Organising your studies entrepreneurially - Interview with Jonas Redecker, PPÖ student

Professional Campus: Dear Jonas, how did you come to UW/H? What are you studying and doing there?

Jonas Redecker: I was born in Witten and once attended a symposium for committed students in Kassel. And there was someone there who studied philosophy, politics and economics (PPÖ) and was very enthusiastic about it.

That made me think: I'd like to do that too! I'm now in my 8th semester of PPÖ. I'm involved in a lot of projects, so the number of semesters is increased, but it's worth it. Because it means organising your studies in an entrepreneurial way. Ekkehard Kappler, the founder of the Faculty of Business and Economics, called it that: to organise your studies in an entrepreneurial way. And that's exactly right for me: I can take the academic content with me, but I can also help shape a lot of things and initiate projects.

Professional Campus:We'll come to the projects in a moment - but now to PPÖ and entrepreneurship. The connection between economics and entrepreneurship makes sense to me. But what do philosophy and politics have to do with entrepreneurship and corporate responsibility?

Jonas Redecker: For me, the most important reason why I wanted to study PPÖ was to understand society. Philosophy, especially applied ethics, is about the question of how one should act. In politics: what framework conditions are set by politics, how does it all work; how does political power specifically work. And in economics, the key question for me was: how is it then implemented? My focus in my studies is more on economic ideas. And I like this freedom. I can acquire basic knowledge in philosophy and politics and can delve deeper into economics in order to understand economics. To understand what it means to be active as an entrepreneur. It is an interplay between, on the one hand, understanding society and, on the other hand, understanding entrepreneurship - which is of course embedded in society, but is a large part of it - and thus shaping society. And this is an interplay. That's a lot of fun.

Professional Campus: Would you understand entrepreneurship in the economic sense or rather as "being entrepreneurial", for example in the sense of "taking initiative"?

Jonas Redecker: Yes, exactly: for me it means being active and creative during my studies. For example, shaping the university through university politics. Or also: organising projects, such as a summer festival, a Congress for Family Businesses, a SWITCH conference... that means being creative. Of course, this doesn't happen in isolation from the economic context: you have to look at how the project is financed, acquire money or see how people work together...

Professional Campus: Now we've arrived at the projects and initiatives - you've briefly mentioned a few, would you like to tell us more about them?

Jonas Redecker: I started before Corona, I was completely flashed by the university, by the many initiatives - you didn't know where to start. I was allowed to take part in the Model United Nations. Fortunately, we were still able to go to the simulation conference in Heidelberg, because the conference in New York was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, I worked at the 22nd Congress for Family Businesses for the first time. At the congress, I was able to get to know almost all areas of event management from the inside: logistics, catering, shuttle... I just thought it was great to be able to work on a huge project. That was my first touching point. I got involved with Unikat during the coronavirus pandemic. Through this student initiative, we tried to create opportunities to stay in touch. For example, window hopping: we went from window to window in Witten and were able to clink glasses together - despite the distance. The Unikat is also my home; I like to lend a hand when there are events. Then, during Corona, I worked a lot online with two professors from the medical field; it was about setting up a cultural and meeting space in the community hospital in Herdecke. This resulted in an association, which brought me into contact with various aspects, such as writing statutes. Or with fundraising: how do you make a business concept, how do we approach foundations? We were able to work together with the GLS-Treuhand-Stiftung. That was very instructive. I'm no longer involved in the project myself. But it is continuing. And is being expanded to include other services, including a bookshop. It was a very interesting experience in the health care sector. It was about how culture, encounters and prevention measures can be brought together and offered in a hospital.

I then organised the PPE conference. Most of the project work took place online, which was very challenging. Fortunately, the conference itself was able to take place in person. It was a very important experience for me because it was about helping to organise team processes and taking on a coordination role.

Professional Campus: You were able to help shape a wide variety of facets of university life...

Jonas Redecker: I even got involved in university politics! I became a student representative on the faculty council. After corona, I was very keen to bring students back together, develop a sense of community and inspire people to help shape the university. We incorporated many ideas into the so-called modular system; these are the new Bachelor of Choice degree programmes that will start in autumn. The whole thing taught me a lot about how to approach a project strategically. And then I was asked if I would like to join the Board of Trustees of the University Foundation. You can tell: it's not so easy for me to say no! (laughs) That's why I joined the Board of Trustees of the University Foundation. The Board of Trustees gives me the opportunity to shape university policy at a different level. You're very close to the shareholders' meeting and have a wider view of the entire university; that's a lot of fun. In the meantime, someone approached me and asked if I would like to help with a new project. We wanted to gather ideas to redesign parts of the medical degree programme.

