The New Bosses 2024: Louise Smit, Pieter Smit Group

The 17th edition of IQ Magazine’s New Bosses, in association with Futures Forum, was revealed in IQ 129, recognising 20 of the most promising 30-and-unders in the international live music business.

To get to know this year’s class a little better, IQ conducted interviews with each one of 2024’s New Bosses, discovering their greatest inspirations and pinpointing the reasons for their success.

Born and raised in the company that her father founded almost 45 years ago, Louise has been working at Pieter Smit Group for the past five years. With bases in six different countries and a fleet of 1,500 registered vehicles, there’s always a new adventure on the horizon, and being surrounded by people who love what they are doing, the event industry has a special place in Louise’s heart.  

With artists looking at more sustainable ways to tour, trucking and transport is an obvious place to start. What initiatives are you working on to help touring become greener?
We always offer options for Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), a renewable diesel produced by hydrogenating vegetable oils by Neste. HVO is considered a cleaner alternative to conventional fossil diesel because it can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions significantly by 90%.

Unfortunately, the availability of Neste diesel is limited, especially on the road. Therefore, we invested to have our own dedicated tanks for Neste MY Renewable Diesel™ fuel at our Pieter Smit yards, so that we can purchase in such large quantity to make the price difference between fossil and HVO lower for our clients. We implemented a compensation system in which we carefully calculate the usage of diesel and compensate for it by utilizing HVO at our yard. Besides the HVO, we are also exploring the electrification of our fleet. Our fleet contains at the moment 20 electric vehicles (B-vans). We are also aiming to kick off in the autumn a full electric theatre tour, on which we are currently working on with several partners.

We’ve been through two crazily busy years, since the post-pandemic return to touring. What have been the challenges in terms of making sure you have a big enough fleet, and trained drivers to service clients needs?
The biggest challenge is the seasonality of the event industry and to fit your resource model to the seasons. Flexibility is in our DNA and we are focused on finding solutions: We always find the way to get the job done. We work together with partners to be able to scale up, and I have to give a big shoutout for the effort and commitment of my colleagues; they make the magic happen and I am very proud of them. At this moment, we have 380 colleagues out on the road touring under the Pieter Smit flag and we set a new record last week on driving from Warsaw to Madrid in 38,5 hours.

You’ve worked through the ranks at the company to become CEO. What are your plans for the future of the company?
The plan for the company’s future is to ensure a smooth transition between the first generation leading the company for 44 years to the second generation, to prepare the company for many more decades to come.

What events, tours or festivals are you most looking forward to in the year ahead?
What excites me the most, is the variety. In the same week, I am visiting a huge Rock N Roll concert and a few days later I am attending the classical concert of the Dutch icon André Rieu. We have a variety of clients, from renting a splitter van to twenty-plus truck productions, and we are grateful for all of them to trust the Pieter Smit Group.

“The plan for the company’s future is to ensure a smooth transition between the first generation leading the company for 44 years to the second generation”

When it comes to company development, are there any particular events, forums or platforms that you visit to try to find new clients?
We have been visiting several conferences all over the world. They all vary from each other and each of them is an enriching experience because you always learn something new at every event from the panels and from the people you meet there.

You’re obviously enjoying learning about the business as your career progresses. How would you encourage the next generation to choose the transportation sector for their career path?
It is not the transport sector that I chose, but a service company in the event sector, being a small but crucial link: We support production excellence. I encourage the next generation to join this sector, because of its dynamic nature. There are many opportunities to make an impact.

Do you have a mentor or anyone you rely on to bounce ideas off?
I started in this business because it was founded by my father, which leads to a special connection with him. I am happy with his advice – although I do not always ask for it – he has my back. I am very grateful for the support from several people, especially my co-management and our advisory board. No matter the challenge, they are there and that is extremely powerful. Thank you!

As a new boss, what one thing would you change to make the live entertainment industry a better place?
Our credo is: The Show Must Go On. Within that credo, everyone’s personal life should prevail. The work-life balance is a challenge for many within our industry. My company and I want to work on balancing this work-life relation.

What would you like to see yourself doing in five years?
That the transition is successfully completed. That I lead a flourishing company of which both first and second generation look to with love and pride.

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