Saidja Drentje
Partner
Saidja is a Partner at Portas, with 18 years of experience. He focuses on event and sport asset investment feasibility and strategy projects. Saidja previously worked at McKinsey & Company, Mercer, the UN and World Bank, and launched several infrastructure facilities and sports clubs. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.
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Saidja is currently focusing on feasibility and strategy projects for developers, investment entities, and government entities at Portas. He has led the successful bid and strategy design for several major sports events and elite academies, spearheaded event, asset and portfolio-wide sport strategies for leading developers, and provided advisory to renowned sports federations and corporates on growth strategy, operations and topic such as elite sports.
Before joining Portas, Saidja worked as a Partner and Head of Organizational Transformation at Mercer, a Senior Principal at the ATA, a Project Director at the World Bank, a CSO at Magic Bus S4D Foundation, a Manager at McKinsey & Company, and a Senior Manager Global Syndications at Fortis Bank, as well as the founder of a sports facility.
Saidja holds an MBA with honors from Columbia Business School, an MSc in Sports Management from the Johan Cruyff Institute, and a BS in Economics with honors from the University of Utah. He is an elite tennis player who represented the Netherlands in Juniors and has won multiple international titles, including MVP and WC finalist Sallyball. He also led Magic Bus India Foundation's strategy, which resulted in Asia’s Charity of the Year, Laureus Sports for Good, and the United Nations Sport for Development Awards.