In 2009, speaker Danny Mekić was named the most successful young entrepreneur in the Netherlands by Sprout magazine, a publication of Management Team. In the years that followed, he developed into an expert in internet, technology and new business models, becoming one of the most sought-after speakers in the Netherlands.
At the age of twelve, Danny began volunteering at Het Net, one of the first and largest internet service providers in the Netherlands. He contributed to the development of Clubs.nl, an early predecessor of Facebook that had no fewer than one million users in 2000. In 2002, Danny founded his first internet company, and in 2004 he left secondary school early. In 2008, he completed training as a peer mediator at the Centre for Conflict Management in Haarlem.
Entrepreneur
Through his current company, Danny Mekić works with 40 of the 100 largest companies in the Netherlands as an expert in technology, internet and innovation. In addition to running the internet company he founded at the age of fifteen, which employs ten people, he works as a lecturer in higher and university education, mediator, new business and new media consultant, investor, legal professional, opinion leader and panellist on the Radio 1 economists’ panel. Danny is also available as a speaker, moderator, panellist or guest lecturer.
How do you build a successful company at a young age? How do you combine establishing and managing an organisation with personal development, gaining inspiration and expanding your network? What is it like to work with senior executives of listed companies while still in your twenties? What is the importance of academic development for young entrepreneurs?
Danny advises major organisations in this market as a consultant. He left secondary school before graduating to focus full-time on his own company. Despite not having a diploma, he was admitted to the University of Amsterdam at the age of twenty, where he enrolled in the honours programme in Law. He obtained twice the required number of credits, and one year later he was teaching at the same university and became Chair of the Student Council.
Social media
What do social media mean for networking, middle management and executives at large organisations, and how can they be used for quality assurance and improvement? “Using social media involves more than simply creating a Twitter account,” he says. He does not describe himself as a social media expert, but as a social media architect.
Media experience
Danny also has extensive media experience. In October 2003, he appeared on the television programme B&W to advocate the continued existence of public broadcaster BNN, together with its director. Shortly before this, he appeared weekly on VARA’s youth debate programme Jongeren Lagerhuis. At the end of 2009, he appeared as an internet expert on NOVA when the DSB Bank website became unavailable, preventing large numbers of customers from withdrawing their money from the bank.
Practical legal experience
Danny considered practical legal experience essential to the further development of his company. In 2008, he therefore worked part-time as a paralegal at the only specialist law firm in the Netherlands focused on technology, media and communications. That same year, the publication Internetrecht 2.0, which he co-authored, was published by the Dutch Association for Information Technology and Law.
