Schiltach, September 2022. Klaus Grohe (85), long-time Chairman of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board of the faucet and shower manufacturer from Schiltach, and son of company founder Hans Grohe, has been honored for his life's work. On September 13, 2022, he received the German Entrepreneur Award in Berlin, an award for outstanding entrepreneurs and one of the most prestigious business prizes in Germany. The German Entrepreneur Award is presented by the partners stern, Sparkassen, ZDF and Porsche. Klaus Grohe first questioned everything conventional, according to the Entrepreneur Award jury: "You have always consistently gone the other way and lived responsibility as an entrepreneur when hardly anyone knew the word sustainability."
A Life for Hansgrohe and for Innovative, Award-Winning, Sustainable Products for Bath and Kitchen
Klaus Grohe, born in 1937 as the youngest son of the company’s founder, joined his father's company in 1968. For almost five decades, he determined the fate of the company in the Black Forest, as Managing Director, from 1999 as Chairman of the Executive Board, and from 2008 to 2015 as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. With his visionary ideas, his indispensable drive, and his constant customer orientation, he developed the family-owned company into a global player in the sanitary industry. Innovative products with outstanding design are his special focus. He loves to perfect showers and faucets down to the smallest detail. But he also knows that high-quality products must be marketed properly – also internationally – and established professional marketing in the company as early as the beginning of the 1980s. With his farsightedness, his cosmopolitanism, and his hands-on pragmatism, he is considered a pioneer in the development of both brands, hansgrohe and AXOR.
Klaus Grohe's maxim is: "Always hands-on - close to the customer, close to the product, close to the employee, both in administration and in production." As a hands-on leader, he basically renounces privileges. Even in the 1980s, before sustainability was on everyone's minds, he was committed to environmentally conscious thinking and action: Hansgrohe hired an environmental officer, water-saving showers were developed, and the solar tower and a roof-integrated solar power plant was built at the Offenburg site. Throughout his life, Klaus Grohe has dedicated himself to the well-being of Hansgrohe, its employees, and the public. In 2001, his hometown of Schiltach made him an honorary citizen. In 2009, he established the Klaus Grohe Foundation. In this way, he supports many projects in the region, such as the Klaus Grohe daycare center, which will open as a Hansgrohe company daycare center in Schiltach in the summer of 2023.
Thanks to Klaus Grohe, the company has developed into a successful global player in the sanitary industry over the past 60 years. In addition to economic success, he has particularly shaped the corporate values passion, trust, togetherness and appreciation. "With his passion for the element of water and his obsession – in a positive sense – with innovation, Klaus Grohe, together with our employees, has succeeded in reinventing Hansgrohe time and time again," explains Hans Jürgen Kalmbach, Chairman of the Executive Board of Hansgrohe SE. "I am particularly honored that I was able to learn a great deal from him during his active time with the company. We all still value him as a source of inspiration and an experienced coach. And we are delighted with and for Klaus Grohe, about this very special award for his life's work."
More information on the German Entrepreneur Award 2022 and this year’s winner Klaus Grohe can be found here.
About the German Entrepreneur Award
According to its own information, the German Entrepreneur Award is the most important award for outstanding entrepreneurs and one of the most prestigious business awards in Germany. It will be awarded for the 20th time in 2022. The aim of the initiative is to make successful founders and their companies visible and even more successful through the diverse support they receive. The prize is awarded annually in the categories Student, StartUp, Up-and-Coming and Lifetime Achievement. Exceptional entrepreneurial achievements can be honored with a special prize. The German Entrepreneur Award is awarded by the partners stern, Sparkassen, ZDF and Porsche, who have been committed to promoting entrepreneurship and the start-up culture since 1997. The German Entrepreneur Award is supported by a high-caliber board of trustees, which provides sponsorship for the finalists and prize winners. Sponsors of the German Entrepreneur Award are Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, Gruner + Jahr GmbH, Süddeutsche Zeitung and the insurance companies of the savings banks. The cooperation partner is the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection.
About the Hansgrohe Group – Setting the Beat of Water. Since 1901.
With its brands AXOR and hansgrohe, the Hansgrohe Group, based in Schiltach/Southern Germany, enjoys a reputation as a leader in innovation, design and quality within the bath and kitchen industry. Founded in 1901 in the Black Forest, the company gives water form and function with its faucets, showerheads and shower systems. The 120-year history of the company is marked by innovations, such as the first hand-held shower with multiple spray types, the first pull-out kitchen faucet, and the first wall bar to hold a hand-held shower.The company holds more than 18,500 active property rights. The Hansgrohe Group stands for long-lasting quality products and for responsibility towards people and the environment. Sustainable production of resource-conserving products is central to the company’s business activities around the globe. With 34 subsidiaries and 20 sales offices supplying products in 152 countries, the globally active company in the sanitary industry is a reliable partner to its customers in all regions of the world. The Hansgrohe Group, its brands and products have won numerous awards, including more than 700 design prizes since 1974. The products of the Hansgrohe Group are found worldwide: on renowned cruise ships, in luxurious 5-star and boutique hotels, in international metropolitan cities, in extraordinary spas, exclusive bathrooms of lodges and luxury villas, public facilities, as well as in countless private homes. The Group’s high quality standards are ensured by seven wholly-owned production facilities: four in Germany, one each in France, the United States and China. In 2021, the Hansgrohe Group generated a turnover of EUR 1.365 billion. It employs around 5,400 people worldwide, about 60 percent of whom work in Germany.
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