ICHIBAN Consult was established by Jan Lambrechts. He holds a law degree, a master in taxation and MBA and works since 1985 as tax specialist and social law expert. Until 2011 he worked as a partner of a “Big Four” consulting firm until he decided to pursue his own way and to render services to employees, executives and companies in a personal way.
Ichiban is a Japanese word, composed of two elements “ichi” and “ban”. Ichi is the Japanese word for “one” and ban is a numerical suffix (a counter). Therefore, Ichiban simply means “number one”, “the first” or ”the best”. You will also use the word to indicate that you prefer something (over other things).
As food is most important for all of us, and not at least for Japanese people, Ichiban is most often used in this respect. Countless Japanese restaurants across the globe carry the name Ichiban and also food products and drinks also often are indicated with Ichiban.
Use has also spread to other areas such as manga and modern music and more recently for indicating Japanese social networks, such as Japan Ichiban.
In the consulting world it also stands for excellence, first choice, premium service, innovation and commitment of advisors to their clients.