Fairphone welcomes Raymond van Eck as new CEO

His appointment comes at a time when Fairphone is being recognized globally for its achievements in the electronics industry. The company was awarded the prestigious GLOMO award for Best Mobile Innovation for Climate Action at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year. In addition, Fairphone received the Dutch Koning Willem I award for Sustainable Entrepreneurship in May, underscoring its commitment to ethical and sustainable business practices. And Van Eck will be faced with quite some challenges. One of them is trying to make Fairphone profitable again. In order to achieve this, their volume must go up. Goal is to increase sales from a merely 100,000 units in 2023 to 170,000 this year. Still not a very impressive number bringing global market share to 0.014%. Dutch operator VodafoneZiggo only sold 337 Fairphone smartphones in 2023.

A vision for Fairphone's future

Raymond van Eck is expected to play a pivotal role in guiding Fairphone's strategic direction as the company continues to challenge the status quo in the smartphone industry.

Commenting on his new role, Van Eck stated, "I’m honored to be joining Fairphone at such a pivotal time. There is still considerable work to be done, and I look forward to working with the talented, passionate Fairphone team to build on its strong foundation and deliver exceptional value to our customers, employees, and shareholders. Let’s make a difference together!”

Eelco Blok, Chairman of Fairphone’s Supervisory Board, expressed his confidence in Van Eck’s leadership, noting, "His leadership and expertise will be instrumental as we continue to change the smartphone industry and drive our strategic vision forward. The Supervisory Board also thanks Reinier for leading the company during the last few months and laying the foundations for Fairphone to be successful in its next phase."