printers. We identified families with young kids who needed them and they had a ceremony where they fitted them with these hands. Everybody was crying; it was amazing. Our students will also be directly involved in an international education conference we’re hosting in March, which includes futurist, innovative educators and masters of emerging technology. The world is increasingly characterised by open knowledge systems and rapid social change, and we’re not going to change the track that train is going down. What’s best is to teach the knowledge and skills and disposition to navigate it. If they make mistakes, if they get into trouble, they’ll learn from it. There’s no safer place to do that than in a school setting. expat time • spring • 2017

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Interview •

Is technology changing the role of the teacher? I think this revolution in the learning landscape makes the teacher’s role even more important. People get nervous, they say the teacher’s job doesn’t exist anymore, we can have a robot teach the kids! But we are raising the bar on kids and what we expect of them. We are asking them to navigate very complex issues, sometimes contentious, politically or socially sensitive issues. They need adults, they need trained educators, and excellence in the faculty, to make sure they approach that navigation safely and with integrity. So we very deliberately recruit teachers who are comfortable working in that environment.

Talking of politics, it’s been quite a year. How do you discuss it in school? We talk a lot about the international values of the ISB community; we talk about how this is a safe place for those dialogues, even if we make mistakes. I’ll be honest: recent world events have been quite disturbing, especially for an educator. Success in the future depends on our ability to navigate different perspectives. We firmly believe the future is in the hands of the young people, so we’ve got to get it right – and we will.

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“We knew we’d head back overseas because we wanted to give the gift of that lifestyle to our kids”

How is Brussels treating you? We love it here. People say, “After São Paulo, Brussels must seem small and boring”. But São Paulo can be a complicated city. We have a 14-year-old daughter; over there it’s not like she was getting on the bus and going to meet friends, whereas she can do that here. I find Brussels pretty easy to live in. I have trouble understanding why people wouldn’t find it easy. There is a bureaucracy that some find difficult to navigate, but to be honest, for us it hasn’t been that frustrating because when you live in Brazil you learn patience.

What do you do in your free time? I try to spend as much time with family as I can. That involves a lot of walking – sometimes running – with our dog, and we like to go out to eat as a family and with friends. When I have long breaks I read something fictional. My wife’s an English teacher so she’s always suggesting things. During the year, when I’m so busy, I’ll read to stay on top of education and international issues. I want to know my landscape. I don’t necessarily have the best balance. I try. I do work a lot. I’ll just leave it at that!

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Business •

Agility test The Agile method could transform how your company thinks and works ✶ By Dave Deruytter

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he current buzzword in certain business circles is ‘agile’. But what does it mean, and how can you apply it to your workforce? The Agile way of working is aimed at developing software, products or service management in a flexible, interactive way. It’s based on multifunctional teams working in short cycles with incremental advances. After each cycle there is a review before the next iteration begins, and bit by bit, the process approaches a flexible, longer-term goal.

to start as soon as possible, learn by doing and keep improving as you work towards the ultimate goal – which itself can change over time.

The method starts from the idea that speed is of the essence. In other projectmanagement approaches, it takes too long to get the documentation or the project description right before employees can start to program and develop, test and deliver. Much better

It helps organisations to refine their long-term goals. In classical sequential project management, it is impossible to accurately predict the strategy three years in the future, as there are so many unknowns and changes to be expected on the way. The Agile method

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The focus is on small, intermediate, practical achievements in very short cycles. Every week, every month, there are outcomes to be delivered. The process relies on teamwork, in large and small groups, where practical communication between stakeholders is more important than procedures and tools.

gives week-by-week, month-by-month insights through small advancements, all leading towards the medium- or long-term goals. Putting an Agile coach at the head of a team helps staff stick to the spirit of the process while they advance on the practical short-term implementation goal. To better control and avoid surprises, teams are grouped in larger divisions with a common denominator: retail sales, wholesale sales, etc. Members with diverse expertise are grouped by competence and experience, allowing them to develop their capabilities as they focus on the company’s overall targets. The method is not only iterative but also incremental. Requirements and solutions evolve within the team

How to be Agile The Agile manifesto of software development from 2001 states four key principles. The system favours: • Individuals and interactions over processes and tools • Working software over comprehensive documentation • Customer collaboration over contract negotiation • Responding to change over following a plan

throughout the process, meaning members need to maintain a high degree of adaptability without losing sight of the aim. Constant iterations and small advances are key, with all stakeholders regularly updated. Resources and costs are under control and can be checked or adapted after each cycle. To make the system work, the employees you need may be very different from those who thrive in typical sequential medium-term project management. Team members need entrepreneurial capacity, to be self-starters who keep developing their own competences. Selection and training of staff is something that should be carefully planned if a business is to benefit from the Agile method. expat time • spring • 2017

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Education •

Master class Business school directors explain how an executive MBA can open minds and doors ✶ By Ian Mundell

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n a rapidly changing world we need to learn all the time. Doing an executive master’s in business administration – an executive MBA – is a great way to do that without taking a break from your career.

