INSIGHT ... FOCUS ... CONNECT SWISS BREAD, MOBILE APPS AND TEMPORARY TATTOOS (AD)VENTURES OF SWISS ENTERPRENEURS ABROAD Delicious breakfast at the Swiss Bakery, Q&A session at Swissnex in Bangalore, and Swissmiss’s studio in Brooklyn, New York Nexus (meaning connec- Getting to know Swiss entrepreneurs was the method – freezing the bread. Consequently, the clients tion, tie, link) is the joint one aspect all three on-site seminars had in common. benefit from the possibility to have fresh bread at their newsletter of the three Whether˚ China, India or the USA – each country disposal at any time. Bachelor student semi- attracted courageous people who made their innova- nars Insight China, Focus tive ideas become reality. The extraordinary stories of India and connectUS. It three start-ups and their founders in Beijing, «IN THE INITIATION PHASE OF features news, highlights Bangalore and New York are told here. A BUSINESS YOU NEED TO and information about HAVE DIFFERENT TYPES OF the Preparatory Swiss Bakery - Successful PRODUCTS. LIKE THAT YOU Seminars (in the first Enterpreneurship in China CAN FIND OUT WHAT THE issue) and the On-site Beat Müller started out as a pastry chef in Glarus. CUSTOMER PREFERENCES Seminars which bring After working in Hong Kong at the Sheraton, the ARE.» – BEAT MÜLLER, SWISS BAKERY together high calibre Airport Zurich and the Hilton in Bangkok, he organisations, experts eventually settled in Beijing. This is where, ten years The product range of the bakery includes bread and and professionals with ago, he discovered a niche market and founded the pastries as well as chocolates. Most of the products participating students "Swiss Bakery". are adapted to the Chinese market, as the taste of the and lecturers from local customers differs very much from the Swiss various FHNW schools. He realized that there were clients in China who customers' taste. Mr Müller explains that having Further news and infor- appreciated naturally produced Swiss bread, without different types of products is extremely important in mation can be found on any artificial ingredients. The success of the bakery the initiation phase of a new business, as it takes some the individual websites. lies in the specialization of the natural preservation time to find out what the customer preferences are. IN THIS ISSUE FEBRUARYMAY 2014 2014 1 Swiss Enterpreneurs Abroad 3 Sustainable Dirt Cheap Buildings and a Magic Bus 4 EXPAT - Beyond Management 5 Zurich Meets New York 6 Swiss Embassies The entrepreneur gained much of his experience until you run out of cash. Here, your money lasts five 7 Universities through hard working jobs. He mentioned working 14 times longer, so making mistakes is cheaper”, 8 Integrating Employees hours a day during 6 days a week at the Hilton in he says. • KH 9 Sustainability at Geberit Bangkok: “Jobs where you have to bite through to 10 Public Awareness in China survive are the best management schools”. The Swiss A Swissmiss Goes NYC 11 Growth and Expansion baker also points out that failures belong to almost In the United States it is common to leave a child’s 12 Interview with the Founder of every entrepreneur: “What is crucial is to learn from birthday party with a give-away bag, often including Insight China the mistakes you make along the way”. temporary tattoos. Tina Roth Eisenberg a.k.a. swiss- 13 Local Experience / miss, was highly disappointed in the badly designed Integrating Women The entrepreneurial mind-set of Beat Müller and his temporary tattoos that her daughter brought home 14 Cross-Country Collaboration incessant ambition impressed the members of the from birthday parties, so she decided to change it. In 15 Alumni Story delegation and motivated some of the students to July 2011, swissmiss launched the start-up company 16 Swiss-Style in India / consider establishing their own business in China in Tattly online, and thanks to her online popularity and Election's Impact on Business the future. Swiss Bakery perfectly illustrated that a professional designers and illustrators in her team, it 17 Swiss Reporters good idea needs the right place and the right was an immediate success. Amongst other well- 18 Don't Be That Guy positioning to stand out from competitors. designed temporary tattoos, Tattly also creates 19 Working With One's Own Kind / • TA / AU / MS / AB customized designs for the Swiss Consulate. Who Finances A Start Up? 20 Sustainability in Banking Backpacking to India 22 Review to Launch a Social Network App Three years ago, Jonathan Maim, short Jon, and his wife sold everything in Switzerland and went to Bangalore with not much more than their backpacks EDITORIAL STAFF and the dream to start their own business. STAFF WRITERS Eileen Moira Lang EML With the vision of giving community managers the Kim Hunziker KH possibility