Napeyok means a welcome visitor. This name is typical of the wide interest of Annelies in people and organisations with different cultural backgrounds and her work as a consultant.
Annelies received the traditional name Napeyok when she was ‘baptised’ by a chief of the tribal community in the Karamoja region in north-eastern Uganda.
At the end of 2009, Annelies completed her Master’s in Business Law at the University of Groningen with a specialisation in the field of Employment Law based on her interest in the employer-employee relationship. After her studies and Annelies consciously chooses to work within the HRM field at the intersection of different areas of law and (personnel) management and organisational development.
Annelies’ international career starts in Australia, where she lives for two years fulfilling her passion for adventure and interest in other cultures by volunteering in remote areas of the country.
The last year she works as a recruitment consultant for law firms in Sydney and in the meantime, she visits the African continent multiple times.
Back in the Netherlands, she starts working as a Team Manager for a non-profit organisation.
After two years she switches to a commercial organisation in the role of People Manager. In this position she is responsible for the personal development and HR cycle of highly educated consultants within the legal and financial sector.
In November 2018, Annelies is given the opportunity to work as a consultant in Uganda for a longer period of time. As a coordinator of the Karamoja Tourism Academy, she advises on the design of a training institute and conducts a feasibility study on the human resource and capacity gap in remote Karamoja, an area that has been isolated for years due to violence and drought. In collaboration with EyeOpenerWorks, the local tour operator Kara-Tunga and UNDP she also provides the first training for local site guides in Karamoja.
During her work in Uganda under challenging circumstances she combines her interest in different cultures and passion for Africa with her knowledge of learning and development, organisational development, sustainable tourism and leadership skills.
After successfully completing her work for the Karamoja Tourism Academy, Annelies registers Napeyok Consultancy, an organisation that focuses on HRM, Organisational and People Development and Program Management.
Going back and forth between the Netherlands and Uganda, Annelies has an international range of clients for short and long term assignments.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic Annelies is setting up the framework as a Program Manager for Business Lab Uganda (BLU), an accelerator program for Ugandan agribusinesses, supported by the Dutch Embassy in Kampala. In March 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, Annelies is in the Netherlands and mentors her BLU successor from a distance.
Meanwhile she takes on a HRM assignment which is still ongoing for a group of start- and scale up companies in Utrecht, such as Ganspoort, SIPR and DDK.
Back in Kampala Annelies still works for BLU and the Dutch Embassy as a consultant, besides her work as a member of SOAA: an African Alliance to support self organisation management methods which can be implemented in commercial organisations, social enterprises and non-profit alliances.
Together with Human Capital International, Annelies hosts among other things, webinars to empower the next generation of Africa’s corporate and entrepreneurial leaders to maximize their levels of success in an atmosphere of excellence and with human touch.
Curious?
Let’s have a chat or coffee in Utrecht or Kampala!