creditshelf-Magazin NO 8-EN

magazin Nº08 | March 2020

We design SME financing.

Easy. Fast. Innovative.

NOW WITH FINANCING TERMS OF UP TO 8 YEARS

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FROM REAL LIFE The family business with a rich tradition Carl Leipold reinvents itself time and again – also thanks to alternative financing solutions Page 13

IMPULSES We delve deeply into the world of subsidies and show how small and medium-sized businesses can push ahead with their digitalisation Nº08 | March 2020 • creditshelf

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finanCing mOnitOr 2020 kEy rEsUlts Z

Banks are more sceptical of investment projects

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Alternative financing sources become increasingly important

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Big data is used for internal liquidity planning by just 25 percent of those surveyed

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More than half evaluate the factor of financing as a bottleneck in digitalisation

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90 percent require a financing commitment for working credit in one to four weeks

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The majority of those surveyed believe changing their primary bank is an option

about the “financing monitor� study y

Survey period November to December 2019

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Survey of around 200 financial decision-makers at SMB industrial companies

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Initiated by creditshelf under the scientific supervision of Prof. Dr Dirk Schiereck (Head of Corporate Finance at the TU Darmstadt)

are you interested in the results of the financing monitor? then simply write us an email to info@creditshelf.com or click on the Qr code.

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Editorial

Dear Readers,

eDi tO riaL

Small and medium-sized businesses are caught today between a long tradition and the opportunities and challenges of the digital age. However, these poles do not need to cancel each other out. This contribution about the company Carl Leipold shows how well things that are new go together with things that are tried and proven. In the middle of the Black Forest, several generations are working together – people know each other, they have direct contact and they can count on each other. However, the expert metal cutting company also opened its mind for new approaches such as smart design and the possibilities of digitalisation. After all, this was the key for tailoring products more and more to the customers’ personal preferences and optimising workflows for the long term. By the way, our customer is not the only one with this opinion – according to current surveys, ever more small and medium-sized businesses understand digital change as an opportunity. And politics adds another stoke to the fire: states, the federal government and the EU subsidise businesses for their efforts. The challenge in the meantime has become selecting the right subsidy from hundreds of offers – we show possibilities to navigate them in our article. Digital contributions by now are revolutionising countless work and business fields. At this time, for example, the so-called blockchain technology is making big waves in the financial sector. It is said to be forgery-proof and able to cut transaction times from days to minutes. In the guest contribution, an expert of Deutsches Aktieninstitut presents the technology.

prospects, it is important to make the next step and align oneself with viability for the future. A constant appetite for knowledge is in the nature of further development. But nowadays, purely theoretical knowledge is disused. We therefore present to you Entrepreneur University. This is where an entirely new and practical approach is taken to learning – experienced mentors, who are themselves successful entrepreneurs, pass on their knowledge and help in the application: through multi-media channels, in person and directly. Why is it so important what goes into people’s heads? Because the heads behind the enterprise are what gets SMB ahead. On occasion of this year’s founders week, 100 of these self-starters make an appearance on the internet in short video clips. We present some of the self-starters in this issue.

Being open for new things is always also a good opportunity to be ready for current challenges.

Especially given the current unclear cyclical

Dr Tim Thabe Founding partner and CEO of creditshelf

Apropos self-starting: We recently entered a joint venture with the largest and most highly regarded asset manager in Europe, BNP Paribas Asset Management. This way, creditshelf can now arrange non-collateralised credits with terms of up to eight years. We and our partners will be happy to support you as well in all questions relating to financing. Contact us – we will get done more together!

Management Board of creditshelf AG: Dr Mark Währisch, Dr Tim Thabe, Dr Daniel Bartsch (f.l.t.r.)

Editorial

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Overview 3

Editorial

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Contents and imprint

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3 QUESTIONS FOR...

Jonas Eckhardt sheds light on opportunities and risks of the zero-interest policy for small and medium-sized businesses and the overall economy.

COOPERATION PROJECTS

Practical tools for an effective time management at your business

The CFO in the focus

The grandson scheme does not stop before the top managers of companies. How entrepreneurs can protect themselves from this

FROM REAL LIFE

Im print

Company Carl Leipold with its rich tradition reinvents itself time and again – also thanks to alternative financing solutions

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Trends

100 self-starters – the Entrepreneurial Spirit Initiative; we present 10 self-starters

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Impulses

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Entrepreneur University raises education to a new level with coaching and events

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Impulses

Experts from the economy and financial world discuss the current challenges of businesses and banks

Trends

The Chinese social credit system is shortly before its introduction – with effects on German companies

A glimpse behind the scenes

creditshelf takes a look at the motives to sponsor the handball club HSG Freiburg

How small and medium-sized businesses can push ahead with their digitalisation using subsidies

Network

Cooperation projects

Potential and limitations of the blockchain technology

DATES AND EVENTS

From finance talk to SMB Day: we are there when people are finding solutions together

IMPULSES

Experts provide simple and concise answers to questions that concern SMB today

Publishers: creditshelf Aktiengesellschaft Mainzer Landstraße 33a 60329 Frankfurt/Main, Germany Telephone: +49 69 348 772 40 E-mail: info@creditshelf.com www.creditshelf.com Board of Management: Dr Tim Thabe (Chair), Dr Daniel Bartsch, Dr Mark Währisch Chair of the Supervisory Board: Rolf Elgeti Entered at the Frankfurt/Main District Court – Comm. Reg. no. 112087 VAT ID: DE298667279 Responsible under the German press law: Birgit Hass (Head of Marketing and Communication, creditshelf AG) Head of Advertising: Birgit Hass (Head of Marketing and Communication, creditshelf AG) Head of Subscription Service: Laura Gabriel (Marketing and Communication, creditshelf AG) Internal project team of creditshelf: Birgit Hass, Fabian Brügmann, Dr. Gregor Heinrich, Laura Gabriel, Marie-Kristin Winter, Jan Stechele, Florian Bruse, Linus Sluyter, Shima Nagdhali, Anna Schönfeld, Sebastian Seibold Conceptual design and implementation: ABG Marketing GmbH & Co. KG www.abg-partner.de Editorial office: Ilka Stiegler, Dominik Schilling, Tony Wachtel, Ina Jahn ABG Marketing GmbH & Co. KG Layout and design: Alin Hanisch ABG Marketing GmbH & Co. KG Print: RheinMail GmbH, Boppard Photo credits:

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creditshelf AG Jan Bürgermeister (www.fotostate.com) Laura Gabriel, Birgit Hass, Shima Nagdhali (creditshelf AG)

Bert Bostelmann (www.bildfolio.de) Unternehmens-PR

Editorial deadline: 17/01/2020 Print run: 10,000 copies

3 questions for ...

there iS a threat Of ZOmbieS anD JapaneSe COnDitiOnS Jonas Eckhardt of the corporate finance firm Falkensteg is regarded an expert in corporate takeovers in difficult situations.

He knows the ins and outs of non-performing or financially no longer efficient businesses. in his three answers, he examines opportunities and risks resulting from the zero-interest policy for small and mediumsized businesses and the overall economy.

Has the zero-interest policy put businesses in general and non-performing businesses in particular into a better financial situation?

Eckhardt: ‘Healthy’ businesses currently profit from low interest rates and can use bank loans at affordable conditions to invest in new technologies, production equipment and the necessary structural changes. The situation for businesses in a crisis presents itself differently: non-performing firms today practically get no mentionable credit lines from banks anymore. This is due to the experiences from the last financial crisis and the resulting greater obstacles for credit approval. Businesses on the verge of crisis are therefore forced to resort to alternative financing instruments: providers of

sale-and-lease-back, factoring or warehouse financing have sufficient liquidity, which they receive at affordable conditions because of the general investment pressure. They pass on a part of this indirect interest rate advantage from the current monetary policy of the European Central Bank to their customers – also to non-performing businesses. Nonetheless, the interest rates for them are frequently still in the double-digit range and thus nowhere near the zero line of the ECB. How high do you estimate the risk to be of getting ever more zombie companies – meaning, firms that are capable of payment only because of the low-interest policy?