“In the past, when you finished school you would apply most of your learning to your work,” explains John Metselaar, academic director of the MBA at Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. “Today, things are changing so fast that you need to both contribute and learn at the same time, so that learning is continuous. And when you do an MBA you make a step-change in that learning; you get a whole breadth of new skills.” Executive MBAs are designed for people who already have a few years’ business experience, but want to change direction or develop in a particular way. They might want to move from a specific function in a company to a more general management position, or to update their skills and broaden their career options. Then there are entrepreneurs who dream of setting up companies, or have done

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so and need to know more in order to grow. But these categories are not hard and fast. “We have people who start the MBA with the ambition of getting higher on the corporate ladder, but ultimately decide to do something for themselves,” says Koen Dewettinck, director of the executive MBA at Vlerick Business School, a joint venture between Ghent University and KU Leuven, which also operates in Brussels. Executive MBA programmes are typically followed intensively for a year, or over 18 months. Participants gather once or twice a month for two days of classes, while carrying out assignments in between. They have to be committed, but an executive MBA should fit in with a full-time job. The programmes at Solvay and Vlerick both emphasise the fundamentals of business education, from finance and accounting to general management and marketing. But they also prepare participants for a rapidly changing economy, driven by digital technologies.

MBA students at Solvay Brussels School

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Education •

“Companies used to set up strategies for three, five or ten years, but today the market changes so fast that you need to act and react much faster,” says Metselaar. “So we want to get our students ready for that, and making them versed in the core elements of innovation in this new digital world is a big part of the programme.” Listening to the market is essential. “Today you need to teach students the agility to go out and to test things, to figure out what they really need to do in the future,” he goes on.

find Your place in a changing world It’s increasingly common to find people from the public sector or non-governmental organisations enrolled on MBAs alongside aspiring executives and entrepreneurs. One example is Paola Garcia Isaak, who is doing the executive MBA at Solvay Brussels School. She works as a communications adviser at EASME, the European Commission’s agency for small and mediumsized enterprises. “Frankly speaking, the MBA is not specifically a prerequisite for my career advancement,” she says, referring to the rules for promotion within EU institutions. Instead, she enrolled to deepen her knowledge of the way business and society are changing, and to think about career opportunities that might present themselves in the future. “It’s about seeing what your place is in this changing world.” With a recent master’s degree in digital communication she is well-versed in the digital world, but has discovered more traditional business skills. “I would never have thought that understanding a profit-and-loss statement was going to be so useful; the nuances of what you have to look into and what that tells you about a company.” The MBA has also been enlightening on customer-centred service, which she has already applied in her work, and the mind-set necessary for effective innovation. Just when business is booming, that’s when you need to plan your next move. “You can also apply that to the MBA,” she says. “It’s just when your career is fine, and you are successful, that you need to acquire new skills and invest in yourself.”

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There are useful techniques to learn here, such as the lean start-up and the business pivot, but the right mind-set is just as important. One way Vlerick approaches this is through improvisation techniques, where performers must respond quickly to new situations. “It’s about letting go of control sometimes, it’s about really listening to other people and building on their ideas rather than saying ‘Yes, but…’.

In class at Vlerick Business School

And our participants like this a lot,” says Dewettinck. The schools also teach a different kind of business leadership, which is less about command and more about engaging staff. “What you need to do as a leader is lift up everybody in the organisation,” says Metselaar. Where there is trust, for example, staff are more likely to propose the far-out ideas that may turn into innovative new businesses. As for the digital economy, it’s important not to get hung up on hardware and software. “The technology is developed by individuals who have a focused expertise,” says Metselaar, “but the biggest challenge is what you do with that technology. How do you combine all the opportunities these new technologies offer into your leadership, culture, structure and systems such that it allows you to identify that attractive innovation that will ultimately translate into new business?” MBA participants learn this through case studies, in class and in the field. Vlerick, for instance, takes its participants to Dublin to look into big data and digital transformation, and to Silicon Valley to think about scaling up a business. “That is also part of the new world,” says Dewettinck. “Scaling up now typically has the connotation of going global, while a few years ago that wasn’t the case.” But the international dimension is never far away if you’re doing an MBA in Brussels. “We see a huge variety of cultures and countries represented,” says Dewettinck, “and that makes it a special and an interesting place to go for an MBA.”

