Can you introduce yourself? My name is Joep van Enk, I am 28 years old and I live in Deventer. I did my bachelor Business Administration and my master International Financial Management in Groningen. Between my bachelor's and my master's, I did an internship at ABN AMRO Corporate Clients and I combined my master's thesis with a graduation internship at EY Transaction Services. After my studies I went backpacking for a few months and then I started working at Marktlink. I have been working at Marktlink for 3 years on a temporary basis. The office in Deventer is my base, but depending on the various projects and deal teams I am also active from the other Marktlink locations.

Why did you choose for a career in M&A?

I come from an entrepreneurial family. My father started a catering company and I was expected to work for his company. However, during my studies I found out that there were other types of jobs that interested me. When I did my internship at ABN, I delved more into M&A. I further explored this by doing my graduation internship at EY Transaction Services. Then it turned out that I liked working in this sector!

Why did you choose Marktlink instead of a Big 4 office?

During my internship I noticed that I only completed a small part of the entire process. By focusing only on this specific part of the process, you become a specialist in just that part of the process. Sometimes I worked on part of a project and six months later I read in the newspaper that the deal went through or not. The output of my work was not immediately noticeable and I missed that. During my internship at EY TAS I came into contact with Marktlink. They were quite small and were not actively recruiting in Groningen, but we kept in touch and after a few months of traveling I started working at Marktlink. Here I participated in the acquisition process from start to finish. From day one I was part of the team and I sat at the table with the decision makers. This makes you feel really involved, because you know that you are working for the owners of the companies themselves. Not only are you a pawn in the transaction game, but you are also in constant contact with the owner, making you feel like an important part of the deal. Our 'sweet spot' is between 5 and 25 million euros. Selling only a division of a company is a strategic item on a company's agenda. But selling the owner's life's work involves a lot of emotions, so it's important to not only get a good price, but also find the perfect buyer for the business. That appealed to me and that is why I chose to work at Marktlink.