Mathijs Sara

Sara Mathijs (1977), Co-founder and CEO of UPEO Consulting, demonstrates that entrepreneurship can be an act of social conviction. In the midst of the Covid pandemic, she left a secure position as Managing Director at Wipro to build a company that prioritizes values and inclusivity above all else.

UPEO Consulting specializes in Salesforce solutions, offering end-to-end services that range from designing new systems to optimizing existing ones

Mathijs’s decision to found UPEO was driven by a desire to align her professional environment with her personal ethics. She deliberately established the company’s headquarters in Molenbeek, a choice reflecting her commitment to diversity and her slogan: ‘Diversity is a fact, inclusion is a choice’. As a founder, she has embedded social responsibility into the company’s DNA, implementing a ‘1% pledge’ where a portion of revenue is dedicated to charitable work.

Her entrepreneurial ambition is measured and intentional. Rather than chasing indefinite scaling, Mathijs aims to build UPEO into a manageable entity of approximately 25 people, a size that allows her to maintain the company’s core values without dilution. With 25 years of experience in the sector, she combines deep industry knowledge with a fresh, socially conscious approach to business ownership.

3 years ago she wrote an opinion article on the need for ‘diversity by design’, emphasizing that software developers must integrate the diverse needs of their actual target audiences—spanning gender, culture, age, and ability—right from the initial design phase rather than relying on change management to fix usability issues later. She draws parallels to historical safety oversights, such as car designs that endangered women by ignoring female physiology, to warn that digital tools lacking inclusivity could similarly lead to dangerous or exclusionary outcomes.