Eckhardt: At this time, there is quite a lot of money on the market looking for attractive investment opportunities. The investment and bidder pressure thus created increasingly marginalises the yields of conventional asset classes. Companies in crisis therefore find financing options frequently at the latest from asset-based lenders or the private equity segment. In part, these refinancing options delay or cover up the actually required harsh reorganisation steps or even filings for bankruptcy.

Jonas Eckhardt Jonas Eckhardt has been Partner for Corporate Finance at Falkensteg GmbH since 2017. He is regarded a proven expert in the management of distressed M&A transactions, and in restructuring and reorganisation of businesses. Before his time at FalkenSteg, he worked as Director at M&A-Beratungsgesellschaft perspektiv, at Capgemini Consulting in strategy consulting and at Deloitte & Touche in auditing.

The 37-year-old is a tax adviser, certified ESUG consultant and M.B.A.

3 questions for ...

The questions were asked by: Prof. Dr Dirk Schiereck Member of the Supervisory Board of creditshelf AG, Head of Corporate Finance at TU Darmstadt

It can be observed in addition how companies in crisis also find investors again after the second or third sequential bankruptcy procedure even though they should have long exited the market. All assets of these firms have already been sold through sale-and-lease-back deals, while relationships with customers have been permanently damaged and the people with know-how have jumped ship. Excess capital on the market thereby creates zombies without substance, which drag on from one bankruptcy procedure to the next. The solution to the problem – the final exit from the market – keeps being pushed back further and further on the timeline. what do you think: when will the ECb raise interest rates?

Eckhardt: I think that this will not happen in the next two years. In spite of the low interest rates, too many companies are in a lasting financial demise, for example, because of the simmering trade wars, the persisting Brexit insecurity and especially also because of disruptive technological transformations such as those in the automotive industry. A lot of companies are threatened by bankruptcy at this time – in the attempt of complete reorganisation or also in absence of such an attempt. If this happens to large market actors, their suppliers, too, could get into trouble. Currently, a lot of phantasy and skill is needed in monetary and currency policy so not to slip into a situation of Japanese dimensions: a zero-interest policy with deflation and economic weakness has persisted there for a longer time already. Moreover, society is aging rapidly and the government and reserve bank find no way out of the vicious circle. Germany is just a few years behind many of these developments and it should always keep an eye on the example of Japan in solving the problem.

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traDitiOn anD mODernity in the bLaCk fOreSt wolfach, in the state of baden-württemberg, is home to the leipold Group. the company is looking back at a tradition of 100 years by now and still, it is anything but outdated: in the middle of the black Forest, you can find a modern family-managed company with a CEo, who knows how important the willingness to advance development is besides all tradition.

Dipl.-Ing. Pascal Schiefer (on the right), CEO of Carl Leipold GmbH, shows Dr Daniel Bartsch, founding partner and board member of creditshelf, around the company

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From real life

“You have to be hungry to always want to get out of your own comfort zone,” says Pascal Schiefer in response to the question as to his drive and motivation. Schiefer is the CEO of Carl Leipold GmbH, one of Germany’s oldest industrial turneries – in 2019 the company celebrated its one hundredth anniversary. Leipold can be rightly referred to today as a prototype of a modern family-managed company. The corporate group, which also includes one subsidiary in the USA, has 375 employees. At the headquarters in Wolfach in the Black Forest, almost 230 specialists work under the management of Pascal Schiefer – many of whom are former classmates of his, soccer teammates or skat buddies. “I know all of our employees and their families, which is the benefit of a family-managed company. We have a good and interpersonal corporate culture, meet at eye-level and take responsibility for each other.

This has also helped us survive economic crises,” says the CEO. And he knows what he is talking about. Because Schiefer came to the headquarters in Wolfach in times of the financial crisis in the late 2000s: at first, as CTO until he took over for his father as CEO in 2012. But Pascal Schiefer is not the classic “taker over”. Before he became the successor in the family managed company, he had already completed his “years of travel” – how he calls it himself. After studying mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen, these years led him, among other, to an automotive supplier as a production manager. Later on, the M.Sc.

in mechanical engineering took over the management of the Leipold subsidiary in Dransfeld, gradually joining the family business this way. As CEO, Pascal Schiefer sees himself as a generalist with a good hand in sales, but who is also no stranger to the details of production – tools, materials and machines. After all, in his youth he helped set up the machines – so, another one of those benefits of a family-managed company. supplier with special know-how One billion turned parts are produced by the Leipold Group per year and uses them to supply customers in all kinds of industries: from international aerospace companies to manufacturers of household appliances and even suppliers of network infrastructure or businesses in the construction trade. At the same time, it is important to Schiefer not to get dependent on just a few large customers: at most, five percent of sales at Leipold come from one single buyer. Customers stay loyal to Leipold nonetheless – the oldest regular customer for 98 years by now.

The fact that Leipold is today already producing in the fourth generation and can look optimistically ahead to the future also has to do with a consistent philosophy. “To us, the focus is always on customers and markets. It is alright if this sometimes goes hard on the system. We simply have to be ready all the time to reach higher and go further,” says Schiefer. And Leipold has always proven in the

“We simply have to be willing all the time to reach higher and go further.” dipl.-ing. pascal schiefer, CEo of Carl leipold GmbH

From real life

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“Based on the transparent quarterly reports, we could build up trust quickly.”

Dr Daniel Bartsch, founding partner and COO, creditshelf AG

past that the company can reinvent itself time and again.

Accordingly, in the early 1990s, the company in Wolfach was one of the first to use computer technology to control machines. At first, competitors smiled upon the company but today CNC machines have long since been the standard in the industry. Next example: As early as in the mid-90s, Leipold introduced an ERP system. Enterprise Resource Planning serves for the comprehensive data recording at the company and helps improve transparency and cost efficiency. What everyone is talking about today as the digital transformation was realised with this step already years ago. The last milestone in the more recent history of the company was establishing the so-called smart design. This is to say, Leipold is not an average supplier that simply delivers its product from a catalogue.

Each part that leaves the company is a custom product, which is manufactured according to the requirements and needs of the buyer. In the process, the metal cutting

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Nº08 | March 2020 • creditshelf

experts advise their customers regarding the material and geometry of a component as dependent on the purpose for use. “In the past, customers used to send us detailed technical drawings of the requested components that we then realised. But as part of their outsourcing, many customers are missing the corresponding know-how nowadays. We recognised early on that they need a partner in metal cutting, who offers them precisely this know-how and who supports them in the development and production of optimal turned parts,” Schiefer explains.

Understanding digitalisation as an opportunity The 45-year-old CEO sees the great challenges in his industry foremost in the heightened expectations for a supplier. “Let’s be honest, the pressure is not getting less. In many cases today I notice a virtual supermarket mentality.

Everything must be available immediately, offering quality made in Germany while it should cost as little as possible.

But German enterprises have always been good in the B2B segment. We simply have to remember our virtues here, while we should always stay in motion and offer true flexibility instead of simply talking about it,” Schiefer sums up. The CEO views digitalisation, which tends to cause worry lines for many SMB, as an opportunity: “A high degree of digitalisation gives us the possibility to automate tedious tasks and thereby stay internationally competitive. We can therefore always customise our offer more for the outside world while we standardise processes on the inside at the same time.”

Technological trends and developments are always in Pascal Schiefer’s eye – in keeping with the Leipold tradition. At this time, for example, this is the network upgrade to 5G because turned parts are needed practically for every transmission mast and every transmission system.

“Alone to ensure the 5G quality on all motorways nationwide, Germany would need another 100,000 additional transmission masts. Besides these public networks there are also the internal networks of industrial enterprises,

From real life

which are needed for robotics, for example. We are well positioned here through our customers and are thrilled to see the further development,” Schiefer concludes.

SMB meets fintech In financing, as well, they want to go with the times in Wolfach and are searching for flexible solutions such as seasonal bridge financing. This is keeping in mind that periods of rest and plant holidays of customers always cause seasonal fluctuations in the industry. Earlier negotiations with the bank in this regard have not resulted in a solution, however. At the Mittelstandsforum BW (SMB Forum of Baden-Württemberg) in the summer of 2018, the company Leipold found creditshelf at last. This got things moving: a request with the fintech company of Frankfurt, the response one day later, submission of the successful lists by Leipold and in the end, the visit by the creditshelf customer manager at the company in the Black Forest.

