Caroline Van Cauwelaert & Vincent Meurrens
Epcon
Today we meet Caroline, CEO and co-owner, and Vincent, one of the founders of EPCON, a company that makes use of contextual and environmental data in combination with health records to quantify health risks at population and the individual level. The company was founded in 2018 and has offices in Antwerp (Dunden) and Cape Town (South Africa) and operates in countries like Nigeria, Philippines, Pakistan, South Africa, and Belgium. They believe in the endless possibilities of AI and use it to support health care partners in low and middle income countries to eradicate TB and HIV, bringing epidemiological intelligence to improve the impact of funded programs.
CAROLINE VAN CAUWELAERT
What from your past has had a great impact on you as a person, in a way that it has made you the person you are today?
My father was a heart surgeon, saving people’s lives everyday. The patients he saved were grateful. Very grateful. I was inspired by his mission, the way he looked at life and work. When he died 2 years ago, that made me realize, life is too short to not do something that matters. Me too, I wanted to do something meaningful in my life. That is when I decided to look for a start-up that brings value. I invested in EPCON.
If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living?
I will keep on working, but I will certainly take more holidays than today. With my loved ones of course. I would travel to see the world with my partner and my daughters. I still would love to go to Argentina (Los Glaciares), Vietnam (Halong Bay) Canada (watch the whales and the grizzly bears), Bhutan (the tigers’ nest),... When I am on holiday, I feel mindful, humble and above all grateful.
What is your most remarkable sensory memory? Like a food memory, music memory?
Last year I went to a ballet performance with my two daughters “Giselle” from Akram Khan performed by the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. When I think back, I still feel the emotions that overwhelmed me when watching this performance. I never experienced that before in my whole life. And of course, my daughters loved it as well, especially my youngest daughter Manon, she is a ballerina and adores ballet and dancing performances.
Could you go back to not being an entrepreneur? Or do you see yourself working for someone else (again)?
Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. I think it is liberating to fight for a cause you believe in, to decide (together with partners of course) where to put focus on, how to prioritize and then execute together. Two things are important in my personal entrepreneurial journey: freedom and impact.
Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? And why?
A few years ago I bought a beautiful piece of art, from Etiyé Dimma Paulsen, it is a golden statue of 50 cm high. It is an African lady with a big belly giving a sweet kiss. I came across that statue years before I bought it and I loved it right away. I didn’t have the money to buy it then but when I saw it years later, I was so happy I found it again.
VINCENT MEURRENS
What do you value most in a work relationship, with a client or colleague for example?
I believe that integrity is what builds mutually respected business relationships and partnerships. Next comes trust, which is earned over time… Trust creates freedom to operate and allows individuals to grow and excel in what they do within the team. Finally, and I know it is cliché to talk about passion, but it is so essential to love what you do and to become good at it. It is one of the main reasons I always wanted to set up shop myself, to shape a company using innovative technology(1), with a purpose(2), serving an international market(3). Take any of these 3 elements away and I would probably lose interest quite rapidly. With EPCON we have the additional benefit that the regional partners and experts we collaborate with are as passionate and engaged about their work as we are. This makes it an extremely satisfying and stimulating working environment.
What is the most remarkable sensory sensation you can remember? Like a food memory, music memory? Or the best sensory memory you have?
Flavors and music are the strongest… I used to live in Vietnam for some time and I absolutely loved the food and intense flavors that it had to offer. It is so hard to reconstruct these sensations, but sometimes you are caught by surprise passing by a restaurant or location and recognize that aroma which instantly makes you time travel to that location and time. With music it is different, here one sort of tends to fade away in memory and wish you could hold on to it for just a little longer. Some examples associated with good times are Bran Van 3000 with ‘Drinking in LA’, the Fugees, they have a few actually, Lazy Eye from Silversun Pickups… until there is that next one that triggers the effect. The thing about memory sensations is that one cannot reconstruct the same effect, it needs to come by surprise.
What gives you energy on a really dark day or when all things go wrong?
A nice run does me a lot of good. Running makes me see things clearly and triggers a certain level of creativity. Usually, ideas are formed during a run, and it can give me a boost of energy to get back to work and make things move. Next to sports, I love to cook something special and give myself a treat. It is the ease and accessibility of cooking to create something nice and special that brings me pleasure. And then closing that day off with a nice movie where I can forget everything for the next 2 hours… That is a good recipe to overcome a dark day and get energized for the next!
If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living?
I would go sailing and absorb the environment, enjoying the now with friends and family. Setting up a business can be quite stressful and does not always allow one to be in the moment. You are always thinking about tomorrow, next week, next month, next year and what still needs to happen to get there. I do like it and it keeps me going, but if I would know that this would be my last year, I would put all my energy into embracing the now and with sailing I would be able to do that.
What is the best book you have ever read, and why?
The Millennium trilogy from Stieg Larsson. Why? Because I finished it! The books just grabbed my attention from the first few paragraphs until the very last. Just couldn’t let go of it. I was also intrigued by the work of Yuval Noah Harari. His books make me reflect about the bigger picture and create a sense of urgency for change.