Starting a successful self-employed career by taking over an existing business
Alongside new startups and innovative ventures, business succession is often overlooked as a way to achieve professional independence and build a future. Thomas Kausch, project manager for business succession at Allianz für die Region GmbH, sees this as partly a problem of image. “Succession sounds like imitation, but the opposite is true,” says Kausch. In his view, the most important thing in taking over a business is to develop it further, use it as a launchpad and guide it towards a successful future.
Professional expertise, willingness to take risks, leadership drive and all the other entrepreneurial qualities are of course necessary for any kind of business startup. Taking over an established, well-known business offers many advantages: an existing customer and employee base, relevant permits and licences, a brand, and figures that make bank meetings easier. Today, only 50 percent of business successions take place within families. Kausch attributes this to the younger generation’s trend towards individualisation.
In the greater Braunschweig area between the Harz and Heath regions, around 500 business successions take place each year, and about half of those businesses are looking for a successor. Potential successors can find businesses looking for a new owner through Allianz für die Region, the chambers of skilled crafts, or the nationwide business succession platform nexxt change. It helps when an intermediary such as Thomas Kausch supports both parties during discussions. This preserves discretion and anonymity until negotiations become more concrete. A neutral perspective can also be helpful when dealing with the highly emotional topic of business succession.
Although some equity (10–15 percent of the purchase price) is advantageous, Kausch is also familiar with fully financed business takeovers. Individual financing models, grants and agreements are possible. “If the chemistry, expertise and purchase price are right, a solution can be found for everything else,” says Kausch.
Information: www.allianz-fuer-die-region.de/wirtschaft/unternehmensnachfolge/
