Greetings to the FounderNavi 2024/25

Entrepreneurial freedom and responsibility: Your independence strengthens our country! Benefit from advice and networks for your future.

This article is part of the special feature GründerNavi – for founders and young companies

Dear entrepreneurs,

We live in a time in which many supposed certainties are becoming uncertainties. We find ourselves in a "new normal," in a state of multiple crises, we are feeling the effects of two wars in our vicinity, and we are also facing complex transformation processes. In these uncertain times, you have taken a step that supposedly promises even more risk, even more gamble, and even more uncertainty: you have become self-employed. Because you had the courage to see not just problems, but opportunities and solutions. In doing so, you have undertaken a change of perspective, for which I would like to thank you first and foremost: Your courage for the future is exactly what this country needs right now!

But I also believe that we cannot simply stop at this shift in perspective: We need to adopt a completely new standpoint when talking about entrepreneurship – to make it clear that it's not just about being self-employed, but also about being self-determined: Entrepreneurship means, first and foremost, freedom, self-realization, and fulfillment. And it is responsibility: for oneself, but also for trainees and employees, for one's own region, and for the future of our country.

One thing is clear: For taking on this responsibility, you deserve significantly more appreciation and recognition than you currently receive—especially from politicians. Bureaucracy, with its countless documentation, verification, and reporting requirements, is a prime example of why we need a true shift in our understanding of entrepreneurship: We need to have less distrust and more confidence in ourselves.

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Because we need significantly more young people like you – in the skilled trades as a whole, but especially as young master craftsmen and women who dare to take the step into self-employment, start their own business, or take over. The 125.000 businesses that will be looking for successors in the next five years are home to decades of expertise, customer relationships, and jobs and training opportunities that we must preserve and develop. These businesses are an important factor for the future of the skilled trades, but also for our location.

For this reason, the Handwerksfamilie (trade family) is at your side: through exchanges in volunteer networks and with free consultations. But also through our political commitment to trades, which ranges from the guild in your region to the Central Association of German Skilled Crafts in Berlin. Everywhere, we consistently advocate for your interests and ensure that the truly decisive factor for the future in Germany is strengthened: namely, self-employed business owners.

Because that, dear reader, is what you are: You are the ones who keep our country going, because you implement transformation, shape the future, and assume responsibility. And because you have the courage to determine your own future and ours.

Your
Jörg Dittrich
President of the Central Association of German Crafts

DHB now also available digitally! Simply click here and register for the digital German Crafts Journal (DHB)!