“Leipold is a name in the region, which has characterised the economy for decades. Several generations are working hand-in-hand at the family-managed company – I was impressed by that. At the same time, however, I also liked the energy and the fresh approach with which current challenges are tackled here,” says Customer Manager Philipp Stollmayer. The personal meeting on site made for a well-founded exchange and jump-started the financing process. This one-face-to-the-customer principle is an important advantage of the fintech according to Leipold CEO Schiefer: “The communication with creditshelf was modern, relaxed and nonetheless always committal. Because of the advanced level of digitalisation, we also did not have to fill out one single form; everything proceeded quickly and our contact could concentrate on what matters: understanding how our company ticks and how the business model works,” Schiefer emphasises. creditshelf has by now supplied financing in the seven-digit range two times to Leipold. After the first seasonal loan in late 2018, which has been paid back already, growth financing with medium-term maturity followed in the summer of 2019. From the first request, to the risk assessment and the disbursement in the end, the process did not take more than four weeks in either of the two cases. According to Dr Daniel Bartsch, COO of creditshelf, this was also due to the solid cooperation by the company. “Leipold always provided us with good reporting. We could easily understand the development of the company by means of the transparent quarterly reports and had a concrete understanding of the current situation. This way, we could quickly build up trust and provide the corresponding loans.” So, within a few months, a stable partnership was forged between the SMB and the fintech. Both are sure they will also continue their cooperation in the future.

From real life

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100

SeLfStarterS

the entrepreneurial spirit initiative On occasion of the Gründerwoche Deutschland (Founders’ Week Germany), the first online summit of the “100 self-starters” will take place.

It is where 100 people from diverse fields of business share their experiences and practical knowledge relating to the subject of enterprise founding, self-employment and social commitment. The participants will obtain a deeper

insight into the mentality of the 100 self-starters and, for example, how new markets can be organised or what it takes to see challenges as an opportunity for personal growth.

In the following contribution, we present 10 self-starters as examples – among them also the CEO of creditshelf, Dr Tim Thabe.

Self-starters are people, who get going and find solutions by doing, and who develop products and services.

Often, this path is not a straight line.

Part of it is trial and error, getting stuck and getting started again. It also requires courage, continuous learning and personal growth. michael silberberger, disruptive serial Entrepreneur & initiator of the 100 self-starters

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 100 SELF-STARTERS SUMMIT  20 MARCH TO 20 APRIL 2020  Free registration at www.100-macher.de

inspiration For y

Everyone who wants to shape this world and society

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All who rather do than talk and who want to bring about change

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All entrepreneurs who work in responsible positions at businesses

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People who want to grow

“10 Out 100” “10 OutOf Of 100”

trends

1. dr tim thabe Founding partner and CEo of creditshelf aG

2. Frank thelen investor: lilium, mytaxi, ankerkraut Category: experts Frank Thelen is a European serial founder, technology investor and TV personality.

Since 1994, he has been founding and managing technology and design-driven businesses. In his role as the founder and CEO of Freigeist Capital, he focuses on investments in the early phase. His products have reached more than 100 million customers in more than 60 countries.

Frank Thelen was the first investor in start-ups like Lilium Aviation, Wunderlist, myTaxi, Ankerkraut and YFood. In 2018, aged 42, he published his autobiography “Startup-DNA” (Start-up DNS).

4. Julia koper Founder and CEo of studybees Höhle der löwen (German version of dragons’ den) Category: entrepreneur Julia Koper is the founder and CEO of Studybees, an EdTech start-up she founded while she was still at university at the age of 24 years. In 2016, she pitched it on the German version of Dragons’ Den. Since then, she has already successfully prepared more than 20,000 students for their tests with Studybees.

With StudybeesPlus, an innovative e-learning solution revolutionising higher education by customised learning paths, further subjects and countries are to follow besides economics and law. Her vision: making Sudybees a global player of learning in the higher education segment.

3. Jan bredack Founder and CEo of Veganz

Category: mega investment

Category: food

Dr Tim Thabe is founding partner and CEO of creditshelf. He previously served as COO of the International Corporate and Institutional Clients Business at UBS and has more than 10 years of experience in credit risk. His positions include Senior Credit Officer and Rating Adviser at UBS and Goldman Sachs. Dr Tim Thabe holds and Executive MBA degree of Kellogg-WHU, is a CFA Charter Holder and received his doctorate degree in financing from University Mannheim for his thesis on for the assessment of credit risk.

Jan Bredack founded Veganz GmbH, Europe’s first vegan supermarket chain, in 2011. The entrepreneur was a 2014 finalist for the Deutscher Gründerpreis (German Founders’ Award), as elected “person of the year” of PETA at the end of 2014 and won the 2015 PETA Progress Award.

Jan Bredack successfully restructured the business of Veganz into a brand merchandise in 2017. Veganz develops and sells more than 160 vegan product developments of its own to more than 10,000 points of sale in Western Europe.

Trends

5. dr ayesha khanna Founder of addo ai. 2017 according to Forbes among the top 4 ai companies in asien Category: future tech/ai Dr Ayesha Khanna is co-founder and CEO of ADDO AI. She previously worked on Wall Street for ten years and developed risk and trading systems. She is one of the leading heads in financial technology for Fintech Asia.

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6 Johannes Jäschke podcast Host – first business founded at age 14 Category: younger than 30 Aged 14, Johannes Jäschke founded an agency for artists and sold his shares at age 18. Thereafter, he developed an artificial intelligence (which received the Special Prize for AI from Jugend-Gründet (Founders’ Youth)) until the team broke up. While a student at university, he founded "Sqorl GmbH", which sold more than 2,000 products with 11 employees.

Because of the rapid growth, liquidity bottlenecks occurred in 2019 and Sqorl was nearly insolvent. His podcast on the handling of mistakes was borne out of this experience: “Phoenix rising from the ashes”.

“10 Out Of 100”

9. kerstin Hardt Expert for mental training, stress prevention, nutrition and exercise Category: health Kerstin Hardt studied sports science and nutrition, and completed numerous additional advanced training courses. The bestseller author is known from her TV appearances, among other, on Sat1 and ZDF. She was one of the top trainers at the company Puma, is working in professional sports and is currently a member of the scientific forum of the Infark Project. Kerstin Hardt supports the trade press (e.g. FOCUS/ Handelsblatt/Food Forum) with articles and contributions on the current nutrition and health topics.

8. süleyman daral business psychologist, co-founder of seedCom capital management Holding Category: growth/hacking

7. Franziska wessel Co-organiser and spokesperson of “Fridays for Future” berlin Category: activists/influencers Franziska Wessel is a co-organiser of the “Fridays for Future” protests in Berlin. Her clear mission: stopping global warming and saving the climate. Shortly after she joined the movement as a supporter, she was appointed as the social media manager and took on communication with the Berlin press. She performs the “job” as climate activists besides going to school – the 15-year-old goes to a high school in Berlin.

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Süleyman Daral, business psychologist, co-founder of SeedCom capital management Holding, an investment company for IT projects, has worked for more than 15 years as a trainer, coach and consultant in the segment of sales and in digital solutions. Recommendations marketing, digital transformation and emotional selling fall within his specialty. Süleyman Daral is one of the original co-founders of crea union Software GmbH and gathered solid experiences in the process in the area of software and app development.

As a studied business psychologist and active sales trainer, he can develop new and innovative solutions for trainings by combining both worlds. His current focus project is www.on-academy.de software with which the trainer can operate virtual academies. Moreover, “Sülo” is one of the four heads behind MyCo AG, which has made it its mission to support trainers in their digital transformation.

Trends

10. Christine kiefer Founder of ridE Capital & Fintech ladies, member of the fintech Council Category: accelerator VC Christine Kiefer is a fintech expert and the founder of RIDE Capital. RIDE Capital permits holding a digital co-ownership share in real estate. In addition, she is a member of the Fintech Council of the German Federal Ministry for Finance and, besides her entrepreneurial activities, she initiated Fintech Ladies, a network for women dealing with digitalisation in the financial sector. Before she changed to the start-up scene, Christine Kiefer worked for Goldman Sachs in London.

impulses

getting DigitaLLy StarteD with the right funDing the Federal ministry of Economics provides 137 million euro as funding for the further development of artificial intelligence in the next three years alone. moreover, there are further subsidies and measures such as the platform “mittelstand digital” (“digital smb”). we provide an overview of how small and medium-sized businesses can get suitable funding.

