Director Dirk Lips of Libéma is known as one of the richest people in the Netherlands. But he has adopted a frugal lifestyle. “I don’t need expensive dinners or a private plane ride to Marbella. I can enjoy just a blade of grass or the animals in my backyard.” And when he’s tired of that, he can always go to one of the four zoos that are part of his concern. For example, De Beekse Bergen where that elephant was recently born. Dirk Lips talks about it on Wednesday in the TV program ‘KRAAK asks through’ of Omroep Brabant.
Almost forty years ago, Dirk Lips took over De Beekse Bergen in Hilvarenbeek. This year he opened his safari hotel there. An idea that originated on the savannah in Africa. “I also wanted that in the Netherlands.” Afterwards, all kinds of market research is done. “That’s necessary,” says Lips, “but you actually already know it’s a good idea. That’s the nice thing about doing business: you have the time to come up with something like that and the money to pay for it.”
Dirk studied economics because he wanted to become an entrepreneur. Yet ethology, the science that delves into animal behavior, is his lifelong hobby. Yet he started out as the owner of a loss-making car museum in Drunen, which he took over from his father. He moved Autotron to Rosmalen, where Libéma’s head office is still located. And he earned his ‘first million’ with that car museum. And that is still his best: “Back then it was make or break. I didn’t spend a cent on myself. Now we earn 30 million a year with Libéma, so you can take a beating.”
Over the years, more and more companies were added. From Dierenrijk in Nuenen to the Brabanthallen in Den Bosch. Dirk became rich from it, but the frugality of the early days remained. “I need very little.” He points to an old leather school bag he is carrying. “There are two sandwiches in there that my wife Karin made this morning, there is only butter on them.” Dirk Lips also likes to miss parties and receptions. “I enjoy thinking about things in peace at home.”
He also doesn’t have a big ego as a director, he says. “I am there for my people and not the other way around, I see myself as a kind of oil man who has to ensure that everyone gets their due.”
He is now over 70 and still busy with his companies seven days a week. But he is also thinking about quitting. “Not because I feel like it, but you have to accept that it will be done at some point.” Is that moment near? “Yes,” he answers firmly, “within two years. And I hope that I can then pass on a healthy company that can last for at least another 50 years.
‘KRAAK asks for more’ is broadcast every Wednesday at 5.15 pm and repeated afterwards. The program can also be watched online and via Brabant+.