Aukje Kuypers has been named businesswoman of the year (Zakenvrouw van het Jaar) for 2018 in a ceremony at Amsterdam’s Amstel hotel.

Kuypers, who is the fourth generation head of large family-owned technical services company Kuijpers of Helmond, was awarded the prestigious Prix Veuve Clicquot at the ceremony on Monday evening. The prize pays homage to the widow of the Clicquot-Ponsardin champagne house.

Kuypers (39) is mother of two young children and heads up the Helmond company which has a payroll of 1,150 and annual revenues of €200m. She is the 37th businesswoman of the year.

The family company was set up in 1921 and is well-known in the installation and construction worlds. One recent job carried out in Amsterdam was to devise a way for excess heat generated at the Hermitage museum to be transported to the nearby Hortus botanical garden.