solvay.edu vlerick.com/emba

Step out of what you know to keep up Lutz Walter’s motivation for enrolling in the executive MBA at Vlerick was to update the business management degree he completed in Germany two decades ago. “Knowledge, technology, and business and market developments are going so fast that you can’t say: I learned something fifteen to twenty years ago and I’ll just keep applying it. That doesn’t cut it any more.” He currently works with the European Apparel and Textile Federation, a trade association based in Brussels, where he deals every day with research and innovation. But the breadth of knowledge he wants cannot be picked up on the job or through self-study. “You have to step out and be prepared to go more deeply than you could by simply reading or taking a quick course.” He is particularly interested in learning about entrepreneurship, with an eye to helping people with innovative business ideas in the textile sector to start their own companies, and to grow his own business, which he created four years ago. “I have a lot of specific knowledge, so it’s more the generic skills needed to run your own company.” While only a few months into the 18-month programme, he is already impressed that the group work is producing ideas with real business potential. “It’s fascinating that these things pop up, just like that, when you give a group of four or five people a task, ask them to be creative about it, and present something to the class an hour later.”

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Entrepreneur •

Start me up Guidewiser is an award-winning messenger service for travellers set up in Brussels by Latvian Karlis Skuja his partner Yuriy Perminov from Russia

I

travelled a lot in Europe, working for an IT company in Latvia that did work for hotels and travel agencies. I was disappointed that valuable information about things such as good restaurants or upcoming events wasn’t well communicated by hosts or receptionists. That’s why we created Guidewiser, a cross-platform messenger-based tool that helps hotels and short-term rentals provide a better travel experience to their guests. By automating business processes before, during and after a trip, it reduces costs and saves time. I met my partner Yuriy, a web developer, during a startup weekend in Brussels in 2016. We set up our business here because of the opportunities: dynamic start-up community, business incubators and support from the state. Brussels is well-located, too, and close to all the major target markets. We liked the possibility of working in more than one language; testing this approach from a marketing, sales and product development perspective was challenging. While we use English at work, we

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“Using a co-working space lets us concentrate on our core business” expat time • spring • 2017

both learnt French and Dutch to better understand our customers. Our team is international – from Latvia, Russia, France and Belgium. Currently we work in a co-working space, which lets us concentrate on our core business and avoids wasting time on office management. It also provides a great opportunity to meet other startups, share knowledge and find contacts, partners and customers. Before you set up a company, you need to test your business idea, put numbers on paper, speak with experts and, most importantly, get feedback from potential customers. Think big, but start small. One challenge we faced when setting up was the requirement to prove knowledge of business management. I eventually passed a basic business management exam in Belgium to prove my education and experience, which was a long and expensive process. We financed the venture from personal savings and are working closely with ING to increase investments to help scale up our business and break into markets outside Belgium. If you want to maintain a work-life balance, you need to have an open dialogue with your family and your team or partner. I’m preparing for my first marathon, so I run three to four mornings a week. It’s a great way to lower stress levels and get the feeling that you’re capable of taking things on and getting them done.

guidewiser.com

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Travel •

Escape to…

CHARLEROI Charleroi is never going to top any lists of tourism hotspots. Belgium’s poster child for postwar urban depression has struggled to reinvent itself after the decline in the coal and steel industries. Yet there’s optimism in the air around its city centre regeneration, and, thanks to its airport, most people can pinpoint Charleroi on a map. The brandnew Rive Gauche complex (above) is reigniting the centre with a shopping mall, hotel, apartments and cafes. Locals, known as Carolos, remain positive and loyally defensive of their city, which is full of artistic grit. Welcome to Belgium’s black country.

paysdecharleroi.be

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EAT

SEE It’s a city of highs and lows, divided as it is into a lower and upper town. Charleroi South railway station is close to the former; as you cross the Sambre, admire The Miner and The Metallurgist, two sculptures by Belgian artist Constantin Meunier. You can’t miss the new Rive Gauche shopping mall, carefully integrated into the urban fabric of the lower town. It has seven entrances, bay windows and skylights and incorporates the listed Neoclassic Passage de la Bourse. The 90-store complex opens on to the new Place Verte. From here, follow the sloping shopping drag Rue de la Montagne to Place Charles II, the belfry and the upper town. Nearby cultural hotspots include the arts complex Palais des Beaux-Arts and the recently renovated contemporary arts space BPS22. Statues of the Marcinelle school characters Marsupilami, Lucky Luke and Spirou & Fantasio, dotted around the city, celebrate Charleroi’s history as a comic capital. For a challenging walk, climb one of the nearby slag heaps and admire the view, or scale the slopes on a mountain bike.

