4th Turkish German Family Entrepreneur Summit on June 11th 2015

On June 11th 2015 about 150 guests participated in a lively panel discussion with 2 German, 2 Austrian and 2 Turkish family entrepreneurs guided and presented by AlphaZirkel’s founder Andreas E. Mach.

The lively and controversial discussion mainly covered diverse ways of planning and exectuing succession in the family enterprise. The panelists were:

• Leyla Alaton | owner, ALARKO Holding, www.alarko.com.tr
• Dr. Mevlüt Büyükhelvacıgil | owner, Helvacızade Food Pharma & Chemicals Inc. , www.zadevital.com
• F. Peter Mitterbauer | owner, Miba AG, www.miba.com
• Felix von Nathusius | owner, FA ROTORION – Holding GmbH, www.ifa-rotorion.de
• Wolfram Senger-Weiss | owner, Gebrüder Weiss Gesellschaft m.b.H., www.gw-world.com
• Dr.-Ing. Hans-Jürgen Schrag | owner, Oschatz GmbH, www.oschatz.com

25 Family Entrepreneurs from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland visited Turkey in order to learn more about Turkish Family Enterprises. The delegation visited the UMUR Group and Koç Holding prior to the summit and had the honour of being invited by Demet Sabancı Çetindoğan, a well known business woman in Turkey, for an exclusive dinner in her stunning house on the bank of the Bosporus.

After the panel discussion the summit participants reflected in the garden of the historical Summer Residence of the German Ambassador, H.E. Eberhard Pohl, the honorary patron of the evening.

4th German Turkish Entrepreneur Summit

We are very much looking forward to our 4th German Turkish Entrepreneur Summit in Istanbul from June 11 to 12, 2015.  This year’s topic will be:

” Next Generation: Dos and Dont’s for Succession in the Family Enterprise”

We are expecting about 100 Turkish and 50 international guests to join our interesting panel discussion at the historical residence of the German Amabassador in Tarabya. More details will be made available shortly.

We would like to thank TÜSIAD and the German Ambassador, Eberhard Pohl, for their generous support.

Save the date for our 2015 events!

11 June 2015 – 4. Turkish German Entrepreneur Summit in Istanbul “Families & Brands & Hidden Champions”

5 November 2015 – German Turkish Family Entrepreneur Evening in Berlin

Please save the dates! We will provide more detailed information and programmes in due time. Looking forward to seeing you again next year!

Alphazirkel International in Berlin

Thank you to all our panelists and guests that made our Alphazirkel International event in Berlin this year such a great success. We look forward to seeing everyone again in 2016. A special thank you also to all our sponsors. Here are a few impressions:

Update on our Berlin event

Together with Buse Heberer Fromm and Deutsche Börse AG, we cordially invite you to an outstanding discussion on

“Management – Strategy – Ownership”

on the 7th of November 2014 at 6 p.m. in the German Capital Berlin, Pauly-Saal, Auguststraße 11–13, 10117 Berlin.

We would be pleased to welcome you to this high-class discussion about a topic which seems crucial for successful businesses

with our panel guests:

Catherine von Fürstenberg-Dussmann, Dussmann Stiftung & Co. KGaA, Berlin, Germany
Meltem Kurtsan, Shareholder of Kurtsan Holding Inc., Founding President of Kagider, Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey
Caroline Schwarz, CEO Ehinger Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG, Ulm, Germany
Dr. Volker Borkowski, CEO MAHAG GmbH, München, Germany
Raphaël Debbané, Chairman Debbané Saikali Group Holding, Beirut, Lebanon
Mazen Tantash, Chairman Tantash Group, Amman, Jordan (requested)

After the discussion we request the pleasure of your company for a festive dinner at Pauly Saal, Berlin’s trendy Michelin-starred restaurant.

Please respond by October 20th whether you and your company will attend at berlin@alphazirkel.de or by phone at +49 171 26 38 120.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Join Alphazirkel International in Berlin

Join us on November 7, 2014 in Berlin for an interesting discussion on between CEOs and Family Entrepreneurs from around the globe

„Management – Strategy – Ownership“

at 7 p.m., Pauly-Saal Berlin.

Our panel includes

Caroline Schwarz, CEO Ehinger-Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG, Ulm, Germany
Catherine von Fürstenberg-Dussmann, Dussmann Stiftung & Co. KG, Berlin, Germany
Raphaël Debbané, CEO Debbané Saikali Group Holding, Beirut, Lebanon
Mazen Tantash, CEO Tantash Group, Jordan (requested)

and will be moderated by Andreas E. Mach.

