ALEXANDER NEUMANN Born: 1981 Company: goodforgrowth GmbH Position: General Manager www.frechefreunde.de   Das „Warum” und weshalb es wichtig ist, es klar zu benennen Why it’s so important to make clear just what “Why?” is. After seven years in the food industry at Nestlé, Alex Neumann decided in 2010 together with his wife Natacha to stop climbing the corporate ladder at big companies, and follow his dream of establishing an own company with a purpose and sustainability. Today you’ll find a 70-person team behind the goodforgrowth family that’s helping make the dream of founders Alex and Natacha a reality. Find out how the two achieved this at Alex’s presentation on October 18th in Salzburg.  

Alex and Natacha were aiming to positively change the eating habits of future generations with their snacks for kids. And they’re well on their way to making a positive impact. The Berliner startup erdbär GmbH and its brand Freche Freunde features more than 60 products that are available in over 150,000 stores. The Freche Freunde products are different from other manufacturers. They’re ideal for on-the-go, are fun for kids, and are made of organic fruits and vegetables. They’re innovatively made so that kids can have fun while developing a taste for fruits and vegetables.

Precisely defined cornerstones for dynamic growth “We needed several years to not only define our goals and the essence of what we’d be doing as a company, but to also get them down on paper in a way everybody could understand,” says Alex Neumann. “We always just took for granted that everyone would love change and shifts as much as we did. But the dynamics of the market and internally adjusting to them the right way still managed to catch an employee or two off guard.” For Alex, it’s clear that change is going to come even faster in the future. This makes constants all the more important. “Finding these constants was a brutal learning process for us. Today we’re creating the foundation of an even more dynamic growth that has precisely-defined building blocks: a strict value system for recruiting, employee evaluation, and a clear company mission.”

“Making our mission crystal clear to all of our stakeholders is extremely important for continued growth.”

MADS FIBIGER RASMUSSEN Born: 1991 Company: Organic Basics Position: Co-Founder and CEO organicbasics.com   The Green Thread An internationally active company emerged from the idea of producing sustainable clothing under proper conditions at fair prices. Organic Basics has set high standards for materials, production, and jobs as its goal. It’s a comprehensive sustainable business model that co-founder and CEO Mads Fibiger Rasmussen will be talking more about on October 18th in Salzburg.   

Four Danish guys got together in 2015 to start a fashion company. “We were tired of having to buy over-expensive, badly-designed underwear from the big fashion labels that were already worn out after a few weeks,” as Mads recalls. It was only one of their motivators, not to mention the fact that so many companies were losing sight of their environmental standards, if they were even sticking to them at all. These guys no longer had a good conscience about what was going on, which is why they came up with the idea to do it better. They now produce underwear, t-shirts, and socks at their company. All Organic Basics products are made for long life and are produced under fair conditions.

Sustainability vs. commercial success Since its founding, Organic Basics has experienced rapid growth, being able to more than double its annual sales. In 2016, Mads and his colleagues initiated what at the time was the most lucrative Scandinavian fashion crowdfunding campaign. But just how can sustainability be combined with commercial success, let alone be made into a competitive edge? Mads’ presentation “The Green Thread” will take you along the Organic Basics pathway of idea, to product-market fit, to convincing the venture capitalists, all the way to achievement as an established startup.

“It’s possible to do good while being successful in business at the same time.”

ANDREAS EICHLER

Born: 1965 Company: fair-finance Holding AG Position: Partner www.fairfinance.at

Why fair-finance?  Why do you start a pension fund in a market that’s already 100 percent saturated? Andreas Eichler knows the answer. As a partner at fair-finance Holding AG, he knows how important impact investing and sustainability are in the world of finance.

Andreas Eichler was active in a number of industries around the globe before getting into the Austrian financial industry in 2008. Born in Salzburg, he’s been a partner at fair-finance Holding AG since 2011. It’s an Austrian pension fund whose keys for success require them to apply social, ecological and economic principles when doing business – always with an eye on making responsible, sustainable decisions.