DO Take a tour to admire Art Nouveau and Art Deco architecture and offbeat sites. Film buffs are well served at Quai10, a new cinema complex on the banks of the Sambre. As well as a varied programme of films in their original version, it offers a gaming area and brasserie. The city specialises in bijou theatres, among them La Ruche, Petit Théâtre de la Ruelle and Le Poche. Away from the city centre, Charleroi Adventure proposes urban safaris in which you can discover where Magritte’s mother committed suicide, visit an abandoned metal factory and experience other authentic ‘blights’. Rockerill Production, a former industrial factory, has been transformed into an alternative urban cultural centre in Marchienne-au-Pont serving as a platform for local musicians. At Mont-sur-Marchienne, the Charleroi Photo Museum was once a Carmelite convent but now shows major international exhibitions. One of the most important local heritage sites is Bois du Cazier at Marcinelle, commemorating the 1956 mining disaster in which 262 men lost their lives. In summer, head out to the countryside between the Sambre and Meuse rivers for Unesco-recognised folkloric walks.

Charleroi is one of the few towns where you can still find horsemeat on the menu. If that doesn’t appeal, there are numerous Italian and Greek eateries thanks to the postwar influx of immigrants. La Cantine des Bouchons is a brasserie serving regional fare; for gastronomic dining, try L’Eveil des sens in Montignyle-Tilleul. In Marchienne-auPont, you’ll find the Saka 20 wine bar (pictured), where larger-than-life host and author Philippe Genion can fill you in on local life. The bon vivant has just published his latest book, L’Encylopédie du baraki – a Walloon term that originally meant a traveller or caravan dweller and is now a stereotype for an ill-mannered, badly dressed person.

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Business • Lifestyle

The green city Take inspiration on turning the smallest spaces into flourishing urban gardens ✶ By Bartosz Brzezinski

A

balcony, a terrace, a windowsill – urban gardening comes in many shapes and sizes. Across Brussels, city dwellers of all ages and backgrounds are pushing the limits of ingenuity and innovation, making the most of restricted and unusual spaces to grow herbs, vegetables, flowers and even small trees. Take Allan Howard, who’s convinced you can grow vegetables no matter where you live. Before settling in Brussels in 1998, Howard, from Scotland, spent six years in the Middle East, setting up permaculture projects in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. “Palestinians have so much appreciation for what they grow,” he says.

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“They’re very proud of it. And despite everything that’s going on there, it’s the perfect place to grow plants because of the wonderful sunshine.” The weather in Brussels, he adds, is much less forgiving. “The soil is wet, the climate humid, and we also have a problem with slugs and snails. It’s getting worse every year.” Still, he doesn’t let that deter him from cultivating the plot of land behind his house. Tucked away in a sleepy street near Flagey, the garden is surrounded by tall townhouses, so it doesn’t see much sun. For the past 10 years, Howard has been growing tomatoes and cucumbers, alongside beans, courgettes and peppers. This year, he’s also trying out onions and leeks.

American landscape architect Joseph Ingenito

“I’ve always been interested in what you can grow in very limited spaces,” he says. “People assume that a garden lies flat on the ground, but in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Tomatoes, cucumbers and beans – they grow upwards, so I installed beams with frames on them, meaning I can have three separate layers of food. The top level is for beans, below that I’ll have tomatoes and cucumbers, and on the raised bed on the ground, peppers and salads.” In the far corner of the yard sits a compost bin filled with food leftovers that Howard uses to replenish the soil. He gets his seeds in the post from an organic supplier in the UK and a nursery in the north of Belgium, and spends about an hour each day tending the plants.

“The hardest thing is to take the first step from never having done any gardening, to just doing it,” he says. “It’s especially true with children. Give them beans to grow in a plastic box – when they see them sprouting, they actually want to nurture them and protect them. It’s amazing when that happens. And suddenly you realise that gardening is not that difficult. All you need is some seeds, a container, and a balcony or even a windowsill.” Elsewhere in the city, Joseph Ingenito is getting ready to visit one of his clients. The American moved to Brussels with his partner in 2006, having previously worked for a San Francisco non-profit that converted empty spaces into community gardens.