“Regardless of the industry or business size, every enterprise today is affected by digitalisation and networking, whether in production or service companies, commerce or trade,” the Federal Ministry of the Economy (BMWI) writes on its website. “Many businesses have not

recognised yet what opportunities digital technologies offer, starting from more efficient processes to higher customer satisfaction and development of new business models.” For the support of enterprises, there are plenty of funding programmes – industry experts speak Impulses

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of hundreds of funding possibilities from the states, the federal government and the European Union. It is not easy staying orientated and selecting the right funding programme. Therefore, many subsidy applications can only be filed by professional consultants on behalf of the businesses. These consultants can be found through the respective funding program.

This is how it also works in the “go-digital” funding programme, which targets small and medium-sized businesses of the commercial sector and trade. There are three modules available here: digitalised business processes, digital market development and IT security. The consultants take on the filing of the application and the consulting service, as well as billing and verification of the use of the funds.

New portal for SMB digitalisation The Federal Ministry of the Economy has set up a completely new portal for this topic at mittelstand-digital.de.

From there, it can be navigated to regional competence centres and “learning and demonstration factories” on a Germany map, practical examples can be called up and decentralised events can be found. In the project, 26 competence centres play a prominent role for small and medium-sized businesses: This is where people responsible at the businesses can get information and support for digitalisation. After all, businesses across all branches of industries and sectors of the economy are affected by it.

The keywords Industrie 4.0 (or the Internet of Things), networking and “Lot Size One” characterise the discussions on innovation. “It is about taking advantage of this transformation. As a leading national economy with vital industrial core, an excellently positioned small and medium-sized business sector, and many smart, innovative minds, Germany offers the best of conditions for a digitalised economy,” the BMWI says.

Allowances and loans for businesses There are diverse public funding programmes for digitalisation in Germany. Businesses can receive allowances of up to 100,000 euro and loans of up to 25 million euro.

Repayment allowances, liability exemptions or subordinated collateralisation make the programmes even more

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attractive. The website digitaleneuordnung.de lists 26 public funding options alone from the federal government and the states. There are various budgets available in addition to this at the European level. EU spending for the area of research, development and innovation amounts to 18 billion euro. The website foerderdatenbank.de gives a good overview of the all sponsorship budgets.

The ZIM is a relatively new budget: Market-oriented technological research and development projects of the innovative SMB sector in Germany is promoted by the BMWI with the Zentrales Innovationsprogramm Mittelstand [Central Innovation Programme for SMB] (ZIM). With a budget of 559 million euro, the ZIM is the largest subsidy programme to support innovative SMB in Germany.

Besides cooperation projects, the BMWI also supports individual research and development projects at specific businesses.

Another sponsorship budget has the bigger picture in mind: With the Innovationsprogramm für Geschäftsmodelle und Pionierlösungen [Innovations Programme for Business Models and Pioneering Solutions] (IGP), explicitly also non-technical innovations such as new digital business models, innovations in the cultural and creative business sector, as well as social innovations are to be supported. There are another 25 million euro available here over four years. “We concentrate specifically on young, small and medium-sized businesses in our new sponsorship programme,” explained the Federal Minister of the Economy, Peter Altmaier, at the launch.

European network simplifies access to public funding Small and medium-sized businesses with European and international orientation have come to the right address at the “Enterprise Europe Network”: The network supports and connects enterprises, universities and research institutions, among other, with the participation in European subsidy programmes, especially in the area of research and innovation, as well as in the improvement of their innovation management. Lots of further information and possibilities to contact experts are filed there sorted by federal states.

Nº08 | March 2020 • creditshelf

Impulses

The BMWI offers the best starting point for the topic of public funding. Below are links to the mentioned funding possibilities for the sake of easier orientation:

1. www.bmwi.de, enter “go-digital� in the search field there

2. www.foerderdatenbank.de, Portal of the

Federal Ministry of the Economy for sponsorship programmes and financial aid from the federal government, the states and the EU

3. www.mittelstand-digital.de, Portal of the Federal Ministry of the Economy with tools and information relating to digitalisation

4. www.een-deutschland.de, is the website of

the Enterprise Europe Network and the key to European subsidy programmes

5. www.zim.de, Zentrales Innovationsprogramm Mit-

telstand [Central Innovation Programme for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses] offers sponsorship to creative businesses for the realisation of ideas

Impulses

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“neXt LeveL Shit” in matterS Of eDuCatiOn the Entrepreneur University in neu-isenburg near Frankfurt shows how learning is done today: well-founded and relevant, while always entertaining at the same time.

Experienced mentors share their knowledge with willing founders, entrepreneurs or employees in video seminars, personal meetings or large events.

The founders of Entrepreneur University themselves are already unusual: At first, the signs were set for a professional football career of the twins Danny and Robin Söder. But at some point, this did not proceed and the brothers took a different route – they became entrepreneurs. Today, they offer coaching and events relating to founding, self-fulfilment

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Nº08 | March 2020 • creditshelf

and entrepreneurship at their Entrepreneur University. “The educational system can no longer handle the challenges of the free market economy today. It produces functioning employees – but how you do things right as a founder is not taught. This is precisely the gap that we want to fill,” says Robin Söder. learning from the pros The by now largest German platform for startups, entrepreneurs and personality development offers 66-day training programmes with titles such as Bachelor of Founding, Master of Online Marketing or Master of Sales. The contents are taught via online video seminars and are deepened regularly in one-on-one coaching calls with lecturers. But there are many coaching programmes nowadays. How do you stand out from them? “Theoretical knowledge alone is not worth a lot, it becomes truly useful only in practical implementation. This is why our participants are given exercises all the time to apply and deepen what they have learned.

Furthermore, our experts advise and control the implementation of the new knowledge in the student’s own start-up project, their own brand or own sales organisation,” explains SCO Danny Söder. Live events where participants and lecturers can have a face-to-face exchange are always used for the kick-off and as the closing event of the seminars. The mentors at

network

Entrepreneur University are exclusively themselves successful entrepreneurs, who pass on their tried and proven tactical moves and strategies and thereby help their “students” make their ideas a success. This is also why the programmes stay in good memory: seminars at Entrepreneur University always also offer a good measure of entertainment and stimulate as many senses as possible. large event as educational highlight The Söder twins also host the Founders’ Summit with their company. The two-day event is by now the largest conference for founders and entrepreneurs in this country with its 7,000 expected participants, 200 attending firms, 60 speakers and 9 stages. The event is all about knowledge, networking, inspiration and entertainment. For this, the international stars of the founders’ scene, athletes and musicians

get together again in April in Wiesbaden. In the “pitch area”, start-ups are courting investors, in global brands grant a glance behind the curtain in the master classes, and at the networking party, the work is topped by play with a great deal of fun and making new contacts. “The Founder Summit started in 2016 with about 350 visitors and the event is today the best known happening. But we still have more in reserve. With our offer, we want to communicate the know-how, which matters today to start up a successful and sustainable enterprise. We would like to strengthen global thinking and help making own ideas come to life instead of merely working for the dreams of other people,” Robin Söder gets to the gist of it.

Picture source: Entrepreneurs University

Network

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Stormy times ask for high innovative power For months, the development of the economic situation in Germany has been the topic getting the most attention. The forecasts change from downturn to hopes of upswing.

We spoke with experts of the economy and world of finance about the unsettling times and their assessment of the situation.

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Nº08 | March 2020 • creditshelf

Impulses

The German small and medium-sized business sector has found itself confronted with a large number of economic and political challenges in recent few months. However, not all industries are affected equally by this. Experts therefore speak of a “split economic cycle”. For example, there have not been any downturns in the construction industry or near-consumer service providers – there has even been significant expansion here in some cases. “The domestic economy on the whole is in good shape,” says Professor Dr Oliver Holtemöller, Chair of the Macroeconomics Department at the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research in Halle (IWH). “Demand of private households has supported the cyclical economy in the year 2019 because real incomes have risen,” Holtemöller adds. The expansive German financial policy also contributed to this.

