"From university to entrepreneurship" - this was the title of the successful re-opening event on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, with which the start-up office of the University of Business and Society returned after restructuring and under the new management of Prof. Dr. Christina Stadler. The three speakers, all of whom studied at the HWG and have settled in the region with the companies they founded, impressively demonstrated that there is start-up potential in Ludwigshafen.
Three founders, each around 30, three biographies, each of which is unique and exciting in its own right, but which have had a special impact when combined. Not only because they represent different fields of study and Departments at HWG LU, but above all because they have shown how individual start-up stories are and that start-ups can be founded at very different times.
Simon Jäger, after studying nursing (Department IV), had already been successfully employed for several years and taken on management tasks before founding a recruitment agency. His Re-ALIS GmbH recruits nursing staff from abroad, prepares them for the German job market in cooperation with language schools, for example, and has launched a platform that brings them together with German employers.
Visual storytelling is the theme of Lena Geib, a trained portrait photographer with a marketing degree from Ludwigshafen (Department II) behind her, who took the plunge into self-employment in 2020. The Bad Dürkheim-based photographer specializes in accompanying wedding couples on the most beautiful day of their lives.
And finally, Jan Stratmann, who, together with a partner, is building on the "power of bitter substances" and has launched a successful dietary supplement on the market - including participation in the "Höhle der Löwen" format. The start-up, which was profitable from day one, took off so quickly that his degree (Corporate Finance / Department III) had to fall by the wayside. On the other hand, he has achieved an entrepreneurial success story with his "BitterLiebe" products, which are now available to everyone in drugstores, online or via teleshopping.
After the three founders had introduced themselves and their careers one after the other in ten-minute slots, host Christina Stadler then elaborated on the motivation, experiences, hurdles, the role of the environment, difficulties during the pandemic, experience with investors and the day-to-day work of her guests in a moderated Q&A session, also taking up numerous questions from the audience. The re-opening evening ended with relaxed networking, drinks and snacks.
University offers contact point for start-ups
Supporting potential founders is the aim of the start-up office, which was established in 2018 as a cooperation project with Worms University of Applied Sciences under the name "R(h)eine Gründersache" and is now picking up speed again under new management following a restructuring phase. As Professor of Entrepreneurship, Christina Stadler is virtually predestined for this task, Vice President Professor Dr. Nina Knape introduced her colleague to the audience in the auditorium on Tuesday evening. According to Nina Knape, preparing graduates for the job market in the best possible way and integrating them into it is an important task for universities. But as an alternative, the HWG LU also wants to offer a contact point that connects people who want to start a business with important contacts and institutions.
More information on the start-up office and other events can be found at https://www.hwg-lu.de/forschung/service/gruendung.