His first job in Belgium was for a landscape architect, who specialised in designing gardens for wealthy people all around Europe, but Ingenito found it frustrating. “I thought to myself, why can’t an average person have a nice and affordable garden, even if they lack the space? That’s why I started my own thing.” To get to his first project, he rented a car and borrowed some tools. Word of mouth spread fast and soon there was enough interest in his work that Ingenito could set up his own business. Today, the vast majority of his clients are expats. It’s a niche, he says, that no one else seems to have tapped into. In the gardens he creates, he goes for what he calls a layering effect. “Mixing larger plants with expat time • spring • 2017

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

Lifestyle •

ParckFarm community garden in the north of Brussels

smaller ones in different-sized pots to create this sort of mini landscape,” he explains. “That’s the most effective way to use small spaces.” Among his most challenging designs was a garden for a small windowsill. “I realised that you really don’t need a lot of space,” he says. “I planted vines on both sides of the window and put some plants on the sill. The whole thing looks like a vignette of a forest.”

Scottish gardener Allan Howard

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He gets his plants from the Sunday market at Midi station and from nurseries around Brussels. One of his favourites is the multi-stemmed amelanchier, a tree that flowers in the spring, has green leaves through the summer and colourful ones in the autumn. For a year-round display, he recommends investing in an ever-

green shrub, like the Japanese pieris, or, if space is an issue, grasses like liriope. “A garden creates that connection with nature, which we often lack in cities,” he says. “When it starts to blossom, you know spring is just around the corner. Even just one plant can attract all types of birds, bees and butterflies. People tell me this makes a huge difference in their lives.” As a trained landscape architect, Ingenito knows the ins and outs of even the most elaborate designs, but he believes anyone can become a gardener, even those lacking the space in their own house. “In San Francisco, we created small gardens in these tiny vacant lots throughout the city. The whole community would get together to divide the plots among themselves – 25 people in a lot the size of a small house, and that was enough. You got to know the people in your neighbourhood, and the space created a sense of ownership and community.” Compared to San Francisco, he adds, Brussels still has room to grow. “A lot more is happening compared to when I moved here, but community gardening still seems like a new thing. There is a lot of learning to be done on community and policy level, but we’re heading in the right direction.”

“A garden creates that connection with nature, which we often lack in cities”

The capital has at least one or two community gardens in each of its 19 municipalities. They vary in size, but among the biggest is ParckFarm, beneath an overpass connecting Laeken with Molenbeek. The site comprises a vegetable garden, a chicken shed, a wood-fired oven and a greenhouse that becomes a cafe in the summer. The latter is the heart of the place, serving as a community space with free agricultural workshops and a weekly fresh produce market. Gabriele Annicchiarico, who helps run it, moved to Brussels from Italy three years ago. “ParckFarm was founded in 2014 to show that growing food in an urban environment is possible, and to exchange knowledge on sustainable food,” he says, but the site attracts people of all walks of life. “We have groups of friends who come here just to have a drink, children who play games while their parents take part in the workshops, and families looking to bake a pizza in the oven.” As an archaeologist who specialises in urban agriculture, Annicchiarico sees ParckFarm as more than just an urban garden. “This is a very mixed neighbourhood, with people who are Flemish, Muslim, francophone, Italian, Chinese and Spanish. Instead of living apart, we’re creating a space where we can meet and stay together. People respect this place. It’s fantastic.” expat time • spring • 2017

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Technology •

Digital world New high-tech gadgets and accessories

DJI Mavic Pro Putting a drone in the air and making it follow you to record your outdoor activities is becoming a trend, with French company Parrot and China’s DJI leading this segment. The latter has just released its most spectacular drone to date with the DJI Mavic Pro, a quadcopter that can stay in the air for up to 27 minutes on a single charge, and records 4K video feeds and 12-megapixel stills. It also remembers the exact GPS coordinates of where it took off, so it can return to that point when you stop its flight. It can gain speeds of up to 65km/h and withstand wind speeds of up to 40km/h. Plus, it’s foldable. €1,199

dji.com

Nikon KeyMission 170 GoPro is still king of the action-cam sector, but Japanese competitors Sony and Nikon are taking the market by storm. A very interesting device in that regard is Nikon’s KeyMission 170, with an 8.3-megapixel camera with wide-angle lens (the 170 in its name stands for the degrees of its camera angle). It shoots video in 4K resolution and stabilises its images electronically. It’s a sturdy device, which offers high resistance against water, dust, freezing and shock without an extra case. It also connects wirelessly to your other devices through wifi and Bluetooth. €400

