Scholarship Fund
Global Concepts Enterprise, Inc. Founders' Scholarship Fund
Hard work and honesty. Those were the guiding principles when Rudy Broekhuis, Jay Kang, and Bob Rynbrandt founded Global Concepts in 1995. The three men met through their professional network and shared a passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. Jay had prior experience with import and export from overseas countries. Bob and Rudy were well-connected with West Michigan office furniture companies and medical suppliers. After identifying an opportunity to fill a market niche of global purchasing, logistics, and supply chain management, Rudy, Jay, and Bob formed Global Concepts.
Using their extensive network of contacts, the business took off quickly. Their guiding principles of hard work and honesty steered the process, and many of their first customers remain customers to this day. It’s not just their customers who have been loyal to Global Concepts. The company also enjoys high employee retention rates. “We have always been very clear with our employees that they are our greatest asset,” said Jay. “We don’t just tell them that, we show them in every action the company takes.”
During the economic downturn in 2008, business volume at Global Concepts dropped by 40% overnight. The company used innovative strategies that included job sharing to keep people employed. When employee bonuses were affected, the company made up that loss the next year through a special gift. Bob explains, “We’ve always looked at our company’s success as entirely based on our employees’ satisfaction with their work and their success in their roles.”
Their corporate philanthropy program is another way Global Concepts benefits both their employees and the community. The three founders are active in sharing their time, talent, and treasure, and hoped to inspire others to find the joy in giving back. All team members spend 16 hours annually (40 hours for leadership) on community service, with the company compensating them for this time.
In 2021, Global Concepts experienced a tremendous loss when Rudy unexpectedly passed. The impact of his death was felt throughout the company and the community. Global Concepts had lost one of its three founding partners.
At the time, the partners were transitioning to the role of advisors as the company had been acquired by Jay’s brother. Bob began to consider a meaningful way to leave a legacy of the founding partnership and acknowledge and honor the employees. He and his wife Linda decided on a scholarship to benefit Global Concepts employees’ children who were pursuing post-secondary education. Bob invited Jay to support the scholarship and together they reached out to Diane Broekhuis, Rudy’s widow, to ask if she was also interested.
Diane agreed and said, “Rudy would have been front and center on this idea. He valued education highly and encouraged everyone to experience college – not just for the learning but the personal growth. I can imagine him telling the recipients how proud he was for them to pursue the next step in their future.”
When it came time to establish the scholarship, Jay and Bob asked Diane Ybarra, HR Manager at Global Concepts since 2004, for advice. She recommended CFHZ. “It was natural to recommend establishing a relationship with the Foundation for this scholarship,” said Diane Ybarra. “It is a trusted community organization with the experience and expertise to do this well.”
In its inaugural year, the Global Concepts Enterprise, Inc. Founders’ Scholarship Fund supported one student and will continue to grow to support up to five students each year. Bob, Diane, and Jay are grateful that the scholarship simultaneously prioritizes the employees and honors Rudy’s legacy. “We truly care about our people. The scholarship allows us to invest in their futures and the community. We are so fortunate to have the resources to do this,” they said.