The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit

Working at Rabo Partnerships for several years, Lenneke Hensing has often seen and heard the stories of colleagues who work directly with our partners abroad. In her previous role as an internal project manager, she's also had the opportunity to work directly with our partners on various occasions. Here, she's sharing some of her insights of working at Rabo Partnerships.

Our partner banks abroad often operate in an elevated risk environment, due to a less stable environment in terms of economics, climate, politics, and also crime. Our partners are expected to work as gatekeepers to the financial system, which is an important topic for Rabobank as well. In order to help them manage this compliance risk related to adhering to relevant local and international rules and regulations, Rabo Partnerships has developed an assessment to get insights on their current way of working.

Equipped with information on how Rabobank manages its compliance risks, I have visited various partners to talk with their management, staff that service clients and staff performing background checks. Building on the insights of these interviews and after exchanging Rabobank experience, we shared our observations and recommendations.

Personally, I am proud of the changes that I have seen in the years following our visits. For example, we witnessed a bank empower its compliance staff by providing them with an additional reporting line, which demonstrated the importance of these topics to the CEO, and the need to be updated directly. This led to issues being resolved more quickly, as the topic and people working on it were prioritized. Another partner even won a national award for their efforts on integrity and transparency after appointing a dedicated anti-corruption officer, among other measures.

To me, our work means that sharing best practices and talking to people, which creates impact by making societies and financial systems more stable. I am transferring to a role internally where I will be getting closer to our partners with the ambition to create even more impact on global well-being by promoting financial inclusion, rural development and sustainable food security.

Let’s grow a better world together, by planting one seed at a time.