to reach their members “in their pockets” as «I HAVE THIS PERSONAL RULE Tamara Altermatt TA Jon calls it, MINSH offers a special social network app. THAT WHEN I CATCH MYSELF Dominik Troxler DT “The problem with the famous social networks is that COMPLAINING ABOUT SOME- CONTRIBUTORS thousands of people compete to be seen among the THING OVER AND OVER, I NEED Geneviève Schärer GS same audience”. So, if you want your message to be TO EITHER DO SOMETHING EDITOR received by your own specific community, it is best to ABOUT IT OR LET IT GO.» Brigitte Sprenger send it through your own app. But the road to success – TINA ROTH EISENBERG, SWISSMISS was not always easy –especially HR aspects confronted PHOTOGRAPHY Jon with several challenges. “It took us about six Sandro Bernasconi months to get all the paper work done, so that we were Growing up in the small village Speicher in Appenzell Tobias Hofer finally allowed to hire employees”. Also, the Swiss Ausserrhoden, Switzerland, Tina Roth Eisenberg Dominik Troxler understanding of quality is different. “Here I had to put realised in 1999 – after her design studies in Geneva some energy into making the team understand what and Munich – that more adventures awaited her in the CREATIVE my expectations towards good quality were”, Jon Big Apple, New York City. She gained a lot of CREATIVE DIRECTOR explained. experience working at several prominent design Antonio Canarini firms, and started sharing her inspirations via her canarini.communications gmbh, blog “swissmiss” in 2005. Today, her blog has over Basel one million views every month. After her first child, DESIGNERS «IN INDIA, YOU CAN MAKE FIVE her entrepreneurial instincts pushed through; she Sandro Bernasconi TIMES MORE MISTAKES, WHICH currently organizes a monthly breakfast lecture Dominik Troxler IS ESSENTIAL FOR A START- series through her organization “CreativeMornings”, UP.» – JON MAIM, MINSH runs the to-do app “TeuxDeux”, which was originally only intended for internal purposes but gained much However, the so-called silicon valley of India has its popularity through its simplicity, and founded the advantages as well. The cost of living is very low, which company “Tattly”. Next to these projects, she founded is perfect for the situation of a start up. According to and runs the co-working space “Studiomates” (read Jon, it was essential to be able to make a lot of more about Studiomates on page 19). • EML mistakes, try new things and then go back and improve 2 it. “In Switzerland, you are maybe able to do this once FEBRUARYMAY 2014 2014 SUSTAINABLE DIRT CHEAP BUILDINGS AND A MAGIC BUS Many of the children participa- ting in the Magic Bus pro- gramme are girls. It is impor- tant for the NGO that girls and boys get the same education and chances for their future lives. Whether it is a modern and advanced economy build, and is sturdy and comfortable. It is, however, like the U.S.A. or an uprising economy with great gaps labor intense work. The role of the Architects for like˚ India, humanity is always a topic that makes peo- Humanity is to plan the details; it sometimes also ple get involved. While NPOs in the U.S.A. lend a hel- requires onsite architecting and adjustments. ping hand across the world, Indian NPOs are more The fully animated Model concerned about humanity within their own country. GREEN MEANS RUNNING FAST AND MAKING TRAFFIC for the New Wild Silk NOISES Training Center, designed “DESIGN LIKE YOU GIVE A DAMN!” The Focus India delegation took part in one of the acti- by Architecture for Sustainable dirt cheap buildings for those who can not vity sessions of the non-profit organization Magic Bus. Humanity. afford it through architectural cleverness (Photo: GlobalGiving) “The goal of today’s game is to teach children the traf- Over the last 50 years, Madagascar has lost around 40 fic rules”, explains one of the instructors and men- percent of its rainforest. The Conservation through tors, who call themselves “community leaders”. The Poverty Alleviation (CPALI), an international NGO, main point was for the children to learn how to cross jumped in to help prevent further destruction and a street safely. “In the wrap-up session we will then assist reconstruction of the rainforests through foste- discuss the learnings and the meaning of several road ring the relationship between people and the environ- signs” he goes on. ment. The Architecture for Humanity in Boston cur- rently supports the SEPALI/CPALI projects in The delegates picked up on the rules of the game The Training Center will be Madagascar, and is working on a design for a new quickly: one group had to pretend to be cars driving up for rural farmers producing SEPALI farmer training center which produces wild and down the street at different speeds. “When I say wild silk (see picture) in silk.