👥 Building a Business with Heart and Hustle: A Conversation with Stéphanie Reniers
What I learned from a tech founder, recruiter, mom of three, and unapologetic optimist
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Stéphanie Reniers, co-founder and CEO of Gentis, a global HR tech company with offices in Brussels, Casablanca, Luxembourg, Paris, Montreal, and Dubai. Our conversation covered the future of recruitment, scaling globally while raising a family, and what it really takes to grow a people-first business.
Spoiler: it’s not about tax optimization. It’s about mindset, culture, and courage.
Here’s what stood out.
🧭 The Mission Behind Gentis: Making Recruitment More Human
When Stéphanie co-founded Gentis back in 2011, she wasn’t trying to build a unicorn. She was trying to fix what felt broken in recruitment: the absence of true human connection.
“People leave companies not because of job titles, but because of culture and leadership.”
That ethos is what drives Gentis today. With over 500 employees across Europe, the Middle East, and North America—including an office in Montreal—they’re still focused on matching not just skills, but values and personalities. A people business, at scale.
🤖 Enter Wiggli: Tech as a Tool, Not a Substitute
As Gentis scaled, paperwork started winning. So in 2015, they built Wiggli, a SaaS platform designed to offload admin and free recruiters to do what they’re meant to do: connect with people.
“You can't match culture with a resume. That still takes a human.”
Wiggli is now used across the industry—not just by Gentis—automating scheduling, CRM updates, and more. But the philosophy is simple: tech should enable human relationships, not replace them.
🔁 Reinventing Yourself Every Six Months
Stéphanie’s biggest leadership lesson? You never stop evolving.
“As a founder, your job changes every six months. What works for a team of 10 doesn’t work for a team of 1,000.”
From sales to admin, from marketing to HR, she’s done it all—and had to let go of roles she loved. Growth means becoming irrelevant to your own job, again and again. And doing it with grace.
🧠 From Recruitment to Coaching: The Power of Soft Skills
Though she studied HR formally, Stéphanie says her real edge came from earning a coaching certification.
“My master’s taught me labor law. Coaching taught me how to work with people.”
That emotional intelligence shows. It’s also what differentiates great founders from competent managers: understanding, not just optimizing.
👨👩👧👦 Building a Company and a Family—with Your Spouse
Yes, she co-founded Gentis with her husband. Yes, they have three kids. Yes, they’re still married—and thriving.
How?
“We were on the same boat. I knew his challenges, because they were mine too.”
They had worked together before becoming a couple, which helped. But more than anything, Stéphanie credits their shared sacrifices and alignment. As she puts it: “Being co-founders made us better partners. Not the other way around.”
🏙️ Why Dubai? It Wasn’t About the Taxes
The decision to move from Belgium to Dubai wasn’t about optimizing income. It was about optimizing life.
“I was no longer aligned with the education system in Belgium. And I found exactly what I was looking for in Dubai.”
Today, her kids thrive in school, her company is expanding rapidly in the Middle East (from 3 to 17 people in one year), and the family has found a community. Safety, ambition, and sunshine don’t hurt either.
🔮 What’s Next? Growth, Yes—but Culture First
Growth continues: Gentis is deepening its footprint in the UAE, Canada, and beyond. But the priority is building internal leaders and preserving the DNA that got them here.
“You can scale a business. You can’t scale culture—unless you’re intentional.”
Stéphanie wants to build not just a company, but a platform for others to lead. And she’s starting to share her insights more broadly. (Podcast hosts, take note.)
✨ Final Thoughts: People Over Everything
If there’s one line from our conversation that stuck with me, it’s this:
“You can have the best strategy in the world. But if you don’t have the right people around you—it won’t last.”
In an age of tech hype and growth-at-all-costs, that feels both old-fashioned and deeply modern.
Merci, Stéphanie—for reminding us that scaling with heart is still possible.
🔗 Want to connect with Stéphanie or Gentis?
Head to gentis.com or reach out directly—especially if you value culture, unconventional talent, and recruitment done right.
Peggy Van de Plassche is an Operating Partner in Private Equity with over 20 years of experience across financial services, healthcare, and technology. She partners with investment firms, boards, and portfolio company leadership to accelerate performance, drive operational transformation, and unlock long-term value.
Peggy specializes in executing complex value creation plans—from capital allocation and digital enablement to transaction advisory and leadership alignment. Her work bridges strategy and implementation, helping investors and operators boost EBITDA and maximize enterprise value.
A founding board member of Invest in Canada, Peggy also brings deep expertise in institutional capital deployment and public-private partnerships—critical levers for competitive advantage in today’s global landscape.
Her clients have included BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial.
Learn more at peggyvandeplassche.com.