nikon.com

Varta Indestructible PowerPack 6000 And what do you do when you’re in the middle of nowhere and your devices are running out of juice? That’s the moment you wish you had a device like Varta’s PowerPack with you: a rugged power bank the German battery manufacturer considers indestructible. It contains a 6000mAh lithium ion battery, with the capacity to recharge your mobile phone three times, and can charge two devices at a time. It also holds its charge for up to six months. But the real advantage of this device over other power banks is, of course, its ruggedness. Its casing is built in durable ABS plastic and aluminium, meaning it can survive the toughest situations in terms of dust, water and other abuse. €60

varta.com

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What’s happening

PIERRE ET GILLES: CLAIR-OBSCUR Pop Art is not dead, as evidenced by this new exhibition. In a fresh collection of portraits, the controversial French couple and artistic duo continue their decades-long fusion of photography, painting, religious iconography and pulp (often queer) eroticism. Subjects of their latest work include ordinary folks, subcultural types and celebrities like Belgian singer Stromae (pictured). The artists are also set to discuss their 40-year career in person, with a one-off event at Flagey on 18 April.



Until 14 May, Museum of Ixelles, Brussels, museedixelles.be expat time • spring • 2017

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Agenda •

RIK WOUTERS Belgium celebrates one of its pioneering Modernists with a career-spanning exhibition of Fauvist painter Rik Wouters. In a few short years – he died in 1916, aged 33 – the Mechelenborn artist produced a rich and influential body of work. His vivid colours and impressionistic brushstrokes earned Wouters comparisons to fellow Belgian James Ensor as well as French Impressionists Cézanne and Renoir. This major exhibition brings together works from the Royal Museums in Brussels and Antwerp as well as international institutions and private collections.

Until 2 July Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Brussels fine-arts-museum.be

CULTURES: THE WORLD ARTS FAIR IRIS FESTIVAL Every year Brussels inaugurates its festival season with an epic open-air party. Iris Festival occupies nearly the entire city centre for two days. Public squares and green spaces are hubs of cultural activity. Event tents, openair stages and food trucks are everywhere, as are local artists strutting their stuff. The event is also a celebration of the Brussels-Capital Region, which was granted its political autonomy 28 years ago. Entry is free and everyone is invited.

6&7 May irisfestival.brussels

Brussels’ Sablon district cements its reputation for collectible non-European art and antiques with Cultures: The World Arts Fair. The event is the super-group of art fairs, combining the energies (and rolodexes) of three already established events: Asian Art in Brussels, the Brussels Ancient Art Fair and the Brussels Non-European Art Fair. Dozens of professionally vetted galleries form a walking circuit through the streets of the Sablon. The programme also includes lectures by international experts on ethnic art.

7-11 June Sablon, Brussels cultures.brussels

BALKAN TRAFIK The 11th edition of the Balkan Trafik festival promises its customary smorgasbord of cultural offerings from southeastern Europe. The festival, conceived by Belgian filmmaker Nicolas Wieërs after an eye-opening journey to Kosovo, presents a cross-section of music and film from a notoriously diverse, sometimes fractious region. The objective is to entertain the home audience while providing guest artists the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience on neutral ground. The festival has proven such a success that this year it’s expanding to Paris in June.

20-23 April Bozar, Brussels balkantrafik.com

EVENTS WITH ING • Listen Festival Music workshop and pop-up bar, 30 March-1 April, 18.00, ING Art Center, 5 Place Royale, Brussels, listenfestival.eu • Expat Pensions seminar, 11 May, 18.00, ING Marnix Auditorium, 24 Avenue Marnix, Brussels • Expat Financial Planning seminar, 11 May, 18.00, ING Marnix Auditorium, 24 Avenue Marnix, Brussels • Start Your Own Business workshop, 30 May, 14.00-17.30, ING Art Center, 5 Place Royale, Brussels

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NENDO: INVISIBLE OUTLINES Led by young architect Oki Sato, Japanese design studio Nendo splashed on to the international scene in 2003 and quickly earned a reputation for imagination and minimalism. Sato recently took top honours at prestigious Paris design fair Maison & Objet. The site-specific exhibition Invisible Outlines is the fruit of an invitation to reimagine one of Wallonia’s repurposed post-industrial spaces, namely the GrandHornu mining complex currently occupied by the Centre of Innovation and Design. Sato and co will transform various interior and exterior spaces.

