More than 3,000 craft enterprises are facing a business succession in Grafschaft Bentheim, Osnabrück and Emsland in the next ten years. This is the central result of a survey by the Osnabrück Chamber of Skilled Crafts. Ralf Hilmes from the Grafschaft Bentheim Economic Development Agency reported this to more than 200 listeners at the event ‘Maintaining a life’s work ? Shaping Succession? in Nordhorn.

Today, more than one third of all craftsmen in the chamber district are older than 55. This is 60% more than five years ago.

And the region cannot escape the nationwide trend: The proportion of entrepreneurs over 55 years of age will increase sharply in the coming years. This is because the cohorts with the highest birth rates in the Federal Republic are slowly thinking about a generational change in their own companies.

Successful business succession in Grafschaft Bentheim secures prosperity

It is therefore important for the regional economy to successfully manage the upcoming generational change: After all, around 15,000 jobs in the skilled crafts sector are directly affected in the district of the Osnabrück Chamber of Skilled Crafts alone.

When it comes to company succession, classic tax and legal issues are at the forefront of discussions. Now it is no longer a foregone conclusion that a generation change will take place in the family. This is because only just under 40% of all family businesses are still run by family members. Therefore, the search for a successor in non-family business successions is one of the greatest challenges for seniors.

In the case of an intra-family succession, many entrepreneurs would like the juniors to continue running the company in the same way as before. Beatrice Rodenstock runs the business of the entrepreneurial family of the same name in the fifth generation and knows the emotional aspects of business succession.

Succession means change

As a guest speaker, she drew attention to a very important aspect of succession within the family: “No successor generation can follow in the footsteps of the retiring entrepreneur. Because a generation change is by no means just a change of personnel on the company’s bridge. A company succession is basically always associated with changes in the company. Rodenstock continues: “If a senior has the claim that things will continue as before, the succession will fail.

As a result, once-motivated entrepreneurs’ children switch to the well-performing labour market as employees, further exacerbating the entrepreneurial shortage in many regions. Regardless of whether it is within or outside the family: good preparation of a generational change and support by experts with succession experience pays off: Because this increases the chances of a successful business succession in Grafschaft Bentheim and its neighbouring regions.