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The engineer and business information technology specialist Siegfried K\u00f6hler has always worked internationally. The programme \u201cFit for Business with Russia\u201d helped bring about a major business shift: He moved his software sales business from the US to Russia and founded a start-up that converts golf course pumps for use in shipyards and factories in Moscow and St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n
While others his age are entering retirement, Siegfried K\u00f6hler has been busy tapping into new business sectors in the eastern European market, working on new technology and software ideas \u2013 and, as a side project, even selling innovations like a diver navigation system, which was developed by Russian programmers, to the German market. He can thank his participation in the programme \u201cFit for Business with Russia\u201d for his latest contacts and customers. \u201cWithout a doubt a five-star programme\u201d, is how the multifaceted and international entrepreneur sums up his experience, and lists the successes he has achieved through the exchange programme: \u201cDuring our visit to Russia in 2018 we went to a shipyard where I was able to establish initial contacts for my high-pressure pump system. I had already started converting pumps that were used to maintain golf courses with the help of two subcontractors in Germany. The water stream was ideal not just for getting perfectly green grass, but also for removing incrustations from ship walls, and even cutting metal and ceramic materials. I was also able to use my business presentations in Russia to persuade another construction firm to use my pumps for concrete restoration.\u201d And, at a group visit to the regional trade fair in St. Petersburg, K\u00f6hler met business representatives from St. Petersburg who work at a Hamburg officer. They were interested in selling Russian software, which he now obtains directly from Russian programmers. Before that he had been importing the software through the Siegfried K\u00f6hler produces his IT products in cooperation with Russian entrepreneurs. US, although the programmes there had usually been developed beforehand in Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been self-employed for over 30 years and have learned that as an entrepreneur you\u2019ve always got to have multiple sources of income to safely withstand a crisis,\u201d says Siegfried K\u00f6hler. In the 1970s he was one of the first to import software from Canada and the US. For instance, the mechanical engineer and business information technology specialist introduced software (DADiSP) that can analyse greater volumes of data in order to calculate seismographic vibrations for forensic speech recognition or for the safety of ICE and Transrapid routes and for Airbus to the German-speaking regions of Europe.<\/p>\n To sum up: \u201cI\u2019m more than happy about the contacts in Russia \u2013 they have really expanded my horizons. Without the \u201cFit for Business with Russia\u201d programme\u2019s organisers and instructors I wouldn\u2019t have been able to do it. What really impressed me was the willingness of the Russians to help out and the open and honest discussions!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The engineer and business information technology specialist Siegfried K\u00f6hler has always worked internationally. The programme \u201cFit for Business with Russia\u201d helped bring about a major business shift: He moved his software sales business from the US to Russia and founded a start-up that converts golf course pumps for use in shipyards and factories in Moscow and St. … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mp.aleph-consult.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Siegi-K\u00f6hler.jpg\")
Crisis-Proof Thanks to Multiple Streams of Income
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\u201cThere are very good programmers in Russia. So why sell software from the US that was initially developed in Russia \u2013 why not just buy it directly from there yourself ?\u201d is what K\u00f6hler was thinking when he applied for the Manager Training Programme. He established direct contacts through the GIZ to Russian programmers and entrepreneurs and now, for instance, he sells an underwater navigation system for divers in Germany that was developed in Russia. And more products are already in the planning: like measuring instruments that detect whether people are inside shipping containers or smoke detectors that can detect fires earlier than conventional models.<\/p>\n