We had the opportunity to fly to Harvard University in Boston to look at longitudinal patient care in the first practical year after the intermediate examination. It was very exciting to understand how the healthcare system works in America, but also to see how education works there and what we can take away with us. I still attend meetings from time to time to see how we can implement this here in Witten. As a result - that was last year, in autumn 2022 - I joined the organisational team for the 25th Congress for Family Businesses. From the first time I was allowed to work on the congress, I knew that I wanted to organise such a congress. It was a very tight time frame, as we only had five months to organise the congress. That's why we agreed that I would focus on event management. Now I'm working with a new team to organise the 26th Congress for Family Businesses. Here I am primarily responsible for fundraising. So I'm moving away from my desk and towards the companies. I really enjoy that.

At the same time, Birgit Beßler recruited me for the redesign of the training programme on shareholder competence - that was very good, because it brought worlds together and made them mutually beneficial. I was able to bring ideas from the training programme into the congress and vice versa.

Professional Campus: And then SWITCH came along?

Jonas Redecker: Exactly. I was already working at the Professional Campus as part of the shareholder competence programme. Then Sebastian Benkhofer approached me and a student friend (Maya Maihack).

We sat in the Witten Lab for two hours and he presented his vision to us. I immediately realised: this is really fun! And it came at the right time - at a time when I had lost my sense of purpose while planning the Congress for Family Businesses and thought: I'm planning a major event for people who are potentially destroying the world with their business model. But I also have the opportunity to help save it. But I don't know exactly what that might look like. Switch came along at the right moment to work on solutions.

Professional Campus: Regarding SWITCH, I would be interested to know how and at what level you and your fellow campaigner can help shape it?

Jonas Redecker: For Maya and me, it was essential to see that people who would never meet each other come together. In the Planetary Labs, we want people to understand each other - regardless of whether you are a student or a CEO. Why do we want entrepreneurs and someone from the next generation to meet? Because we have the feeling that there are big discrepancies in the way entrepreneurs and the so-called Gen-Z look at each other. Many business owners are of the opinion that the younger generation is lazy or can no longer perform... At the same time, they encounter the problem of a shortage of skilled labour. The other side, the younger generation, on the other hand, asks: Why should we work for you? You are polluting our planet and anyway - we have no future! I want a life other than a 50-hour week; will I still have children? How does it all go on? But a person from the younger generation can slip into the role of the other in order to realise: Company owners have a high level of employee responsibility and cannot throw everything overboard; otherwise, countless people will become unemployed overnight. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, can realise this: Younger people want to shape things, but perhaps not in the way I'm used to. The conference is a kick-off for a movement, for an educational initiative. And I think it's very important that we create understanding instead of the confrontational debates that we see in the press, for example.

Professional Campus: Were there any other ideas that you were able to contribute to SWITCH?

Jonas Redecker: I wanted to team up with a good friend for a pre-event. As he organises the student initiative "Kinokat", we had an idea for a film. And that's how theweek came about: It's three films made by Frederic Laloux and his wife that inspire discussion and action against climate change. The three-part event took place in a very good atmosphere, with around 15 people. It inspired everyone to realise this urgency. It empowered us and showed us that there are other ways to take action.

Professional Campus: Will these experiences feed into the next family sub-congress that you are currently planning?

Jonas Redecker: Yes, absolutely! The title of the next congress is: Encounter space. Where new things are created. That's what this congress should be about: Bringing people together in a deeper encounter in order to think up new solutions and create offers together. It is about creating potential through these encounters and showing what is possible. Until now, there have been keynotes on sustainability. The problem was always described there, namely: we are in a climate crisis. All female entrepreneurs: yes, we already know that. When you talk to female entrepreneurs, you realise that the awareness is there. Now it's about looking at how to create solutions. And practical examples that others can learn from are fundamentally important here.

Professional Campus: One last question: what are your plans after graduation?

Jonas Redecker: When people ask me what I want to be, I say: I want to be a future social designer. For me, one thing has crystallised: to be active as an entrepreneur; perhaps to found my own company, my own initiative that manages to overcome the multiple crises we are facing and to help shape a future worth living. I can't say what and where that will be. At the moment, I find entrepreneurship interesting. At the same time, I am very open to ideas and projects. I could imagine working as a management assistant for about two years after graduation to gain detailed insights into the management of companies - that's strategic planning. And it will be different; I'm particularly looking forward to that.