21 May-1 October CID, Grand-Hornu cid-grand-hornu.be

BRUSSELS SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

SWEATING FOR EUROPE Finland is observing the centenary of its independence with a wide-ranging programme of diplomatic and cultural events around the world. The contemporary art happening-cum-town hall debate Sweating for Europe puts the heat on Brussels. The action takes place in and around Dida Zende’s converted fire truck, in which the German concept artist has installed a Finnish-style sauna. MEPs are invited in to sweat out a discussion on the day’s hot political topics while citizens enjoy a festive atmosphere, complete with live Finnish folk music, outside.

24-26 April European Parliament Brussels finncult.be

The Brussels Short Film Festival is one of the capital’s major cinematic events, featuring some 300 screenings in spaces across Brussels and drawing 25,000 cinephiles annually. This 20th edition boasts the usual national and international competitions as well as special programmes dedicated to up-and-coming talent, cult cinema and other themes. And, since it’s a special anniversary, festival organisers are convening guest filmmakers from previous editions, many of whom – like Oscarwinning Belgian director Michaël R Roskam – have since become world-class celebrities.

27 April-7 May Across Brussels bsff.be

QUEEN ELISABETH COMPETITION The Queen Elisabeth Competition is one of Europe’s most prestigious classical music contests. Each year the competition focuses on a different instrument. This year it’s the cello. The early rounds take place at Flagey while the finals unfold at Bozar, with the assistance of the Brussels Philharmonic and conductor Stéphane Denève. Laureates are announced just hours after the last note is struck. The victors will go on to perform a series of concerts in Brussels and throughout Belgium in June.

8 May-3 June Flagey and Bozar Brussels qeimc.be

 expat time • spring • 2017

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Agenda •

Community events

GARDEN FAIRS

FUR & FEATHERS

Spring has sprung, or is soon to spring. Alas, one never knows exactly when. One thing is certain, though: it will spring eventually. And when it does, Brussels hosts a panoply of plant and garden fairs at which to savour the regenerative properties of the season. The 14th edition of Floralia Brussels (7 April-7 May) transforms the castle of Groot-Bijgaarden, on the outskirts of the city, into a verdant paradise. The annual public opening of the Royal Greenhouses (14 April-5 May) is another chance to get reacquainted with greenery. For those who like their plants pesticide-free, Liègebased association Adalia celebrates the 10th edition of its Printemps Sans Pesticides (until 20 June) with open houses, markets, workshops, conferences and other events across Wallonia.

Just a stone’s throw from the Belgian border, France’s Musée de Flandre is dedicated to showcasing Flemish art through the ages. Its previous exhibition, Odyssey of the Animals, focused on the representation of animals in 17th-century Flemish painting. Its sequel, Fur & Feathers, fast-forwards to the present day. A new generation of multimedia artists is continuing the work begun by the Golden Age painters but the new school expands the scope of this meditation on the animal world to take in new media and new technologies. The exhibition features works by Jan Fabre, Wim Delvoye, Berlinde de Bruyckere and Koen Vanmechelen.

floralia-brussels.be open.monarchie.be adalia.be

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AMERICAN ART The ‘special relationship’ is on display this year in London, where three leading arts institutions present major exhibitions devoted to American art. Tate Modern’s Robert Rauschenberg (until 2 April), organised with New York’s MoMA, is the first posthumous retrospective of the late American Pop artist. The Royal Academy of Arts explores Depressionera culture in America After the Fall: Painting in the 1930s (until 4 June). And the British Museum takes visitors from mid-century to the present day with The American Dream: Pop to the Present (until 18 June).

tate.org.uk royalacademy.org.uk britishmuseum.org

Until 9 July Musée de Flandre Cassel (France) museedeflandre.lenord.fr

• The Real Inspector Hound & Gosforth’s Fete 5-14 May, Belfry Little Theatre, Paardenmarkt 111, Antwerp, batsantwerp.be • A Wilde Night Out 16-20 May, Warehouse Studio Theatre, 69A Rue Waelhem, Brussels, ecc. theatreinbrussels.com • Theatrical quiz 17 June, Warehouse Studio Theatre, 69A Rue Waelhem, Brussels, ecc. theatreinbrussels.com • HMS Pinafore 1-4 June, De Bosuil cultural centre, Overijse, bloc-brussels.com • Irish Universities Alumni Annual Dinner 20 June, venue tbc, facebook.com/ belgiumirishalumni