The “fair-finance” idea is making itself felt Along with fairness to customers, the company’s fundamental principles also include a proper understanding of its societal accountability, and being a role model when it comes to providing impulses towards structural change. And the notion of fair-finance itself is being felt. As of 2018, the financial services provider holds a nearly six percent market share of the Austrian pension fund market. In his presentation Ressourcen + Verantwortung: Warum fair-finance? Impact Investing im fair-finance Asset Management (Resources + accountability: Why fair-finance? Impact investing in fair-finance asset management), Andreas Eichler will be talking among other things about sustainable investment, and why it was so important to start another pension fund eight years ago in an already 100 percent saturated market.

“Impact investing and sustainability are key issues in fair-finance asset management. Here you need to actively create values for both society and your own competitiveness.”

FLORIAN WIESER

Born: 1978 Company: The Relevent Collective AG Position: Inspirer therelevent.com

Let’s get digitized, people! Let’s transform, people! How can people get comfortable with digitalization? What does an organization need for the combinations of person-person and person-digitalization to lead to substantial company success? These are the questions that Florian Wieser was asking himself at the ripe age of 20. Around 20 years later, he’s now a partner at The Relevent Collective AG, consulting companies about the entrepreneurial future of their customers, issues surrounding new communication methods and organizational development, and the best way to cooperatively implement a successful digital team.

Florian started his first GmbH (the German LLC) at the tender age of 19. Following studies in new media at the Zurich University of the Arts, at the turn of the century, Wieser was already intensively involved with the issues surrounding people and digitalization. He started to ask himself the following questions: How can people get used to digitalization? What does an organization need for the combinations of person-person and person-digitalization to lead to real company success? Today, around 20 years later, the founder of several companies can look back on all kinds of experiences and encounters. Born in the Austrian city of Graz, you can find him on the Finanz und Wirtschaft “Who’s who” list of digital Switzerland. Florian Wieser is currently a partner at his consulting company The Relevent Collective AG, and in charge of the future organizations department there.

Company transformation: A new perspective Florian will get right down to business at New Business Models. “We’ll be talking about the toxic mix in the economy that we’ve built up over the past 150 years of industrialization. We’ll talk about the challenge of the 21st century, and take on the complexity in organizations with a few concrete methods that achieve orientation in our daily interaction with one another,” says Florian. And what else can those attending New Business Models look forward to? Florian Wieser has an answer to that too: “A new perspective on the topic of transformation in business, and orientation about what role people play here. And what methods organizations can not only master in the future, but also create themselves,” says Florian.

“Let’s take a journey into all the opportunities that transformation promises!”

URSULA MAIER-RABLER

Born: 1957 Organization: University of Salzburg Position: Deputy head of the Center for Information and Communication Technologies & Society (ICT&S) www.uni-salzburg.at

Digitalization and social accountability In her presentation, Ursula Maier-Rabler will be showing what social responsibility means in a world of the social digitalization phenomenon that exists in light of a non-technical, non-specific, and intangible perspective of what can specifically be done with it. The communication scientist will not only be rubbing against the grain of current trends, but will also question general beliefs that persist when it comes to these issues.

Ursula Maier-Rabler is deputy head and founder of the Center for Information and Communication Technologies & Society (ICT&S) at the University of Salzburg’s department of communication studies, which she headed from 2002 to 2011. Her teaching and research focal points include the phenomenon of digitalization and society, especially regarding its impact on democracy, civil society, political participation, the future of employment, and education 4.0. She is currently doing research on the topic of digital resilience.

No “digital-free” areas any more As part of her presentation Digitalisierung und gesellschaftliche Verantwortung. Ein Auftrag an Politik und Wirtschaft (Digitalization and social accountability. A mission for policy and the economy), Maier-Rabler will be showing how tightly the digitalization metatrend is intertwined with other metaprocesses like individualization, globalization, mobilization, networking, and commercialization. Because there are no more “digital-free” spaces in our society any more, it’s up to us to act responsibly and incorporate a holistic societal perspective into the context of specific digital strategies. This presentation will take a network-societal perspective, shedding light on political, cultural, and economic options, while also recommending specific strategies. Alleged concrete beliefs will be questioned as well. Is the neo-liberal, growth-based, capitalistic economic system that emerged from 18th century industrialization still the right option for today’s world? Is our clock-based world of work that’s bound to time and place capable of meeting the needs of a networked digitalized dynamic?

“What does the networking paradigm of digitalization mean within the context of our political and economic activity, and that strives for the goal of a positive digital society for everyone?”