Interview Arnold Lobbrecht
Bridging the worlds of water and weather
This year Weather Impact is proud to celebrate its 10th anniversary! To mark this special occasion, we’re reflecting on the past decade and speaking to both former and current colleagues, who have helped shape Weather Impact into the company it is today.
This week, we talk to Arnold Lobbrecht, co-founder of Weather Impact. Together with Gerrit Hiemstra, Arnold founded the company ten years ago. As we celebrate this milestone, Arnold shares the story of the company’s development over the past ten years.
How did you get to know Gerrit Hiemstra?
I’ve known Gerrit Hiemstra for nearly 25 years! We first met through STOWA (the Foundation for Applied Water Research) and we connected right away. Although we are very different in terms of personality, it works well because we complement each other.
When we first met in 2000, I had just started my company, HydroLogic. We quickly realised that our expertise – Gerrit’s in meteorology and mine in water management – were a perfect match, like our personalities. We were surprised that these two disciplines hadn’t been closely linked before, given how naturally they complement each other.
It was quite groundbreaking when we joined forces to bring the worlds of weather and water together. Our first success was a joint project called ‘HydroNet’, which focussed on providing weather data to water professionals. One of our key discoveries was that radar data, when calibrated with ground-truth data, provided an excellent basis for hydrological modelling.
Building on this success, we continued to link the two fields in many ways, such as using probabilistic weather forecasts to predict water levels and flows several days in advance. We also organised courses for water professionals to teach them about hydrometeorology and its practical applications in water management. After several years of working together, we finally decided it was time to start a new company. In 2014, we founded Weather Impact.
The early days
We spent many hours brainstorming for a catchy name for the company and finally settled on Weather Impact, which perfectly captures our mission – to make a tangible impact through weather information.
We initially wanted to work with multinational companies; they have a global presence and are always affected by extreme weather somewhere in their supply chains. But that did not materialise the way we had foreseen. However, our conversations with potential clients sparked new ideas, particularly around helping smallholder farmers who produce the agricultural inputs for those companies. We focused on preventing crop loss resulting from drought and flooding.
We soon realised that Weather Impact had an opportunity to create social impact by providing weather information directly to farmers. When we started working with smallholder farmers in Africa the results were remarkable: the weather data we provided significantly improved their crop yields. This success inspired us to continue to focus on this area.
A unique team for a unique mission
From the very beginning, we worked closely with Saskia van Pelt, who played an instrumental role in building the company by taking on a wide range of tasks. I took on a coaching role, as well as focusing on marketing and accompanying Gerrit to client meetings.
As the work started to come in, we expanded our team. Each new member brought their own unique skills, expertise, and fresh ideas. We’ve always been lucky to have a team of highly educated, motivated, and intelligent people who gradually took over many of our responsibilities.
As time went on, Gerrit and I slowly stepped back from the day-to-day business activities. In 2022, we were delighted to see Stefan Ligtenberg take on the role of director and successfully manage the company’s daily operations.
Weather Impact is now working independently on projects, some in the Netherlands, but mainly in low-and middle-income countries, fulfilling a unique role and making a real difference. I’m incredibly proud of the tangible impact the team is making today!
