Voys is a cloud communications provider that enables modern organizations to stay professionally reachable anytime, anywhere - without the hassle of traditional telecom systems. Voys ensures that at more than 33,000 companies, customer inquiries reach the person best equipped to answer them.
If you don’t know Voys for what they do, you might know them for how they do it. At Voys, everyone is their own boss - management and job titles have been eliminated. This approach, known as self-organization, leads to happy customers and happy employees!
Name: Voys
Steward-owned since: 2024
HQ: Groningen
Sector: Telecom & Tech
Number of colleagues: 146
Website: voys.co
Last updated October 7, 2025
Why Steward-Ownership?
The traditional shareholder structure no longer fitted Voys. The founders chose steward-ownership to safeguard the mission for the long term and to anchor self-organization and self-determination within the company. Through steward-ownership, voting rights and economic rights are separated, ensuring that Voys’ mission remains the guiding principle in decision-making. In addition, profits can be used for social purposes, allowing Voys to further increase its positive impact.
Steward-owned structure
Voys has placed the company’s ownership within a structure consisting of four foundations:
- Voys Stewards Foundation: holds the voting rights. This foundation votes on strategic decisions and appoints the Circle Lead. Its board represents the mission, customers/partners, and colleagues.
- Voys Ventures: holds the economic rights.
- Voys Social Return: is the certificate holder of Voys Ventures. This foundation invests the proceeds in initiatives that create social impact, in line with the mission.
- Golden Share Foundation: holds a so-called “priority share” with veto rights over any changes that could undermine the steward-ownership structure. This foundation acts as both guardian and key to any structural adjustments.
This structure ensures that Voys governs itself, remains independent, and keeps its mission at the heart of every decision.
Legal documentation
Documentation
The articles of association of Voys (Voys Group BV) and the three foundations that currently hold shares can be downloaded below:
The shareholders’ agreement between Voys and the various foundations, as well as the administration terms between Voys Ventures and Voys Social Return, are not publicly available.
This documentation is not suitable for every company and is not intended as legal advice. We strongly recommend seeking professional guidance and are happy to refer you to the creators of the documentation. We Are Stewards and the individuals who developed these documents are not liable for any consequences resulting from their reuse.
Templates
Voys used the templates for the golden share model as inspiration. These templates consist of articles of association and a shareholders’ agreement.
Implementation
Phasing
The implementation of steward-ownership at Voys took about one year and consisted of three phases:
- Conceptual: Mission and desired structure
- Development: Legal and fiscal elaboration
- Transfer: Establishment of foundations and transfer of shares
Team
The implementation was led by an internal team, supported by external experts:
Internal team
The implementation was internally led by Pollien van Keulen, with the involvement of Maarten van Brussel, Ben Hoetmer, and Mark Vletter.
We Are Stewards
👥 Jorick Wijnen and Gijsbert Koren
⚡️ Role: conceptual steward-ownership advice
n/p notarial partners
👥 Ellen Harms, Niels Geuze and Irene Steltenpool
⚡️ Role: legal implementation, notarial advice, articles of association