A friendly climate for start-ups, courage for a future-oriented founders’ culture as well as an incentive for innovation: Those are the key themes of a nationwide week of action, lasting from November 12 through November 18 in Germany. More than 1,500 workshops, seminars, simulation games and planning contests are scheduled in various venues. The event is initiated by the German Ministry for Economy and Energy, supported by a broad alliance of partners coming from fields such as international trade, industry, research and development, service and numerous associations.
Office space difficulties for today’s founders
Dr André Helf, CEO of COLLECTION Business Center Group, knows about the problems many start-ups are facing in today’s economic climate: “We have many founders among our clients, and we try the best we can to help them get their enterprises started successfully. Our business centers are an important alternative to old-fashioned commercial rentals – our mostly very young start-up customers can save lots of their capital when they decide to rent from us, since they only pay if they stay: In other words: They never get stuck with long-term lease obligations.”
On top of that, demand for room often varies in the world of start-ups: “We have seen many founders getting started with plenty of caution, which, of course, is in their best interest. Many start with small offices or even just coworking spaces. As soon as they realize that their business is growing, they quickly need more help and space – we offer them that flexibility because as long as we have space available, we will be able to accommodate our clients’ wishes. That, by the way, goes vice versa as well: Sometimes young companies face downturns, which doesn’t have to be the end of the world, of course. If necessary, we offer them smaller spaces which will cost them less. They certainly won’t face any problems from our end. That will help them trim costs and we contribute to the flexibility they need.”
Challenges of the Founders’ Week 2018
Germany’s Founders Week 2018 cooperates very strongly with the Global Entrepreneurship Week each year, a global effort which took place in more than 170 countries in 2017, comprising about 25,000 events with over one million participants.
This year, a major focus in Germany will lie on “social start-ups” – companies promising a special effort in terms of sociological and ecological benefits. Start-ups with this tag enjoy major support from bipartisan political powers as well as associations and many corporations from different economic disciplines. The economic challenge to produce a viable and sustainable business plan is steep, though – demanding cost-optimization and the search for capital-saving office and production spaces. Dr Helf explains: “Many German cities such as Cologne, Munich, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and, lately, Berlin have seen dramatic shortages in commercial real estate vacancies – resulting in potentially dramatic rent increases. Unfortunately, those are the same cities that are immensely popular among young professionals and a well-trained work force. On top of that, there are major universities in those cities, and they have become home to many graduates. It is imperative to prevent a negative spiral there: Start-up founders must be able to start businesses in those towns and to implement innovation. At our business centers, we offer them the best of all opportunities, not only because of our highly competitive rents, but also with our high-tech, state-of-the-art presentation tools. Communication has become one of the most important key elements of successful entrepreneurship, and we have recognized that a long time ago already.”
COLLECTION Business Center will open a new business center in Cologne next year – it will be located in the newly constructed Wallarkaden, next to historic Rudolf Square, enabling the lively Cologne start-up scene an opportunity to find flexible and inexpensive office space soon.
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