Wolfgang Grupp broke off his doctoral thesis to be there for Trigema - better "than a doctor without a company"
Created: 11/28/2022, 05:00
By: Sina Alonso Garcia
The young Wolfgang Grupp made a momentous decision in 1969: he abandoned his doctoral thesis and devoted himself entirely to Trigema.
© Imago/Jan Zawadil/Trigema Archive (photomontage BW24)
When he took over the Trigema company at the age of 27, Wolfgang Grupp was in the process of writing a doctoral thesis.
Out of a sense of duty towards the company, he broke it off and moved the center of his life back to Burladingen.
Burladingen - Anyone who thinks of Wolfgang Grupp automatically thinks of Trigema.
With his strong media presence, the entrepreneur from Burladingen repeatedly brings the textile company into the conversation and shows how it is still possible to produce entirely in Germany today.
For more than 50 years, the now 80-year-old has been watching over the company with eagle eyes and leaves no decision to chance.
From his house it is only a few steps to the Trigema Gates.
Grupp made the decision to make Burladingen his permanent center of life at the age of 27, reports
BW24
.
As Grupp explains to the
OMR podcast
, he took over Trigema in 1969 from his grandfather and his brother.
At the time, Grupp had just completed his business administration studies and was working on a doctoral thesis in Cologne.
"The employees whispered that he should do something and not just do high life in Cologne," says Grupp.
"The company had ten million bank debts." The young entrepreneur knew he had to make a decision.
"Then I gave up on my doctoral thesis and said to my professor: I'd rather have a company without a doctoral thesis than a doctor without a company."
Wolfgang Grupp: His wife Elisabeth also sacrificed her academic career for Trigema
Not only Grupp himself made sacrifices for his company.
His wife Elisabeth, whom he met in 1986, also gave up her medical studies in Graz at the age of 22 to live with her husband in Burladingen.
Today, the now 56-year-old manages Trigema's 42 test stores in Germany.
Grupp has said in several interviews that he is not impressed by academic degrees.
He even explained it as a "problem that many people in Germany do their Abitur and study".
The entrepreneur considers it problematic that there is a surplus of academics on the labor market and fewer and fewer practical people.
When recruiting new employees, Grupp relies on skilled workers - "instead of students who mess everything up".
Wolfgang Grupp: He wouldn't leave Trigema for anything in the world
For nothing in the world would Wolfgang Grupp go to Tübingen or Stuttgart with Trigema or even leave Baden-Württemberg, he said in a video from the city of Burladingen.
He particularly appreciates the manageability of his home town, the family contact with his employees and the short distances to work.
He is also proud that he now employs people from 20 nations - such as Iranians, Pakistanis, Syrians and people from the Ukraine.
