Melcher Frankema

BREAKING THROUGH WALLS

I was born in Lemmer, studied in Groningen, and then moved to Amsterdam. But the North never lets you go: I came back to build a business here.

As Founder & CEO of Ivy Medical, I worked with an amazing, energetic team on a major innovation in IV therapy. That adventure came to an end in the summer of 2025. What remains is what it taught me: what it feels like to build something from scratch, how often you run into a wall that you have to break through, and how rewarding that is.

That’s exactly where my role comes in. As a Venture Developer, I help entrepreneurs break through barriers every day. Sometimes that barrier is in the market, sometimes in the team, sometimes in raising capital, and sometimes simply within themselves. Often, these factors are intertwined. This gives me a lot of energy.

In addition, I’m working with a great team on a broader question: how can we, as NOM—as part of the ecosystem—attract higher-quality startups that grow into scale-ups? Scalable companies with impact at scale. This is important for our region.