Sustainable Smartphone Maker Fairphone Announces CEO Change (Again)

Fairphone, the maker of sustainable smart phones, has named its third CEO in less than one year. The latest move involves Raymond van Eck (pictured above) succeeding Reinier Hendriks, who served as Fairphone's CEO for only about six months.

Fairphone, founded in 2013, strives to design, deliver and support smartphones using sustainable technologies and green business practices. But the Fairphone CEO position has been rotating since mid-2023. The timeline has involved:

• June 2023: Eva Gouwens announced plans to step down as CEO.
• September 2023: Fairphone CFO and Managing Director Noud Tillemans stepped in as Interim CEO. 
• February 2024: Fairphone hired LeasePlan and Vodafone veteran Reinier Hendriks as CEO. Interim CEO Noud Tillemans exited the business around that time.
• August 13, 2024: Fairphone hired Raymond van Eck as CEO. Former CEO Reiner Hedriks has decided to "step down to pursue other opportunities."

Who Is New Fairphone CEO Raymond van Eck?

van Eck arrives to Fairphone with extensive sustainability, energy transition, online commerce and consumer experience. He previously was:

• CEO of of Youvia, an online marketing service that supports SMBs and entrepreneurs in the Netherlands.
• Managing director of Powerpeers, a clean-tech scale-up company.
• Co-founder of easyEnergy, a "disruptive utility provider." NieuweStroom acquired easyEnergy in 2018.
• Director customer experience at HoyHoy, which Pricewise acquired in 2016.
• Head of consumer market management at Nuon.

Fairphone: Does the World Want a Sustainable Smartphone?

Fairphone, based in Amsterdam, North Holland, strives to design, deliver and support smartphones using sustainable technologies and green business practices. The company's current flagship product, Fairphone 5, typically competes against the Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and other mainstream smartphone providers.

Known mostly in Europe, Fairphone and Murena partnered to reach United States customers in July 2023. An associated Fairphone partner program is listed in our Sustainable Partner Programs database.

Fairphone has 70 employees and 100,000 end-users, according to the company's website. Fairphone raised €49 million in funding in January 2023. Key investors to date include:

• Invest-NL
• the ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund
• Quadia with its Regenero Impact Fund
• DALHAP
• DOEN Participaties
• PDENH

Fairphone Business Performance in 2023

For its fiscal year 2023, Fairphone pointed to several business and financial highlights. Key 2023 milestones, according to the company, included:

• Selling 100,107 smartphones.
• Launching the Fairphone 5 and Fairbuds XL, which resulted in avoiding 944 tons of CO2 and 29 tons of electronic waste.
• Over 22,000 additional people benefitting from Fairphone’s measures in 2023, the company said.
• EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was a negative €14.2 million, though its sounds like 2023 represented a financial improvement over 2022.

We'll be watching to see if Fairphone further improves its EBITDA in 2024.

New Fairphone CEO: Executive Perspectives

In a prepared statement, Eelco Blok, chairman of Fairphone’s Supervisory Board, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Raymond to the Fairphone team. His leadership and expertise will be instrumental as we continue to change the smartphone industry and drive our strategic vision forward. The Supervisory Board also thanks Reinier for leading the company during the last few months and laying the foundations for Fairphone to be successful in its next phase.

Added Raymond van Eck: “I’m honored to be joining Fairphone at such a pivotal time. There is still considerable work to be done, and I look forward to working with the talented, passionate Fairphone team to build on its strong foundation and deliver exceptional value to our customers, employees and shareholders. Let’s make a difference together!”

Smartphone Design and E-Waste Reduction 

Roughly 5.3 billion mobile phones were thrown out in 2022, the international Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum estimates.

In a bid to reduce e-waste, numerous smartphone makers -- including Fairphone, Apple, Google, Samsung and others -- have taken some steps toward sustainability.

The Apple sustainability effort includes numerous e-waste reduction moves and some self-service repair options. Someone similar efforts are progressing at Google and Samsung. Still, numerous critics believe the technology giants can do more to push circular economy business practices forward.