She could be the first woman in the more than 70-year history to lead the association “The Family Entrepreneurs”.
(Photo: Frauke Schumann)
Dusseldorf Marie-Christine Ostermann is to become the new boss of the influential association “The Family Entrepreneurs”. At their meeting on Wednesday, the Executive Committee and Board of Directors unanimously selected her as the preferred candidate for the regular upcoming successor to the still incumbent Association President Reinhold von Eben-Worlée. The Handelsblatt learned this from entrepreneurs who attended the meeting.
Should Ostermann at the annual conference on 20./21. If she were to be elected by around 6,000 members in Berlin on April 1, she would be the first woman to hold this position in the association’s more than 70-year history. Theoretically, other candidates could be put up for election. According to observers, however, fight candidates are not to be expected.
According to the association, it represents the economic and political interests of 180,000 family businesses in Germany who employ eight million employees who are subject to social security contributions.
The entrepreneur and FDP politician explained on request: “I am very happy about the trust placed in me.” There is a lot to achieve. After all, family entrepreneurs in Germany are still not being valued in the way that corresponds to their large share in the added value.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Unlike her predecessors Reinhold von Eben-Worlée and Lutz Göbel, Marie-Christine Ostermann did not have to make a name for herself in German business and politics. As the national chairman of the so-called youth department of the association, the Federal Association of Young Entrepreneurs (BJU), which she led from 2009 to 2012, the entrepreneur from Hamm in Westphalia is already well known and has a very broad network.
“Convincing ambassador of the market economy”
With appearances at events and on talk shows, she attracted more attention in this role than almost any of her predecessors or successors. During this time, she spoke from the heart of many young entrepreneurs when she loudly gave her “commitment to the social market economy with liberal convictions such as free price determination and setting”.
She did not shy away from criticism of people who were actually politically close to her, such as the then FDP leader Guido Westerwelle. Her commitment left a lasting impression. In 2012, for example, Ursula von der Leyen, then Federal Minister of Labor and current head of the EU Commission, attested that she was “a convincing ambassador for the market economy. And it’s worth arguing with her about the ‘social’. We don’t always agree, but we share some beliefs.”
Ostermann has its roots in Westphalia. Here she is the fourth generation to run the food supplier Rullko, a family business with around 200 employees that supplies care facilities, hospitals and restaurants.
This task was particularly challenging during the pandemic. And business collapsed massively in 2020 and 2021. But Ostermann used the crisis as an opportunity: Sales is now fully digitized.
On the other hand, Ostermann, who once studied business administration in St. Gallen and completed her trainee program at Aldi-Süd, has continued to be involved in social and economic policy in recent years. She is co-founder and shareholder of Startup-Teens, an initiative that promotes young entrepreneurship. In 2021 she also published the book “Future Republic” with other authors.
In view of her broad and successful commitment, the Handelsblatt ranked her among the 50 best female entrepreneurs in Germany in 2022.
Entrepreneur wants to let FDP membership rest
But Ostermann has also come to know painfully the negative side effects of being a public figure. A stalker targeted the entrepreneur in 2014 and followed her for years. Ostermann fought back. After years of legal battles, the stalker was finally convicted in May 2020 and went to prison.
Her companions credit her with the fact that she has now re-enlisted for public office. Especially since this time she also has full responsibility for her own business. She wants to give up her membership in the FDP – she has been a member of the party since 2013.
MCO, as it is called by companions, likes to think and steer in the long term. And so her greatest wish is not surprising. As an “entrepreneur through and through”, she would like to improve the economic and political framework in Germany for family businesses. And in a sustainable way, “so that I can pass our own company on to the next generation, healthy and lively, just like my father did at the age of 70”.
More: Role model, pioneer, attractive figure: Marie-Christine Ostermann