12 April 2019

The Dutch family business Lely from Maassluis has been voted 'Family Business of the Year 2019'. CEO Alexander van der Lely today received the 'Family Business Award 2019' at Nieuwspoort in The Hague from Hans Wiegel. Entrepreneur John Fentener van Vlissingen founded the Family Company Foundation in 2012 to draw more attention to the importance of family businesses for the Dutch economy. To this end, the Foundation annually awards the Family Business Award to an outstanding Dutch family business. This year the Award was presented for the seventh time. The other two finalists were Koninklijke Otolift and Koppert Biological Systems. 

Jury report

The Lely family business is the world leader in innovative robots for animal husbandry and believes in a pleasant, profitable and sustainable future for dairy farmers. At Lely, ensuring continuity was the engine behind the innovative power that brought the company to the world top.
The renewed focus provides a solid foundation for future growth and is a wonderful challenge for the third generation to grow and prosper the family business. The way in which the company interests local youth in technology and contributes to CSR through education and information is also an example of modern entrepreneurship.
Sustainable and fair food production with care for quality, environment, the daily lives of its customers and with great dedication for the "users" of its product. Lely makes life easier for farmers and contributes to a sustainable world and is therefore a model for Dutch entrepreneurship.

About Lely
For over 25 years, Lely has been a global leader in the sale and service of automated systems to successive generations of dairy farmers. With its headquarters in Maassluis and a worldwide network of dedicated Lely Center locations, Lely is active in more than forty countries and employs around 1,500 people.



This post was originally released in Dutch language by Familie Bedrijven Award.