About the Willy Naessens Group

‘Build & Food’ covers all the activities of the Willy Naessens Group. Willy Naessens Build is specialised in the construction of industrial premises, logistics premises, distribution centres, offices, commercial spaces, agricultural premises and swimming pools. Willy Naessens Food is specialised in food distribution and the production of ready meals.

billion of euros annual turnover

group companies

employees in all companies

Willy Naessens Build

Willy Naessens Build unites all Group companies active in construction. The vertical structure of the Willy Naessens Group is clearly visible here: Willy Naessens Build carries out the earthworks, manufactures the prefab concrete elements, transports them to the building site, constructs the buildings and also manufactures and installs the membrane roofing and the aluminium windows, doors and partitions. The Group’s vertical integration also has advantages for the construction of swimming pools and agricultural buildings.

Willy Naessens Food

Willy Naessens Food launched in 2007 with a stake in Franky Fresh Food. The successful vertical integration strategy was soon applied to Food. Willy Naessens Food is now an established name in the industry, with its own production sites and distribution centres supplying the whole of Belgium. Our own Bourgon brand offers the best hams, pâtés, bacon and salami, exclusively available at Belgium’s best butchers.

The Family Office

Willy Naessens

Founder and chairman of the Board of Directors

Dirk Deroose

Board member

Veerle Naessens

Board member

Sem Naessens

Board member

Filip Van Hautegem

Board member

Dennis Ingelbeen

CEO

Marie-Jeanne Naessens

Our key values

Vertical integration

The ‘everything under one roof’ principle largely drives the success of the Willy Naessens Group, with virtually all activities controlled in house. Willy Naessens Build has its own design office, an earthworks company, eleven concrete production plants, a roofing company, an aluminium manufacturing company, assembly teams and all necessary transport services. The shorter decision-making lines mean that changes can be quickly implemented to minimise costs.

Diversification

Willy Naessens Group is also committed to identifying opportunities in other industries to spread the risks and harness the advantages of synergy. From the very beginning, as well as industrial premises the Group has also built swimming pools and agricultural premises. With an eye to diversification, the Group moved into the food industry in 2007.

Human capital

“Your people are your company’s most important capital” is one of Willy Naessens’s favourite sayings. More than 2500 people currently work at the Willy Naessens Group. Each of them helps make a success of the company. With that in mind, the Group makes major investments in training, guiding and motivating its people. Each and every employee is given numerous opportunities to develop and grow. Internal mobility and job rotation are well established concepts at the company.

Willy Naessens

Willy Naessens founded his group of companies in the Oudenaarde region. The miller’s son left school aged 14 and started to work as a chicken breeder. As he built up his company he blazed new trails. He selected the right people, achieved success, but also had to deal with setbacks. First and foremost, he is a hard worker who likes to work with other hard workers.