On 30 March, TMC Spain will celebrate its 5th anniversary, an absolute milestone! Because of Corona, the real party will be celebrated later, but we already spoke with their CEO, Emmanuel Mielvaque. He is involved with TMC Spain from the start, and we talked about the past five years and the future with him.

"It has been a rollercoaster, but I’m still in love with our unique Employeneurship model like I was at the beginning. We want to grow to 300 engineers in the next five years, so there is a lot of work to do!"

How do you look back on five years of TMC Spain?

What an experience! Sometimes I think I was crazy to launch a company from scratch for the fifth time, especially in a country where we already have more than 2500 competitors. But I can say that I’m still as enthusiastic about the model as I was the first day I met Thijs, Jan, Rogier and Emmanuel (TMC Board) in Eindhoven at the end of 2015.

I feel proud when I look back on the people who trusted me and the number of projects we have done even though I never feel it’s enough. I always aim to improve, grow, and develop our people.

How did you get to work at TMC?

I have known Emmanuel Mottrie (TMC Group CEO) since 1996 already so our friendship goes a long way back. When he contacted me in 2015 about his ambitions with TMC, I immediately felt that it should be my next adventure. It took me one year to be ready to join the “TMC party”. We worked on the business plan for Iberia and five years ago we finally launched with Spain first, and later with Portugal.

What are the focus areas for TMC Spain?

Our initial idea was to support Spanish companies on digital transformation. I was already working on it since 2012 and I was expecting to focus more on big data activities.

We were able to set up a fantastic business cell in digital and big data with more than 50 employeneurs. At the same time, we decided to start engineering activities. We have now entered seven different sectors: telco, insurances, aerospace, retail, construction, energy, and media.

Now we are ready to accelerate our growth in these sectors. 2020 was a difficult year for engineering activities but it was compensated by the digital division.

How did TMC Spain get through the corona crisis?

40% of our turnover was impacted by the Covid-19 crisis. Our employeneurs were fantastic because of their flexibility and they started at new projects quickly. I was impressed by their agility and commitment with TMC.

We did not receive any subsidies from the government, despite this I decided to maintain 100% salary and conditions. Our current team of Business Managers, fun fact; consisting of women only, is absolutely incredible. I like the way we are facing the challenges together with laughter and good vibes.

Spain is affected considerably by the crisis and some sectors will suffer in the coming years, but I’m sure that our model will allow us to hire the best engineers on the market.

What goals do you have for the next five years?

We aim to be one of the best companies on the market in the big data sector and we will probably introduce the Employeneurship model in the more traditional industrial world. We definitely have the potential and the market to build a 300 engineers’ company in five years.

What are the highlights of the past five years?

I will try to put it together in a few words: It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions with sometimes having lots of doubts, but when things go right we feel well and eager to do more and better.

We experienced the first turnkey project with difficulties, the first Airbus project, the first project of the Software Factory in Porto, the first employeneur hired, the closure of the Bilbao office, the opening of Portugal, the change of the management team. And we faced outbreak of Covid-19 one year ago when the company was going very well and growing fast and at the time we felt we needed to start all over again.

What are you most proud of?

Obviously, the team of both employeneurs and managers! But also of our clients, that trusted me and my odd speech about our values and five pillars with no presentation and no references. Lots of people were thinking it wouldn’t be possible, but we are now Tier 1 at 100% of our clients and big companies like Airbus, Engie, Orange, Inditex or Telefonica who are working with TMC Spain.

I am also proud of my partner in this adventure, Alba de Juanas, who also became shareholder and who I see as a representation of the future of our company. I feel grateful and will always be thankful to the board of TMC and our shareholders who trusted me, even though we sometimes had our rough moments. That gives me more energy and trust for the coming 15 years!