What’s new The latest openings, launches and gift ideas

RESTAURANT Frites Atelier Building on the success of three branches in the Netherlands, Dutch chef Sergio Herman has brought his gourmet chip shop to Antwerp. Herman uses Zeeland potatoes for his fries, which are cooked in a blend of 100% natural oils, then fried and flavoured with samphire.

fritesatelieramsterdam.com

FASHION T-shirt Wouter Hoste graduated from Antwerp’s renowned Fashion Academy in 1987, before moving to Paris where he worked with Jean-Paul Gaultier. He returned to Belgium in the 1990s to work for local labels, and set up his men’s fashion label Antwrp 10 years ago. Pictured is a T-shirt from his summer collection. €40

antwrp.be

GROOMING Galeria Inno German shaving products company Golddachs has opened a barber shop inside the Galeria Inno department store on Brussels’ Avenue Louise, offering haircuts, shaves, beard styling and beauty treatments. €15 to €70. expat time • spring • 2017

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Last word •

✶ By Derek Blyth

And the award for most boring city goes to…

W

hen I heard the President of the United States announce that he wanted to “make America great again”, my first thought was that you would never hear a Belgian politician say something like that. It’s hard to imagine anyone around here shouting out “Belgium first”, though they might, possibly, if they were feeling bold, say something like “Belgium fourteenth”. What’s the matter with this country? Whenever you read a survey of the world’s best countries, Belgium always seems to come somewhere in the middle; in, let’s say, an EU survey of pollution levels, Belgium will fall roughly in the middle of the European Union, a little behind the Netherlands, a little ahead of Italy. Sadly, it seems Belgium has no desire to be number one in the world. It’s happy to be average. But that’s maybe not such a bad thing, when you think about it. It means you don’t have to listen to Belgians telling you all the time that their country is the greatest. In fact, if you ever try to convince a local that Belgium is actually quite a decent little country, he or she will quickly tell you that it’s not.

Everyone seems to agree that Belgium is the most boring country in Europe

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There is maybe one thing Belgium does better than any other country – and that’s boredom. Everyone seems to agree that Belgium is the most boring country in Europe, and that Brussels is as dull as it gets. Which explains why the Oscar-winning best film of 2017 was written in a quiet cafe in central Brussels. It goes back to the summer of 2013, when American film director Barry Jenkins was looking for somewhere quiet to work on his gay coming-of-age screenplay set in inner-city Miami. “Friends told me Brussels was the most boring place in Europe in the summer and I would have no distractions,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. Perfect, he thought. He found an apartment to rent in Rue des Chartreux and settled down each morning at a window table in the Lord Byron cafe. Just 10 days later, he had completed the screenplay for Moonlight. It’s not the first time a foreign writer has produced a great work in Brussels. Dutch novelist Multatuli wrote his classic Max Havelaar in a rented room above a Brussels cafe and Charlotte Brontë based her great romantic novel Villette on a two-year stay in Brussels. Jenkins later admitted that people were wrong about Brussels. It wasn’t at all the most boring city in Europe, he said in an interview with Knack magazine. “The long walks in Brussels were a huge inspiration,” he said. “Please tell your fellow Belgians that Barry Jenkins really loves Brussels.” But maybe that would send out the wrong message. Most Belgians would prefer to let people think that nothing ever happens here, a boring city in the world’s most boring country.

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Last Brussels resid mus time and sels-Capital s, and long and the Brus ost 36 year south. that Pompidou ing for alm . orandum been runn spaces here ed a mem red all the city’s Region sign cove the in n’t ing have its open envisages in 2020. And oën building G 2017 ning the 30 I SPRIN former Citr already dam are e ains though som Brussels rem rification, rising gent shapes and artists of all ld. a hotbed for in the wor anywhere t, and forms, from be an artis so hard to ’t aren I 27 e Levey: “It’s , ther SPRING 2017 so. That said our EUROPE DAY harb to rightfully er easi s where it’s is in many citie one than it but becoming six to 18, dreams of the age of nd Belgium from  Sarah Schug ged to atte Brussels.” RY are not obli children EUROPE DAY can also D SECONDA school – they PRIMARY AN home classes at collective vidual or follow indi EDUCATION system in education. he school on structured and Flanders Belgium is ol, speaking ijs’ ls – pre-scho in DutchG 2017 ‘basisonderw three leve – 24 I SPRIN the term secondary Brussels), rs to the primary and age the cation) refe from ol and (basic edu s children of pre-scho split is and include tion on cati combina y cases, to 18. Edu ol. In man of the of two up scho each so ary prim . It’s uage lines, bine both along lang runs its own schools com munities three com pulsory in cation is com system. Edu

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