About me

The name is Ketels... TOON Ketels.

Hi there visitor, you're at the right place to get to know me better!

Student

I'm an International Business student, studying at HUB, formerly know as VLEKHO, a university in Brussels. For the geographically confused: Brussels is the capital of Belgium and self-proclaimed capital of the EU.

Currently doing a 'thesis-year' (quite sure you don't say it like this in English) which keeps me rather buzy! My masterthesis treats the adaptation of e-commerce by Belgian SME's (Small & Medium sized Enterprises, but you already knew that, right).

I examine this incredible interesting topic (I kid you not, I really love it!) in collaboration with UNIZO (non-profit organization that defends the interests of self-employed entrepreneurs and SME's), for which I'm very grateful because it adds considerable dept and ease to the research.

Webdesigner

Besides being a student, I'm a freelance webdesigner. I must admit, I'm new to the game! Took a five month course in grafic design, flash, html, css and php which gave a pretty good starting point (yes, it was full time, and yes, it is a starting point).

Quite different from what I've been used to studying business, but I believe the skills complement each other. Now, I'm constantly improving my skills, designing different websites (it's KAIZEN baby!).

Drupal

On my way, I got to know Drupal, an open-source Content Management System (CMS). A CMS is basically just some software that helps you to flexible present all images, texts, pages and such.

It's flexible which means you can rearrange your whole site in a couple of minutes, depending on your mood !-) And it's open-source which means you can alter the code and change the software and let the software crash in a matter of seconds. And no, that's not depending on your mood! And yes, it definitely will influence it! Ok, maybe too much information here on Drupal.

The thing is I like the possibilities that it provides and especially the community behind it. That's why I'm searching for ways to get involved in that community to contribute to it (you will be reading more about that!).

Anyway, the result of webdesign + drupal (and maybe my business education too, why not) is this very website!

AIESEC

In the past (I'm only 25 so the past equals 4 years ago max), I was very much involved in AIESEC. It's the world's largest student run organization dedicated to help their members reach their potential. I know, that are some big words but basically it means we organize trainings, conferences, career days and run a worldwide exchange program (worldwide sounds big too, but it really is worldwide, sorry!).

I spend about three (incredible intense) years in it, learning a lot, traveling a lot, working a lot, got frustrated a lot (hey, it's part of the learning process!), but generally having a blast!

Mexico

Another thing I should mention (meaning: I think it had a huge impact on me) was my 'Erasmus' in Mexico. For the non Europeans: Erasmus is a EU funded exchange program which gives students the opportunity to study a couple of months in another EU-country (so technically, I didn't do an 'Erasmus' but the concept is the same).

I studied half a year at Tec de Monterrey (it's said to be the best Latin American business school, but I leave it to others to judge).
I don't think I have much explaining to do what 6 months Mexico means for a student... pure joy (honestly, I studied there too)!

That's about it

Besides the tech stuff and business, I love to read, travel and doing sports.

So what more should you know? I think we have a pretty complete picture as a starting point (and I don't want to bore you to death).

Want to know more? Read my blog and leave comments or mail me. Because conversation makes understanding far more easy! And, I'm getting tired of talking to myself all the time!

See you around!