Industries that are strongly dependent on exports such as mechanical and plant engineering are struggling tremendously in contrast. For example, they are suffering from the trade disputes between the USA and China. The upcoming Brexit as well is a burden on German industry.

The automotive industry is hit twice as hard: it not only struggles with the dilemma of punitive tariffs and globally declining vehicle sales, the automakers are at the same time facing a massive structural transformation triggered by the climate debate and the changeover to e-mobility.

In result, many companies report reduced working hours or terminations again and again.

Labour market stays stable Even if the automotive sector stays Germany’s problem child in 2020, a drop of the cyclical development is still not expected by the majority of economic experts. “We should be at the bottom of the valley. The signs continue to be set for growth in the service sector. Especially in healthcare and the educational sector additional jobs are being created. Through the addition of jobs in the social services segment, job cuts in the automotive sector and industry are compensated, so that the labour market on the whole stays stable,” explains Holtemöller. At this time, industry in Germany still has a high share of the overall economy in an international comparison. When there are problems here, this has an instant effect on the entire German economy. “In other industrialised national economies, such as the USA, the service sector and innovation share are considerably bigger,” says the expert of cyclical development Holtemöller. “It must be assumed that the share of industry in employment in Germany will fall further through automation and digitalisation,” Holtemöller assesses the development. The portion of services will rise in contrast.

Bethinking the domestic economy Besides the exporting countries England and the USA, China is also struggling as a sales market. Although the country still has a large portion of industry at this time, and high demand from Germany for industrial goods, the service portion is growing steadily there as well. What is more

is that economic growth in China is slowing down, so that sales of German companies exporting industrial goods to China are developing less dynamically. Holtemöller therefore recommends politics to further strengthen the domestic economy, and creating incentives and suitable framework conditions for investments in Germany. This way, the internationally criticised trade surplus would reduce as well. With a strengthened domestic market, the German national economy would also be less sensitive to global trade conflicts.

Customer networks of banks as a source for new services There is plenty of upheaval at the banks. Less export and thus less trade is reflected in lower income at the banks as well. One big problem is furthermore the low interest rates that have persisted for years now, because this eliminates one of the main sources of income. The world of finance is by now even moving in the area of negative interest rates. The credit institutions would like to pass this on to customers wherever possible and they are increasingly introducing fees such as account management fees.

To generate a profit, the financial institutions also try to cut their spending. Bodo Schaefer, business consultant for tier 1 financial institutions and CEO of CAPCO, sees these measures critically. According to his opinion, the financial institutions start in the wrong place: “Banks are primarily resetting the cost screw. There can be hardly any mention of sales targets or growth programmes but more of savings and job cuts.” Meanwhile the banks leave quite significant potential unused: the actual customer data. “Instead of concentrating on their core competence – banking service – the financial institutions are dealing with the

“The automotive sector will stay Germany’s problem child in 2020 as well.”

Prof. Dr Oliver Holtemöller, Chair of the Macroeconomics Department at the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research in Halle (IWH) Link to the current IWH forecast: www.iwh-halle.de/themen/konjunktur/

Impulses

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development of new apps,” says Schaefer. “At the same time, they can hardly compete with the big players Google, Apple and Amazon,” the consultant continues. Banks should therefore bethink their customer data again and launch new services relating to their customer base. The credit institutions know all account movements and they know, for example, when insurance premiums are debited. “This is where the banks could offer a reminder service to their customer for regular debits, so that the account has sufficient cover at the respective time,” the business consult explains. Also a kind of marketplace for craftspeople would be feasible.

“Banks have a huge customer database. This network could also be used for services far off the regular banking business,” Schaefer says. Another practical example: A bank customer buys a residential home – this transaction price is also reflected on the account. The primary bank could now refer useful service providers nearby from the customer network – anything from movers to insurers and painters. Additional income could be generated for the banks from the agent fee. Even if a large part of the customer has strong inertia and does not change the bank in spite of fees, new customers are looking for the bank with the best conditions. CAPCO consultant Bodo Schaefer therefore recommends credit institutions to expand the business with new customer services and thereby earn additional revenues. He does not consider fees to be in line with the times or competitive. alternative financing solutions are moving into the focus The cyclical weakening in 2019 is also seen in the rising number of bankruptcies according to the most recent study by the credit bureau creditreform. This ends the

“Account fees are not competitive.

Banks should launch new customer services.” bodo schaefer, CEo of CapCo

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Impulses

“Small and mediumsized businesses need financial wiggle room for the upcoming challenges.” dr mark währisch, CEo, creditshelf aG

decline of business bankruptcies, which have been persisting for ten years – which also affects many larger market actors. Companies that stand up to the economy in crisis and which, for example, want to invest in more growth or a restructuring to preserve competitiveness often require additional capital. The progressing digitalisation also requires much from businesses in terms of investment power. The low-interest policy of the ECB and tightened equity requirements for banks (Basel IV) present difficulties to small and medium-sized businesses at this time already, however, in particular as concerns securing short-term financing from their primary banks.

“Businesses are reliant on alternative financing forms in certain situations,” Dr Mark Währisch, member of the Board of Management of creditshelf, knows. “Credit institutions are often more reluctant and the criteria have become stricter. In some cases, time-consuming approval processes are in place in addition,” explains Währisch, who has the position of the Chief Risk Officer on the Management Board. This has not only long been a problem of small enterprises. Established automotive suppliers, too, are facing the problem that banks currently have a hard time providing the urgently needed capital equipment for required investments in the mobile structural change.

This is where alternative financing providers such as creditshelf come into play. “With our digital credit marketplace, we offer foremost small and medium-sized businesses a sufficient and quick alternative to get to the investment capital,” adds Währisch. In the end, small and mediumsized businesses need financial wiggle room especially in the currently stormy times to be able to advance and stay competitive.

Cooperation projects

mOre time anD better reSuLtS practical tools for effective time management at businesses a shortage of time causes stress, provokes errors and makes for dissatisfaction. if the targets set are not reached, an integrated approach offers solutions.

A disciplined handling of the working time is on the wishlist of many entrepreneurs and managers. Time as a factor of success is to be managed better and a dedicated work culture is to emerge. But how do you organise time and how can holistic approaches be implemented successfully at an enterprise? priorities determine how time and employee capacities are used Chaotic conditions can often be found at many small and medium-sized businesses: set dates are not kept and concentrated working is possible only with difficulty. Especially in small units, improvements can be implemented easily with the right approaches. Often a new, shared understanding can be reached quickly and changes for good can be realised easier with cleverly devised tools.

Priorities are managed in this by means of an integrated approach. The consistent setting of priorities helps working off the essential tasks that are relevant for reaching objectives or delegating them to employees, depending on

the competence requirements. The aim is to complete daily tasks within the regular working time that you set yourself or that the company determines, and to avoid stressful situations at your own fault relating to time, and to make it easier being satisfied with the daily result.

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Introduce a new, target-oriented linked processes at your business or in your department. The priorities management seminar module that you can use as many times as you like consists of a finished PowerPoint presentation and a train-the-trainer module. This seminar package makes it easy for you to conduct your own seminar before your employees. Customise the PowerPoint charts that are ideally matched to the topic with your company logo and adjust the individual seminar contents to your particular requirements. With the train-the-trainer module, you will be perfectly prepared and hold an exciting in-house priorities seminar.

practical tools Converting new insights permanently into customary behaviour requires will power, persistence and motivation. Das Goldene Wiesel publishers assists dedicated people in this process and provides the following tools for an effective self-management:

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annual priorities planner and workbook for priorities management Besides the proven calendars of customary annual planners, the annual priorities planner contains systematic daily, weekly and monthly units with planning modules for objectives, reflection and motivation. The corresponding workbook sharpens awareness for the key factor of success in time planning. Use these basic tools to develop the foundations for your personal priorities management and start handling your time with more discipline.

priorities management seminar

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signal and motivational products Set a sign in the office in a likeable manner and communicate your work status without a lot of words. The doorstopper with turntable for time setting signals your high-concentration phase and lets your colleagues and visitors know in an uncomplicated way from what time you are available again.

