Lutz Frischmann “[…] is the ideal entrepreneur, embodying the true potential of a social market economy,“ praised Hans Jobst Pleitner at the award ceremony in Berlin in November. Turning to Frischmann, he continued: “As long as we can count on people like you, we needn’t worry about the future of our economy and our society – and the local value of entrepreneurship.“ Both a successful entrepreneur and an upstanding citizen, Lutz Frischmann is characterized by his strong social conscience and sense of responsibility. As well as applying his dynamic personality to managing his company, a traditional middle-sized family firm now in its fourth generation, he’s also a local councilor, a lay judge in the local labor court, and an active member of the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses, the “Made in Germany” academy and the Bertelsmann Foundation. But it was his commitment to the new children’s hospice in the Thuringian Forest that convinced the jury to honor his efforts with the first ever Professor Pleitner Award. The institute is a “life hospice,“ a home for terminally ill children requiring long-term care. Since no public funds are available, Lutz Frischmann set himself the target of raising five million euros to build the centre and cover running costs for the first few years – and he didn’t limit himself to just asking for donations.

Besides the honor of winning the award, Lutz Frischmann also received 2500 euros and a specially commissioned sculpture made of basalt (black) and olivine (green). Materials typical of the island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, where artist Bastian Widera lives and works. The sculpture shows an abstract figure reaching skywards, locked in a protective embrace around a smaller object. Prof. Dr. Hans Jobst Pleitner was named Director of the Swiss Research Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship in 1975. Ten years later, he was appointed Professor for Business Management with special emphasis on SMEs and entrepreneurship at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. After becoming an emeritus professor in 2000, he took up a new role as Professor for Entrepreneurial Management at Steinbeis University Berlin. Throughout his career, Professor Pleitner has focused on working with entrepreneurs and managers in SMEs, dealing with both theory and practice.