Sietske de Groot
Sietske de Groot has over 15 years of experience in EU and government affairs. She is founder of TradePeers Ltd., a specialised market-access service for small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. Until September 2016 she was the lead on EU and International Affairs for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in the UK.
Sietske is a firm believer of internationalisation and digitisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). She has been instrumental in shaping the Small Business Chapter in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). In 2016 she organised an award-winning event at the International Festival for Business “From Northern Powerhouse to Global Trade – Small Businesses and the Global Trade Agenda”.
For over seven years Sietske advocated the interests of UK firms in Brussels. She specialises in Digital Single Market policies. For example, she lobbied on the General Data Protection Regulation, Geoblocking, and VAT on e-services. Previously, Sietske worked in policy roles for the provincial government of North-Holland (The Netherlands) and at West Sussex County Council. She also represented the Airport Regions Conference (ARC) in Brussels. Sietske has lived in The Netherlands, France, Belgium and the UK, and worked with several other countries, including the USA. She holds a double Master’s degree in Political Science and French and speaks several European languages fluently.
Sietske is a firm believer of internationalisation and digitisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). She has been instrumental in shaping the Small Business Chapter in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). In 2016 she organised an award-winning event at the International Festival for Business “From Northern Powerhouse to Global Trade – Small Businesses and the Global Trade Agenda”.
For over seven years Sietske advocated the interests of UK firms in Brussels. She specialises in Digital Single Market policies. For example, she lobbied on the General Data Protection Regulation, Geoblocking, and VAT on e-services. Previously, Sietske worked in policy roles for the provincial government of North-Holland (The Netherlands) and at West Sussex County Council. She also represented the Airport Regions Conference (ARC) in Brussels. Sietske has lived in The Netherlands, France, Belgium and the UK, and worked with several other countries, including the USA. She holds a double Master’s degree in Political Science and French and speaks several European languages fluently.