These publisher’s products and more management tools can be found at www.goldenewiesel.de Verlag Das Goldene Wiesel c/o Beranek Management GmbH Nachstetten 4, 86479 Aichen info@goldenewiesel.de Cooperation projects

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the CFo in the focus

granDSOn SCheme with the COmpany bOSS more and more German smb fall victim to fraudsters. what hustles they run and how you can systematically protect yourself from them In the CEO and CFO fraud, schemers pretend to be a boss and defraud their victims for millions. The global network of PwC believed that about 40 percent of the German enterprises have been at least once affected by this boss scheme in the past two years. In the summer of 2018, the FBI published a loss sum of 12.5 billion dollars for the USA. So, this fraud scheme is no small phenomenon. But how does it work?

There is the email scheme where a commercial employee receives an email from a management board member – at least it look just like it.

He is told in it to immediately transfer a larger sum to a specified account to ensure strategically important developments. Psychological and time pressure are central manipulation mechanisms here as in all fraud schemes. The money then often goes to foreign accounts where it disappears immediately. Since it is a wire transfer, there is also no possibility to get the money back in the normal case. The scheme is known by now at larger firms but 22

it is still working at small and medium-sized businesses.

Call from the German Chancellor’s office

The forgery fraud is a further option. This is where emails are sent that link to replicated bank pages where the login details are fetched.

Or the company receives a “second dunning” from a known supplier on imitated letterhead paper. Even our fraud expert Marie-Kristin Winter, who has tracked such scammers of bank pages, told me: “There are people that I would have also fallen for. This is because scammers always invent new stories and very skilfully manipulate their victims.”

What works instead at large firms is contacts with the political sphere – the Chancellor scheme: The CEO or CFO receive a call from the German Chancellor’s Office: a vessel had been hijacked before Somalia. For the ransom payment to free the crew it was necessary to transfer several millions abroad. The Chancellor’s Office could of course not do so on its own for reason of the sate but it would surely reHelp against scammers fund the amount afterwards. The trick worked But what can you do against the CxO fraud? and it will work again – in the same way as The TTT rule helps: think, talk, train! In case the grandson trick works with senior citizens: of unusual incidents, anyone should first a fraud scheme where callers say they are a question the situation. If there are direct supposed family member who is havinstructions, a question in return ing an emergency. This is bearing helps – meaning, talking with the in mind that con artists find the supposed source. Many frauds “better ask one decisive starting point time and time can be prevented by training. again to cause pity or undertoo many than Marie-Kristin always says: “Betmine well protected systems. one time too little!” ter ask one time too many than And they have optionally many one time too little!” So, when the attempts to find the company next unusual incident occurs, rewhere a person gets weak. After all, member this sentence and apply the the fewest of fraudsters are found and TTR rule systematically at your company. sentenced.

The CFO in the focus

Cooperation projects

bLOCkChain – teChnOLOgy Of the future of laundry machines and blockchains

and can be implemented much more affordably. Since many analogous intermediate steps are eliminated, the blockchain can handle transactions, which take days at this time, within a matter of minutes.

This way, digital stocks can be placed directly in the future and not through an issue procedure. By means of so-called smart contracts, automated interest payments can be initiated for bonds or derivatives can be mapped.

Smart contracts are computer protocols, which can map and execute contracts automatically. The transaction costs are thereby substantially reduced.

Pilot projects show that the new architecture consisting of blockchain and smart contracts can work. DAX-listed companies such as Daimler, Siemens or Continental have already used the technology successfully. It is currently also being worked on blockchain platforms with the promise of simplifying the processes even more. regulatory framework conditions required

Imagine the following scenario: You come home from the gym and unpack your gym bag. You take out your sports clothing and put it in the laundry machine. Push the button, wait, take it out, let it dry – simple, isn’t it?

Chang Ha-joon, scientist at the University of Cambridge, says: The laundry machine has changed the world.

The reason: After the invention of the laundry machine in the 1960s, people in industrialised countries – especially women – had more free time on their hands. This, according to Chang Ha-joon, had accelerated the emancipation of woman.

Similar to the laundry machine, the blockchain could also change the world and become normalcy. But what is the blockchain actually? And what is its potential for the capital market? And can it wash the laundry, too? the basics of blockchain technology The blockchain technology is a special form of electronic database. It is based on digital data blocks and is particularly well suited to map transactions. Information such as bank transfers or securities are encrypted, stored digitally and integrated in data blocks. New blocks are attached to old ones. The data chain keeps growing this way.

The particularity: Everyone can download a copy of a blockchain on their computer and this way connect with a worldwide computer network. The chain is then stored on thousands of computers around the globe. As soon as someone wants to enter something in the blockchain, they must first authenticate the entry and be approved by the network. Since each block in the data chain is unchangeable and checked by hundreds of computers, transactions are considered to be practically forgeryproof. Blockchains can therefore do without a central control instance. blockchain for the capital market The blockchain technology can change the financial system from the root up. Many process steps become faster Cooperation projects

This much for theory. In practice, blockchain meets legal limits more often than not. In Germany, for example, it is not possible issuing stocks without a certificate on paper.

It is crucial now to set the rails right. What is important here: safety, transparency, market integrity and liability must also be assured in a securities system that is based on blockchain.

The federal government is already moving in the right direction with its blockchain strategy. It make an inroad into German law to allow electronic securities and partly eliminate issuance on paper. According to the plan, debentures are soon to do without paper. National solo attempts, however, are not sensible in the long term. Since a rag rug of national rules will not be viable for the future in international competition, a European solution is needed.

Conclusion Leaving aside all the potential: the blockchain is no miracle technology. Current problems such as missing scalability, high electricity consumption, technical effort and legal obstacles must be solved first.

However, blockchains can be used very well for doing laundry. IBM and Samsung have already implemented a project where a laundry machine orders and pays for detergent on its own using blockchain and smart contract.

Unfortunately, the laundry still has to be put into the drum manually. Whether the blockchain, as the analogue laundry machine has done in the past, will revolutionise the world remains to be seen.

Contact donato di dio Junior Associate for Capital Markets Policy Deutsches Aktieninstitut www.dai.de 23

Status: Not trustworthy The media have lately reported a lot about the Social Credit System (SCS). But still, many companies are left in the dark when it comes to the everyday effects on the foreign business in China. According to a survey by the German Chamber of Commerce in China (Foreign Trade Chamber for Greater China), almost 70 percent of the German companies with offices there are not familiar with the system.

While China is opening its doors more and more for international players, it simultaneously wants to control the environment of the market actors as comprehensively as possible with the introduction of the so-called social credit system (SCS). The system is to create transparency and apply equally for domestic as well as foreign firms. But how are European company actually affected by the SCS in concrete terms?

Pretty strongly, is the predominant assessment 24

Nº08 | March 2020 • creditshelf

of most foreign trade experts. It is all the more surprising that many of the companies have not even treated the subject actively yet. Meanwhile the SCS is to take force bindingly as early as in late 2020.

The rating system applies exclusively to companies that are registered in China. On new registration, it starts at zero, then all data of all kind of authorities such as the tax office, customs office, traffic authority and environmental agency are collected and rated with a score. In the process, not only the behaviour of the companies themselves affects the score – but also that of their legal representatives and management, as well as business partners comes into focus. Consequently, businesses are forced to continuously check and monitor their employees and individual links in the supply chain. At the latest when it comes to monitoring employees – also outside of the workplace

Trends

– European companies should meet their limits for reasons of data protection. It is essential to find practicable solutions here.

Potential advantages from a good rating

Transparency can help initiating business relationships

The Social Credit System in brief yy The system, which has been in testing since 2014, is to become binding for private persons and businesses – under a continuous process of optimisation (a fixed date has not been set) yy The core element is a central database that bundles information of authorities (e.g. potential tax evasion, violations of environmental regulations, product quality, credit rating, personal relations, political behaviour) yy For a multinational corporation, an estimated 300 requirements figure into the rating yy The analysis of the gathered data is done using algorithms, after which a score is set yy A good rating results in awards, a poor rating can entail sanctions yy In case of a violation of existing laws or rules, the company will be blacklisted

Experts believe the increasing equality of opportunity between foreign and domestic firms is an advantage of the new SCS. This is, as mentioned in the beginning, because the system does not differentiate between the origins of the businesses. Competition on the Chinese market could therefore become fairer in the future. Competition has been criticised frequently in the past for missing fairness. However, experts do not rule out that Chinese companies might enjoy a home team advantage for fulfilment of the requirements – and even it is because of the language prerequisites to clarify the fine points. Another positive aspect: the rating makes all companies more transparent so that the SCS can also be regarded as a confidence-building measure. A helpful instrument, therefore, when it a new business relationship is being initiated.

