VNO-NCW connects 100 years of shared entrepreneurs

The remarkably 'philatelic' headline of the AD article of March 10, 2026, “VNO-NCW wants politicians to come up with a 'clear vision on the business community': ‘Don’t regulate everything at the postage stamp level’”, prompted me to consult my archives regarding the VNO-NCW stamp issued in 1999. To my surprise, I compiled an article at the time after communicating with the designer, Titus Swart, but it was never published. Postzegel Nieuws issue M&C 27/99 contained minimal information, hence a personal information initiative.

Design of the VNO-NCW postage stamp
The stamp features two photos referring to the business world—with historical heavy machinery—and the modern era—with a laptop screen and keyboard. Concentric circles combined with a short informational text complete the design. At the center is the 100th anniversary of the business community in the Netherlands, marked by the merger partners VNO (Confederation of Netherlands Enterprise Agency) and NCW (Netherlands Christian Employers' Association).

Concentric circles
The first two rings of the concentric circles represent the two founding sectors of the business employers, namely Ten Cate from Almelo (textile industry) and Stork from Hengelo (metal industry). The remaining partially visible rings symbolize the industry peers that joined the VNO-NCW later. In 1999, the association comprised some 150 trade associations and 85.000 companies from virtually all sectors of the economy.

The ever-expanding circular growth chart does not end at the edges of the stamp. They even exceed the stamp size, thereby depicting the continuous industry growth of the employers' association.

In 1899, the predecessor of the VNO-NCW, according to the informative red stamp text (actually illegible even with a magnifying glass) in the lower left, increased in size 'from 2 to more than 150 branches'. The end is certainly not in sight, nor is that of the number of concentric circles.

Black and white and color photos with a red dot
1) Both historical black-and-white photos show means of production from the former industrial era:
Textile industry: in the Ten Cate spinning mill in Almelo, threads were wound onto large spinning shuttles.
Metal industry: the interlocking gears of a steam engine were most likely installed in a steam pumping station. These gears, with a diameter of at least 5 meters, were manufactured at the end of the 19th century in the Stork iron foundry in Hengelo.

2) Color photo of communication devices from the modern information age.
Nowadays, we live in the information age with contemporary communication technologies. All information is extracted from the laptop (with keyboard). This medium serves as the primary source of information regarding calculations. In minuscule numbers on the laptop screen, a portion of the calculations (additions & percentages) regarding the gross national product for the years 1995, 1996 & 1997 is clearly presented in columns. These figures provide the necessary industry information.

3) For 100 years, it has been about the commonality among the employers in the VNO-NCW. This stamp is a literal representation of that. The red dot at the intersection of both black-and-white photos symbolizes the commonality of the employers.

4) The slanted letters and numbers represent the active and dynamic position of the VNO-NCW within the social order.

5) This headline from the AD article of March 10, 2026, was the very reason for rewriting this article about the 100th anniversary of the Entrepreneurs' Association VNO-NCW, which was given a barely legible red information text 'from 2 to more than 150 branches' on the stamp. Designer Swart predicted to me back in 1999, still in an idealistic manner: “Philatelists (so not stamp collectors!) with a keen interest in this stamp image will undoubtedly reach for a magnifying glass.”

Historical overview
As an act of resistance against an interfering government in 1899, 52 industrialists led by Stork (Hengelo) and Ten Cate (Almelo) founded the Association of Dutch Employers, so that business operations would not be socially compromised. At that time, the government was particularly centralist, bureaucratic, and monopolistic in its approach.

Finally, the game of literal – figurative
Without the information I gathered, this stamp would have wrongly ended up in an album as a misunderstood stamp and an unappealing 'product'.
The above analysis is based on and connected to literally reproduced images, but these must always be interpreted, understood, and explained in a figurative sense. Often, they are less tangible and concrete, but abstract concepts such as producing (with machines in factories of the past), calculating (with a laptop), and communicating (with modern communication techniques/means).

Receding tide: then – now!
Designer Swart's expectation in 1999 that interested philatelists would examine such a stamp with a magnifying glass is fitting for a time when philately was still widely in the spotlight. Articles appeared regularly in newspapers and magazines, and a lively exchange between authors and readers often took place on platforms such as Postzegelblog.

A quarter of a century later, that seems to have changed. There is still attention paid to philately, but interest in recent Dutch stamp issues and their backgrounds could sometimes be more extensive. A short survey among readers would be interesting to see which topics appeal to them most today.