We would like to introduce our members to you. This week, Frits Huffnagel and Stefan de Bruijn are the founders of Castro.

We would like to introduce our members to you. This week, Frits Huffnagel and Stefan de Bruijn are the founders of Castro.

Tell us, who are you? 👏
Frits: Castro is named after the Castro District in San Francisco. We focus on strategic communication, lobbying, city marketing and corporate events. 

Castro has been around for over five years now and we have grown to a team of fourteen people.

What are you proud of in your work or outside of it? 🚀 
Frits: First of all, we are of course very proud of our team! Every day we go to the office smiling. In addition, we are proud of the assignments we are allowed to do and the results we deliver. 

Stefan: People appreciate the atmosphere at Castro and that was exactly what we wanted when we started. We found many other communication agencies to be very solid and boring.

 From the beginning, we deliberately did things differently. We are hands-on and solve problems immediately. 

What was an important learning moment for you and what did it deliver? 💡
Stefan: Of course you learn something new every day. An important insight is that our work is not about being right, but about being proven right. 

Political decisions are often made without consulting entrepreneurs, and then you can get angry, but that doesn't help you. It's about how you still control that situation. 

We have learned this well over the years and we also pass it on to our clients. 

How did you end up at ORAM? 💬 
Frits: ORAM has been known to both of us for a long time. Both as a city councillor and in my time as an alderman. 

It was actually a very logical step to join ORAM. If you're just starting out as a small business, you might wonder if you even have the time for that kind of membership, but soon you realize how important it is. 

Stefan: From the moment I became active in Amsterdam for the VVD, which coincided with my move in 2003, I got to know ORAM. 

This is also the period that Frits and I met. ORAM was already part of the social sentiment at the time and that has never changed. It is an important part of civil society. 

What can members in the ORAM network come to you for? 🤝
Frits: If people have questions about how they can get their message across better, or if they have a good idea, but don't get support for it yet, they are very welcome.

 Also, if they want to organize a party, we can help them through New Balls Please NL! 

Stefan: It is often thought that a large lobbying firm is only for large assignments, but we are also at home in smaller issues, especially in Amsterdam. 

It is better to sound the alarm as soon as you think: 'I want to get something done, solve it or prevent it'. The sooner you get in touch, the better we can help. 

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