Social Credit System – what needs to be done?

If the compliance departments of European firms have not dealt with the issue, they should urgently start doing so because the registration process is very elaborate and requires some preparations. Companies should take a very close look at all requirements for a high rating and check if they fulfil these at present. If gaps or even absent compliance with the Chinese regulations are discovered, it is crucial to counteract this and optimise the respective internal or external processes swiftly.

yy Low tax rates yy Better credit conditions yy Easier market access yy Access to public contracts

There is no place for panic, however, since many requirements already exist today and are already fulfilled by internationally operating companies. What is new in particular, is the central integration of information and the data exchange between authorities, so that sanctions can be enforced more quickly. One of the bigger challenges for businesses operating on the Chinese market will be reaching or securing a positive score. If a business is affected by a poor rating, it can take actions against this. To do so, it must submit a “Credit Rescue Commitment Letter” and possibly further materials.

European companies should get comfortable with the thought that competitiveness on the Chinese market no longer solely depends on their own strategy and product range. From now on, also the political and social behaviour of all participants decides on the business success in the land of the rising sun.

Companies can contact the Foreign Trade Chamber for Greater China if they have questions relating to German-Chinese business relations: https://china.ahk.de/de/

Possible sanctions in case of a poor rating yy More frequent inspections by authorities (e.g. customs inspections) yy Additional audits yy Problems in the application for licenses yy Obstacles in financial matters, e.g. access to loans yy Exclusion from public tender invitations yy Public brandishing yy Penalty payments yy Travel restrictions for company staff members

Trends

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a glimpse behind the scenes

SpOrtSmanShip neeDS SuppOrt creditshelf wants to sponsor, help shape and make a contribution to society. the commitment for this goes beyond purely economic or financial topics – as in the case of the sponsorship of the handball club HsG Freiburg.

Since its founding, our fintech has given a helping hand to small and medium-sized businesses and has supported them in the modern arrangement of their financing. Perhaps our strongest motivation in this: the thought of networking, which has to do a lot with communication, cooperation and partnership. This of course also includes projects and clubs outside of the economic and financial world making an important social and civic contribution. Sports is a central link between people of diverse origins and backgrounds – which is why clubs such as the Freiburg handball club deserve special attention and assistance.

a match of the team in Freiburg on occasion, often accompanied by his 10-year-old daughter who herself plays at HSG in the E-youth team.

Where does the entrepreneur very personally see the connection between sports and his work at a stock-exchange listed fintech? “creditshelf’s work premises include, among other, interaction as partners, reliability and fairness.

These values are also found in the sport of handball. This is why we go very well together here,” Bartsch finds.

Commitment for the sport of handball The sponsorship of HSG Freiburg covers the 1st men’s team and the women’s team that has advanced to the second national league – congratulations once again at this juncture. We are already supporting the athletes in the current 2019/2020 season and we will continue our commitment in the next season as well.

Frankfurt and Freiburg Why do we, as a stock-exchange listed fintech of Frankfurt exactly support a sports club in Freiburg im Breisgau? Like many times, a personal link is at the very beginning here, as well: this is, the member of the board and founding partner of creditshelf, Dr Daniel Bartsch, was born in Freiburg. He has always stayed true to the city, region and the club. Bartsch, who himself used to be an enthusiastic handball player in the regional league, enjoys watching 26

A glimpse behind the scenes

SuCCeSS thrOugh netwOrk

dates and events

SuCCeSS thrOugh netwOrking

Events with creditshelf as the (co-) organiser Finanz-talk: digitale mittelstandsfinanzierung (Finance talk: digital smE Financing) If you are interested in a qualified exchange between fintechs, representatives of established banks and financial experts, please make a note of these dates in 2020:  • Hamburg: 04.03., 27.05., 23.09.2020 • Berlin: 05.03., 28.05., 24.09.2020

digital and nonetheless in a personal exchange with our customers and partners – to us, this does not cancel each other out. Quite the opposite: we can explain the possibilities of our digital financing for small and medium-sized businesses in all depth only by speaking with you directly. and this is the only way you get the chance to discover the numerous benefits of our products. take advantage of our personal consulting and meet with us at one of the following events:

• Stuttgart: 11.03., 17.06., 14.10.2020 • Munich: 10.03., 19.06., 15.10.2020 • Düsseldorf: 01.04., 24.06., 04.11.2020 • Frankfurt am Main: 02.04., 25.06., 05.11.2020 Moderator: Carsten Maybach, FINYOND Capital Media partner: Markt und Mittelstand Our partners are: auxmoney GmbH and iwoca Deutschland GmbH.

trade fairs Convent mittelstandstage (smb days Convention): nationwide series of events  �• 5. Mittelstandsforum Nordrhein-Westfalen (SMB Forum North Rhine-Westphalia), Gelsenkirchen, 07/05/2020 • 16. Norddeutscher Unternehmertag (16th North German Entrepreneur Congress), Hamburg, 19/05/2020 • Mittelstandstag Rheinland-Pfalz (SMB Day Rhineland-Palatine), Mainz, 04/06/2020 • Mittelstandsforum Schleswig-Holstein (SMB Forum Schleswig-Holstein), Kiel, 11/06/2020 • 17. Mittelstandsforum BW (17th SMB Forum BadenWürttemberg), Stuttgart, 09/07/2020 • 19. Mittelstandstag FrankfurtRheinMain (SMB Congress FrankfurtRheinMain), Frankfurt/Main, 12/11/2020 • 17. Mitteldeutscher Unternehmertag (17th Central German Entrepreneur Congress), Leipzig, 30/11/2020 16. “structured Finance” congress Structured Finance is the congress fair for modern corporate finance with the highest CFO presence in Germany.

Financial decision-makers in SMEs and listed companies enter into an exchange with providers of modern financing models.

We invite you to engage with us at the 16th “structured Finance” congress on 25 and 26/11/2020.

Where: ICS - International Congress Centre Stuttgart When: 25 -26/11/2020 Dates and events

The finance talks will take place at the international full-service law firm Taylor Wessing, Isartorplatz 8, 80331 Munich. creditshelf general shareholders’ meeting The general shareholders’ meeting of creditshelf AG will take place on 29/04/2020.

External events You will meet creditshelf as a speaker, exhibitor and participant on site at the following events: We are looking forward to meeting you in person:  • Frühjahrsfachtagung KMU-Berater (Spring Symposium for SMB Consultants), Frankfurt/Main, 20/03/2020

• Founders Summit, Wiesbaden, 18 and 19/04/2020 • AltFi London Summit, London, 18/05/2020 • NOAH Berlin Conference, Berlin, 04 and 05/06/2020 • LendIt Fintech Europe, London, 23 and 24/09/2020 • Deutscher Steuerberatertag (German Tax Consultant Day), Wiesbaden, 18 to 20/10/2020 • DKM, Leitmesse für die Finanz- und Versicherungsbranche, (Lead Trade Fair of the Finance and Insurance Industry) Dortmund, 27 to 29/10/2020 • AltFi Global Summit: tba • Nachfolgerforum 2020 (Successor forum 2020), tba 27

Conferences with premium character “We are a manufacture for premium conferences,” Detlev Leisse, CEO of Gesellschaft für Kongresse und Veranstaltungsmanagement mbH, says in introducing his company. No mass-market products but contents devised with value, designed stage sets, and a manually maintained database – anyone working with Convent will soon notice the difference from all other event organisers.