Other panel guests to be named

On the topic:
Ownership is about getting things done, no matter what. Leadership is the ability to inspire, motivate and direct others. But ownership and leadership have many other aspects and the personality of „owners“ and „managers“ is quite different.
In recent studies among CEOs and Family Entrepreneurs, the management ratings these two groups have given each other are not favourable:
While company owners tend to complain about the CEO’s lack of responsibility and understanding for the family matters of family entrepreneurs and their perspective on the business, employed top management has been complaining about the governance and management qualification of owners.
Research suggests that “ownership” and “leadership” are often used interchangeably despite them playing very different roles. In public companies the ownership aspect leads to very different organizations. While in privately held companies some choose to create similar company structures, others choose to be distinctly different. Some are praised by the employers for the identification, the motivation, the reliability and the long-term approach. Others praise the public company structure for their clear hierarchies, decision-making procedures and transparency.
In gathering a panel of international leaders and owners we wish to ask three main questions:
What can owners and managers learn from each other?
What can family enterprises and non-family companies learn from each other in an international context?
How can managers adapt their governance to a fruitful cooperation with owners and how should owners react to the management’s expectations?

3rd Turkish German Family Entrepreneur Summit in Istanbul on June 5, 2014

We are looking forward to our 3rd annual Turkish German Family Entrepreneur Summit in Istanbul to promote the exchange of experiences between family entrepreneurs from Turkey and German speaking countries. We are grateful to the German Ambassador to again provide his Historical Summer Residence in Tarabya for this important gathering of leading Turkish and German speaking family entrepreneurs.

After the keynote speech by Professor Dr. Arist von Schlippe, the leading German researcher and Professor for Family Entrepreneur issues, he joins a remarkable group of Family Entrepreneurs from four countries to discuss with you questions and challenges
of owners´governance in family enterprises. The panel will be moderated by
Andreas E. Mach, President and Founder of ALPHAZIRKEL. The welcome
address is held by Jutta Wolke, Consul General of Germany in Istanbul and
Ergin İmre of Menger Holding an outstanding Turkish German entrepreneur.
ALPHAZIRKEL proudly presents :
• Nusret Altınbaş | Altınbaş Holding, Istanbul
• Luitpold Prinz von Bayern | Nymphenburg, München
• Dr. Georges-Antoine de Boccard | Citadel Finance SA, Geneva
• Hanzade Doğan Boyner | Doğan Holding, Istanbul
• Şerife İnci Eren | İnci Holding Izmir
• Nazlı İmre | Hacı Bekir, Istanbul
• Dr. Siegmund Rudigier | Rena Lange, St. Emile, Mabrun, Salzburg
• Prof. Dr. Arist von Schlippe | University Witten-Herdecke

and Mrs. Meltem KURTSAN, Shareholder of KURTSAN Holding Inc., Turkey, Founding President of KAGIDER, Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey

Governance in family enterprises may differ or even be the same as in nonfamily
enterprises. Leadership concepts by family members are different from
non-family management, and even the most successful family enterprise may
or may not have family shareholders who have a mutual understanding of the
business and the family culture. Looking at failed family businesses, we have
an opportunity to learn what mistakes to avoid. And exchanging experiences
of successful family enterprises may give valuable insight while providing
ideas for the development of the family and the enterprise now and in the
future. But above all, cross-border exchange and networking among family
entrepreneurs offers a pleasant side-effect: Getting to know new people with
similar stories, making new friendships and connecting with potential business
partners. The Turkish German Family Entrepreneur Summit has already
created a new network of its own. We welcome you to become a part of it.

News from Myanmar

In a recent article, Andreas Mach, Chairman of Alphazirkel International, gives us an insight into the latest developments in Myanmar and asks the questions if it is new tiger state in Asia.

Family owned businesses in US & Western Europe are the most trusted

Edelman presented its 2014 Trust Barometer at the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday. Family-owned and small- & medium-sized business outperformed big business in all regions. Here are some more insights into the report

Alphazirkel 2014 Dates Announced

We are proud to announce our events for 2014! Once again we have put together an interesting line-up of topics with interesting speakers for the coming year. We hope to see you at one of our many events soon.