I visited Seattle and Vancouver last year where we recorded a show as part of the EY Entrepreneur of the year CEO retreat where 24 finalists in the competition as well as previous participants gather for a week of guest lectures, factory visits & networking.
This year I've followed the group to Germany - after a packed few days in Berlin, myself and the DTB team moved on to Munich.
Tuesday
We were up very early in Berlin to catch an 8.00 flight to Munich where I continued my tour of learning and fun with the 24 Finalists of the EY Entrepreneur of the year.
Our hotel which is the famous Bayerischer Hof, located right in the middle of the city and I am immediately puzzled by a shrine dedicated to Michael Jackson under a monument of a famous Berlin composer.
I meet Weiss who attends the shrine every day putting fresh flowers on the plot and keeping it clean. Jackson spent a lot of time staying at the hotel and this is the place that fans waited to catch a glimpse of him and when he died they carry it on in his memory and it has now become a local tourist attraction - we visit two days before the sixth anniversary of his death.
Another day of guest speakers begins, we hear from Fermoy-lady Sinead Brown who is COO with Allianz in Europe and were entertained and slightly baffled by Dr Erich Lejeune, a German serial entrepreneur who happens to be the honorary Irish consulate for Munich.
We then zipped over to Live–Live studios to record more of our show for Saturday with a combination of incredibly interesting German guest speakers peppered with some lively debate from our EOY finalists - you can hear it all from 10am tomorrow.
In an “out and about” slot for the show we visited a Munich beer garden called the Augustiner –Keller brewery which boasts almost 6000 seats.
It has been there for over 200 years and where the brewery’s started selling to working class family’s in competition to the pubs in town that were male only.
The law at the time classed beer as a foodstuff and they were only allowed sell beer and bread so as not to upset the publicans. The beer is fermented 30 metres below ground and families bring their own picnic tables which get passed on from generation to generation. We met the owner Christian Vogler who showed us around this amazing beer haven.
Wednesday
The day is spent at a BMW factory - the company employs about 30,000 people in Germany and 100,000 people worldwide.
This facility is quite incredible and includes a visitor centre, a museum and a high tech factory producing 900 cars from start to finish every single day. It’s quite amazing because the assembly lines are now largely operated by robots which were working most of the tasks previously operated by man. There are 7000 people along with the robots.
We got to burn a bit of rubber as I drove in a classic 1959 BMW Isetta, a hybrid petrol car which did 0 to 60 in 6 seconds and I got to rev the engine on the new M4 which they wouldn’t let me drive because it retails at over €100,000.
After a quick lunch at the Munich Olympic stadium of 1972 we went back to the hotel to prepare for the EY “Big Top” night. This is where the finalists get to share their stories of the week and reflect on what was a truly amazing week before heading home tomorrow to finish off Saturday's show - here's what you can expect!
Vorwärts und aufwärts!
Herr Bobby
Listen to the Down to Business German Special from 10am on Saturday morning, highlights, podcasts and more blog posts can be found on the show page.
