How continuing education at the UW/H is changing the perspective on responsibility and entrepreneurship

Birgit Beßler spoke to Kevin Koch. Kevin is an associate of the Hermann Hofmann Group, Solms.

After further training as a mechanical engineering technician and technical business economist, he completed the Associate Competence Programme (GKE) at the Professional Campus of Witten/Herdecke University. Kevin has a high level of technical knowledge and affinity and works in the Group in the field of renewable energies.

Birgit Beßler: Dear Kevin, you got to know Witten/Herdecke University over the last few months as a participant in an associate competence development programme, during which you experienced the university and the Professional Campus intensively. What impression has stuck with you the most since you graduated in November 2023?

Kevin Koch: That Witten/Herdecke University specialises very strongly in family businesses and that the content is therefore precisely tailored to this. I felt well looked after and comfortable from the very first minute. The interaction between the professors, lecturers and students was professional and at the same time absolutely open and at eye level.

Birgit Beßler: Why does a highly qualified technician and technical business economist who works in a company as a technical project manager/renewable energies need an additional qualification on the subject of associate:in competence?

Kevin Koch: I am actually very happy to separate the two roles. My previous qualifications enable me to successfully fulfil my appointment and my role in our company as a technical project manager. However, it's a different matter when you take on a shareholder role: you take on responsibility for people who work for a family business and their families. This task goes far beyond my previous field of practice and requires me to sharpen my entrepreneurial focus. When it became clear that I would be joining the company as an associate, I signed up for the GKE training programme because I wanted to be adequately prepared for this role. During the training, I actually became involved in our company and was therefore able to implement some things directly and scrutinise them more easily. This additional qualification made me much more aware of my still fairly new role as an associate, as well as the responsibility and new tasks that come with it.

Birgit Beßler: Were you born into entrepreneurship? And how did you find your way around Witten: were you able to meet like-minded people, people with similar backgrounds?

Kevin Koch: I think I was probably the exception in Witten! I didn't actually grow up in a family of entrepreneurs. Our group of companies is a multi-family family business and our founder only founded the first joint company with my father in 2010. So I've only been part of an entrepreneurial family for 14 years.

Although this development was an exception in our course, it didn't bother anyone in the Witten environment. On the contrary, the dialogue with the other participants was very interesting and will hopefully provide me with valuable information for the future when we hand over the company to the next generation.

Birgit Beßler: Was it clear to you early on that you wanted to get involved in the company? What prospects are you pursuing there?

Kevin Koch: Actually, that wasn't my original plan. There was never any pressure from my family that this had to be my path. I then started my appointment at another, slightly larger company. There I had the opportunity to develop very well over 11 years, until I realised that I wanted to move to our family business and get directly involved in its development and success. I am currently a technical project manager and head of a department. There is no concrete plan as to where I could go in the future. I just do my best and want to grow with the company.

"The Witten MBA offers the ideal platform to successfully lead our company into the future and to advance my personal development at the same time."

Birgit Beßler: When we stood together over a coffee during a break in the seminar, I was very impressed by the joy with which you spoke about learning at our university. You have now also decided to enrol on the Witten MBA degree programme. What triggers this joy in you and what drives you to devote additional time to intensive learning and studying alongside your work in the company?

Kevin Koch: In my current position as an associate and manager in our company, I have already taken on significant responsibility. This role has given me valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of the modern business environment, for which I would now like to prepare myself even better. I firmly believe that the MBA degree programme at your university offers the ideal platform to successfully lead our company into the future and to drive my personal development at the same time, especially as I can complete it while working. Since my apprenticeship in 2007, I have always worked and successfully completed all my further education programmes while working, so I have had good experiences with this model.

Birgit Beßler: I looked it up once: The Witten MBA degree programme from the Professional Campus stands for "Excellent management know-how, diversity of perspectives, philosophical depth and high reflective skills". What are your expectations and wishes for your personal development and your development in the company with regard to the Witten MBA?

Kevin Koch: I have been able to gain a lot of experience and knowledge in my professional career so far. I hope that the Witten MBA will make me even more confident and better in my role as an associate, so that the current generation can hand over the company to our generation with a good feeling. I find some of the topics from the degree programme highly interesting and they coincide with the development potential that I have identified in myself.

Birgit Beßler: ...then I wish you that your participation in the Witten MBA fulfils your expectations! Are there any new topics and ideas that you would like to bring to the company after completing the GKE programme?

Kevin Koch: We completed the course with the entire next generation of our company, i.e. the third generation of the founding family and my family. We were always able to take away new ideas for our group of shareholders from Witten, some of which have already been implemented and established. We were able to take away many ideas from the modules, but the open dialogue in the group was at least as valuable. It was always very interesting for us to learn how other companies and families had already implemented things that we were still working on at the time. The dialogue between the participants is still going strong. We met some of them at this year's Congress for Family Businesses in Witten. In the summer, there was also a joint follow-up meeting with the participants from my year.

Birgit Beßler: What does "shaping the future" mean to you?

Kevin Koch: Successfully developing our family business and handing it over to the next generation!