About us
Stiftung Entrepreneurship
The foundation was established in 2001 with a capital stock of DM 1 million by Professors Günter Faltin (80%) and Dietrich Winterhager (20%). As shareholders of Projektwerkstatt GmbH, they have also made all distributions from the company available to the Entrepreneurship Foundation since 2001.
The foundation is active on its own initiative, with the intention of influencing the environment for entrepreneurship favorably. It has its headquarters in Berlin.
„Even in high school, I loved reading about Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie or the Rothschilds. Not as subject matter, but under the bank. In my day, studying economics was considered something disreputable, even indecent. Yet I could hardly imagine anything more exciting and educational. I even had to read the economics section of the FAZ in secret.” Prof. Günter Faltin
Find out more about the professional career, work and achievements of Prof. Günter Faltin.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Klaus Weidner
After 30 years of management experience at the highest levels in leading commercial enterprises, Klaus Weidner, a management consultant who has been self-employed for 20 years, offers strategic consulting, personnel and organizational development, relationship marketing and personal coaching for organizations, executives and artists.
Prof. Günter Faltin
„Even at school, I loved reading about Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie or the Rothschilds. Not as subject matter, but under the bank. In my day, dealing with economics was considered something disreputable, even indecent. Yet I could hardly imagine anything more exciting and educational. I even had to read the economics section of the FAZ in secret.”
Prof. Faltin established the Entrepreneurship Department at Freie Universität Berlin. 30 years ago, he founded the tea campaign - a success story - and today accompanies company founders as a business angel.
In 2001, he established the Entrepreneurship Foundation, which organizes the annual Entrepreneurship Summit in Berlin. In 2010, the German President awarded him the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany as a pioneer of entrepreneurship. His book „Kopf schlägt Kapital” (Brains versus Capital) is a bestseller that has been translated into eight languages. Faltin lives and works in Berlin and Chiang Mai.
Prof. Dr. Dietrich Winterhager
Prof. Dr. Dietrich Winterhager is professor emeritus of economics and initiated the tea campaign together with Prof. Günter Faltin.
ADVISORY BOARD
Thomas Fuhlrott
Chairman of the advisory board
Founder of zait
Website: www.zait.de
Holger Johnson
Founder of ebuero AG, Serial Entrepreneur
Vice Chairman
Website: www.ebuero.de
Prof. Dr. Fritz Fleischmann
Professor at Babson College, Boston (Mass.)
Website: www.babson.edu
Image: ©Babson College
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Yunus
Recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, Professor Muhammad Yunus is internationally recognized for his work in poverty alleviation and the empowerment of poor women. Professor Yunus has successfully melded capitalism with social responsibility to create the Grameen Bank, a microcredit institution committed to providing small amounts of working capital to the poor for self-employment. From its origins as an action-research project in 1976, Grameen Bank has grown to provide collateral-free loans to 7.5 million clients in more than 82,072 villages in Bangladesh and 97% of whom are women. Over the last two decades, Grameen Bank has loaned out over 6.5 billion dollars to the poorest of the poor, while maintaining a repayment rate consistently above 98%. The innovative approach to poverty alleviation pioneered by Professor Yunus in a small village in Bangladesh has inspired a global microcredit movement reaching out to millions of poor women from rural South Africa to inner city Chicago. His autobiography, “Banker to the Poor: Microlending and the Battle Against World Poverty” has been translated in French, Italian, Spanish, English, Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch, Gujarati, Chinese, German, Turkish and Arabic.
He was officially sworn in as head of government in Bangladesh in August 2024. After the violent unrest, he is supposed to bring calm to the country until new elections are held.
Website: www.grameen-info.org
Hernando de Soto
Scientist, Founder of the Instituto Libertad y Democracia
Website: www.ild.org.pe
Gunter Pauli
Entrepreneur, Initiator of 'The blue economy'
Website: www.zeri.org
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
Prof. Dr. Reza Asghari
Prof. Dr. Reza Asghari is the holder of the joint Chair of Entrepreneurship at the TU Braunschweig and the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences. He is also the head of the Entrepreneurship Center at Ostfalia University. Prof. Asghari conducts research on e-entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education and on the socio-political consequences of entrepreneurship.
Prof. Dr. Heinz Klandt
Prof. Dr. Heinz Klandt has held the first German Chair of Entrepreneurship at the EBS University for Business and Law, EUROPEAN BUSINESS SCHOOL, Wiesbaden, since 1997 (retired in 2012). He is director of the Strascheg Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, managing director of the bifego Entrepreneurship Research Institute, honorary president of the FGF (Foerderkreis Gründungs-Forschung) and chairman of the jury of the Science4life Business Competition.
Prof. Dr. Wolf-Dieter Hasenclever
Professor at the University of Applied Sciences for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in Bielefeld and Schwerin and is co-editor of the Yearbook for Sustainable Economics. He is a consultant for political communication and takes care of the development of projects in the field of sustainable economy. He has founded free schools and was instrumental in founding the political Green Party in Baden-Württemberg.
Prof. Dr. Sven Ripsas
Sven Ripsas is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Academic Director of the Berlin MBA in Entrepreneurship. He leads the start-up activities of the Berlin School of Economics and Law. As a business angel, he accompanies several companies.
Mission Statement
Entrepreneurship is the creative and daring activity of people that forms the basis for founding new companies. This requires particular cultural conditions, role models and attitudes. The attitude of “doing something” and a greater open-mindedness towards entrepreneurial initiatives must become more natural.
Entrepreneurship offers the opportunity to work with unconventional ideas and perspectives and thus to successfully participate in economic life and break up established structures. Such approaches arise in everyday business life. Creative action requires a creative environment, which is more typical of the work of an artist.
A “culture of entrepreneurship” therefore consciously includes people such as artists, outsiders or committed fellow human beings who have not previously seen any opportunities for action in the world of business, nor have they appeared to be suitable stimulators and stakeholders. Such an understanding of entrepreneurship goes beyond prevailing traditions. The economic and cultural development of society is also dependent on entrepreneurial initiatives that not only constantly tease out new needs, but also respond to existing problems with economic, social and artistic imagination: entrepreneurship as an open, creative approach that invites entrepreneurial activity.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