Convent Kongresse GmbH has become established over the past 20 years with conference formats for the German small and medium-sized business sector and for

decision-makers of corporate groups. Since 2014, the company has been a 100-percent subsidiary of ZEIT Verlagsgruppe in Hamburg and it organises about 60 B2B conferences per year in Germany with more than 25,000 participants. With around 20 regional entrepreneurs’ days, the company is leading in this market segment. Besides the large economic centres such as Stuttgart, Munich, Hamburg or Frankfurt, small and medium-sized businesses also get together at regional conferences such as in Wuppertal, Mannheim or Augsburg. At the centre of the conferences are for all

questions that are relevant to (familymanaged) enterprises, which includes the topics of financing, succession, digitalisation and personnel.

Thrilling encounters, controversial discussions and new insights – Convent always manages bringing together the brightest heads of our time. More information about the conferences; venues and dates in the year 2020 can be found at www.convent.de.

Looking back creditshelf looks back on some great informative and entertaining events. Not only have we been a guest but also an award winner. We are particularly proud of receiving the Altfi Award 2019 in the category “Direct Lending Platform of the year”, which was presented to us in December 2019 in London. We are happy to take a look back with you at the events that we have attended.

German Tax Adviser Day on 22/10/2019 at the Maritim Hotel Berlin: Sebastian Seibold (Head of Business Development, creditshelf AG)

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18. German SMB Day of the Convent series on 05/11/2019 at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange: Laura Gabriel (Marketing Manager, creditshelf AG), Marie-Kristin Winter (Marketing Manager, creditshelf AG) (f.l.t.r.)

Nº08 | March 2020 • creditshelf

Opening Bells for the 70th anniversary of F.A.Z. newspaper on 31/10/2019 at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange: Timucin Güzey (Managing Director, Mindshare GmbH), Laura Gabriel (Marketing Manager, creditshelf AG), Ingo Müller (General Manager of Advertising Markets and Media Solutions, F.A.Z.), Birgit Hass (Head of Marketing and Communication, creditshelf AG) (f.l.t.r.)

Dates and events

German Equity Forum on 27/11/2019 at the Sheraton Frankfurt Airport Hotel and Conference Center: l. photo: Birgit Hass (Head of Marketing and Communication, creditshelf AG), Nathalie A. Richert (Vice President, Pre-IPO & Capital Markets, Deutsche Börse AG) (f.l.t.r.)

EURO FINANCE WEEK on 18/11/2019 at the Congress Center Messe Frankfurt:

r. photo: Panel on the subject: "From growth financing to IPO innovative ideas need fresh capital”, Patrick Kalbhenn (Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse, Xetra-Handel, Deutsche Börse Venture Network, Xetra-Gold FinTech Hub), Martin Schmeisser (Head of Equity & Debt Capital Markets, ICF BANK AG), Dr Martin Steinbach (Head of IPO and Listing Services, Partner, IPO Leader EMEIA and GSA at EY), Dr Tim Thabe (board member and founding partner, creditshelf AG) (f.l.t.r.)

Marie-Kristin Winter (Marketing Manager, creditshelf AG), Florian Weinkauf (Firmenkundenbetreuer, creditshelf AG)

EURO FINANCE WEEK on 19/11/2019 at the Congress Center Messe Frankfurt: Laura Gabriel (Marketing Manager, creditshelf AG), Philipp Stollmayer (Firmenkundenbetreuer, creditshelf AG)

Structured Finance on 27/11/2019 at the ICS International Congress Center Stuttgart: Philipp Stollmayer (Corporate Customer Advisor, creditshelf AG) (l.), Dr Daniel Bartsch (COO, creditshelf AG) (r.), photo source: FRANKFURT BUSINESS MEDIA GmbH/B. Hartung/A. Langen/A. Varnhorn

German Equity Forum on 25/11/2019 at the Sheraton Frankfurt Airport Hotel and Conference Center:

STEP AWARD on 02/12/2019 in Königstein:

r. photo: Monica-Aurea Herodek (Director Fixed Income, Oddo Seydler Bank AG), Anna Bertele (Publishing Manager for Capital Market Media, Going Public Media AG), Birgit Hass (Head of Marketing and Communication, creditshelf AG), Svenja Liebig (Financial Editor, Going Public Media AG) (f.l.t.r.)

Birgit Hass (Head of Marketing and Communication, creditshelf AG), Fabian Brügmann (CFO, creditshelf AG), Anna Schönfeld (Marketing Assistant, creditshelf AG), Marie-Kristin Winter (Marketing Manager, creditshelf AG), Laura Gabriel (Marketing Manager, creditshelf AG), Shima Naghdali (Marketing, creditshelf AG) (f.l.t.r.)

Berlin Restructuring Forum on 28/11/2019 at the Ellington Hotel Berlin:

16. Central German Entrepreneurs’ Day on 09/12/2019 at the Westin Hotel Leipzig:

AltFi Award Presentation on 16/12/2019 in London:

Dr Daniel Bartsch (founding partner and COO, creditshelf AG)

Philipp Stollmayer (Corporate Customer Advisor, creditshelf AG)

Dr Tim Thabe (CEO and founding partner, creditshelf AG)

l. photo: Dr Tim Thabe (CEO and founding partner, creditshelf AG), Fabian Brügmann (CFO, creditshelf AG) (f.l.t.r.)

Dates and events

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have an OpiniOn, Share an OpiniOn

dr martin steinbach, Head of ipo and listing services, partner, ipo leader EmEia and Gsa at Ernst & young GmbH which criteria does a small and medium-sized business need to meet before it can seriously consider a going public?

Investors expect a strong equity story in a going public, as well as an experienced management team and the capacity to fulfil capital markets regulations, the so-called IPO readiness. But firstly, the key question arises for the firm whether or not a going public even makes sense at all. Accordingly, we evaluate together with our customers in an assessment to what extent an IPO supports the operative strategy, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of being listed at the stock exchange and identify the IPO readiness for the next steps toward the IPO. www.ey.com

Experts talk about the latest topics from the world of finance

katharina starlay, beraterin, trainerin and “outfitters” for corporate appearances, member of the deutsche knigge-rat

iris behrens, managing director, die Unternehmervertrauten (the business Confidants) – a brand of targecy GmbH

is there still a dress code for the office?

ms behrens, why is the most efficient way to reach small and medium-sized businesses a detour?

Because entrepreneurs can hardly be reached directly. It is hard to guess from the outside if there is a requirement and many small and medium-sized businesses do not have a very open mind when it comes to advice from the outside. The most efficient approach leads through the advisers of their trust: the tax adviser or lawyer. They see which special situations and financing needs arise at entrepreneur’s end. This is why we have given our very successful medium the name “Die Unternehmervertrauten” (The Business Confidants). www.unternehmervertraute.de www.dealsourcing.de

30

The boundaries between professional and private life become blurrier by the minute through digitalisation: we increasingly get to be ourselves on the job – and in reverse, as well as during time-off, we get to be semi-professional... for example, in the interest of house advertising and the credibility of our mission.

Dress codes help us slip into the right role and do what is coming up at the moment. Instead of rigid dress code rules, teams should develop the language of clothing as appropriate for the brand so as to reach their customers. www.stilclub.de www.starlay.de

Nº08 | March 2020 • creditshelf

impulses

bodo schaefer, CEo at CapCo online corporations such as Google, amazon and apple are now also installing payment solutions. is this a plight or a blessing for traditional banks?

A blessing because it shows traditional banks with no holds barred that they are about to lose the direct wire to the customer to the new giants. Instead of this, they have to concentrate on new areas of income outside of payment transactions – especially on the still largely unused treasure trove of customer data. There will no longer be a “one-size fits all”. Cooperation is the formula of success for the future. Competitors must focus on their individual strengths and develop their own exciting ecosystem for the customer jointly with partner companies. www.capco.com

Julian Grigo, area manager digital banking & Financial services; bitkom the image is associated with banks of being stuck in the analogue world. rightly so?

Unfortunately, there are still plenty of banks that believe they can somehow sit out digitalisation. They expect that even though the lives of their customers will digitalise in all areas but that their wishes in relation to their banks won’t. However, there are luckily a lot of banks already, which are updating their infrastructure and especially also their mind set. These cooperate with other banks, fintechs and digital companies to pick up the pace in digitalisation. All banks should use the opportunities of open banking and realign themselves – there are plenty of shining examples – also in Germany! www.bitkom.org

Impulses

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