Full Name: Klaus Gregor Küpper
Position: MD of SolarWorld Africa
Main Activity of the Company: Manufacturing and distribution of German-made solar power products
Date and Place of Birth: April 29, 1968, Bad Honnef, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany
Education: Otto-Kuehne-Schule, matric 1988; Villingen-Schwenningen, master’s degree in business administration (marketing), 1994
First Job: Product manager: angiographic products at Mallinckrodt Medical
Career History Prior to Current Position: Product manager: angiographic products at Mallinckrodt Medical, European headquarters; MD: heating and sanitation company, Czech Republic and Germany; sales manager, southern Germany, SolarWorld: head of marketing and product communication, SolarWorld headquarters, Bonn; and MD of SolarWorld Africa since 2006
Size of First Pay Packet: €2 000
First Job with Present Group: Sales manager for southern Germany
Number of People under Your Leadership: Eight
Management Style: A participative but slightly persuasive approach – motivation and team spirit are a core focus
Personal Best Achievement: Finding a life partner in my South African wife and having four beautiful daughters with her
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My grandfather
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: Heinz Jürgen Goetz
Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt
Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi banker, economist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient who developed the concepts of microcredit and microfinance and started the Grameen Foundation and Bank
Philosophy of Life: You always meet someone twice in life – treat every person you ever meet with respect
Biggest Ever Opportunity: Moving to South Africa to open the African distribution arm of SolarWorld, which supplies products to over 40 countries throughout the African continent from our Cape Town offices
Biggest Ever Disappointment: Closing my first self-owned business
Hope for the Future: That the African continent makes use of decentralised solar energy, giving each person the opportunity for sustainable development, access to education and an improvement in the quality of life
Favourite Reading: Hermann Hesse and Oscar Wilde
Favourite TV Programme: Satires, comedies and a good action thriller
Favourite Food/Drink: Well-matured sirloin of beef or ostrich eye fillet/German Riesling from the Mosel region, which is close to where I was born
Favourite Music: Curtis Mayfield and Mario Biondi
Favourite Sport: Bodytec and skiing
Favourite Website: The Harvard Business Review Online
Hobbies: Collecting fine wine and music
Car: BMW
Pets: A boxer and two dachshunds
Miscellaneous Dislikes: Dishonesty, superficiality and clubs
Favourite Other South African Company: Standard Bank, for its growth strategies and success in the African market, and Rooibos, a truly South African company that has achieved global success with a uniquely South African product.
Favourite Foreign Company: Volkswagen
Married: To Karin Küpper (née Andresen) since August 1997
Children: Zoe, 10; twins Emily and Livinia, 8; Mia, 6
Clubs: Clubs are among my miscellaneous dislikes