Christoph Pleitgen: A good entrepreneur deeply cares about creating impact

Ismail Akwei

The Managing Director of Westerwelle Foundation, Christoph Pleitgen has identified a good entrepreneur as someone who focuses beyond making profits and shows deep concern for creating impact and something positive that gives back to the community.

He said on The Qonversation that a good idea for any entrepreneur should be solving a problem that will impact a community. “A good idea is looking at a problem that affects the local community. That could have to do with e-commerce. Could have to do with transportation. That could have to do with agri-food or the food tech sector. And from a position of deep understanding of the problem, actually thinking about creative solutions, that’s the hallmark of a good entrepreneur,” he said.

Christoph Pleitgen further explained the operations of the Westerwelle Foundation and the kinds of innovations they support which include those that take advantage of technology to enable businesses and solve the needs of communities.

“I was told that in Tanzania, for example, between 80 to 85% of all university graduates have no chance of entering the job market. Right. So it’s not a question of whether after you graduate from university, say, oh, always think maybe I’ll work for a big established company, or maybe I’ll do my own thing. No, you don’t have that choice, right? So being an entrepreneur is quite literally the only way of sustainably supporting a family, supporting yourself. And, you know, furthermore, if these young people are successful, you know, maybe they themselves will start to create jobs and actually start to hire other people,” he told Ismail Akwei in this episode of The Qonversation.