Rabobank, KPMG and CSR Netherlands are joining forces to stimulate circular action plans in the business sector. This partnership helps entrepreneurs to make the transition from a linear to a circular business model. The partnership has been launched in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region with plans to extend it to other regions.

Since 2014, Rabobank has been organising Circular Economy Challenges for aspiring companies struggling to get started. Ten entrepreneurs benefited in the first year, and more than 20 concrete action plans were implemented in 2015 and again in 2016. Rabobank and its partners now want to speed up the process. Leaders in sustainability can receive extra support to further stimulate circular entrepreneurship.

In the Rabobank Circular Economy Challenges, the circular opportunities for regions are mapped out and companies are offered practical workshops and other support. The programmes is helping entrepreneurs to develop valuable ideas, new business models or activities that can help them achieve their ambitions on their way to a circular economy. A business scan tool (performance indicators for circular business), developed by Radboud University in Nijmegen in cooperation with Rabobank, is also available to assess companies' current performance and highlight concrete options for closing cycles and accessing new circular revenue models.