Lucas Simons is founder and CEO of three companies committed and leading in sustainable market transformation. NewForesight Consultancy (est. 2008) is a strategic consultancy firm, concept developer and market change facilitator. SCOPEinsight (est. 2010) is an agricultural assessment agency that aims to enable access to finance, inputs, markets and other services for producer organizations to structurally bridge the agri-finance gap in emerging economies. Explorement (est. 2015) invests in, helps and supports social entrepreneurs who dream big, think global, act local and have the business savvy to make it work.
In 2011 Simons was honoured as Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum for his commitment and accomplishments in the field of sustainable trade, agriculture and rural development. In 2013 he became the second Dutch Ashoka Fellow for his pioneering role as social entrepreneur and change maker. In February 2015, Lucas is announced member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). CGI, an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and implement solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. And for three consecutive years Simons has been ranked in the top 100 of most influential Dutch persons in Sustainable Development (Trouw Newspaper).
Lucas Simons started his career as a consultant at KPMG Sustainability followed by a position at TNO-Strategy, Technology & Policy. From 2002 till 2008 he was Director of UTZ CERTIFIED and responsible for setting up the coffee, cocoa, and tea certification programs and traceability programs.
Simons holds an MSc Environmental Hygiene degree from Wageningen University and an MBA degree with Merit from Tias-Nimbas Graduate School of Management.
See www.newforesight.com and www.scopeinsight.com