2020: Prominent Telersvereniging

Innovative tomato specialist with a passion for healthy and tasty

Cooperative Prominent Groep is commonly known as Prominent. The growers’ cooperative has specialised successfully in collaboration, innovative entrepreneurship and the marketing of tomatoes for the international market for 25 years.

29 affiliated businesses are shareholders in the company. In partnership with Prominent they are continuously optimising the organisation, the fresh produce supply chain, the cultivation and the product range. Prominent grows 13 varieties of tomato on 420 hectares in the Netherlands, of which half under artificial lighting, and 150 hectares in Morocco. 71 million kilograms of tomatoes are packaged for supply chain partners and retail customers every year.

Jury’s opinion:

The jury has a lot of respect for the way in which Prominent has developed over the past 25 years. Over that period Prominent has combined collaboration with innovation and entrepreneurship in an impressive way. Setting up its own research, production and processing facilities, initiating innovation and investing in making the processes more sustainable alongside the sale of the members’ tomatoes creates an important springboard for the affiliated entrepreneurs. Carrying out entrepreneurial activities broadly as a collective enables them to make the vital progress that is needed to ensure their survival. In that regard Prominent act like a professional franchisor that primarily exists for its affiliated members. A high degree of openness and commitment is also demanded of these members in order to constantly develop the ‘brand’.

The entrepreneurs’ well-thought-out philosophy, the position as a role model which the cooperative has adopted with the new forms of collaboration, the sustainability agenda for the coming years, the initiatives for ‘Young Management’ and the development of a strong employer brand led the jury to choose this association as the winner of the Horticulture Entrepreneur Prize 2020. Prominent is truly a star of the sector, and an inspiration for many entrepreneurs.

Prominent is nominated by Flynth.