Connections create added value

On October 7, 2024, we were able to welcome a special guest: Antonin Finkelnburg, General Manager of the Federal Association of Wholesale, Foreign Trade, Services (BGA), visited our headquarters in Mannheim. Our managing director Steven Baumgaertner personally picked him up at the airport at 9:00 a.m. The two of them took the opportunity to look at our company and talk intensively about economic and political issues until 1:00 p.m. The focus was on exchanges on equal terms and exploring common topics. The technical implementation of the packaging requirements was particularly met with enthusiasm.

As Germany's leading promotional products retailer, we rely on creativity, innovation and international networking. Our success is based not only on a broad product portfolio, but also on our feel for current events and our active networks, which we maintain and continually expand worldwide. This also included the contact with Antonin Finkelnburg, which arose during Steven Baumgaertner's time at the General Association of the Promotional Products Industry (GWW), where Baumgaertner held a seat on the executive board.

The BGA represents the interests of companies in wholesale and foreign trade as well as in the service sector at national and international levels. Antonin Finkelnburg heads the association and is committed to economic policy frameworks that strengthen trade. For us as promotional products dealers and wholesalers, this contact is particularly valuable in order to identify relevant developments at EU level at an early stage and, if necessary, to help shape them.

The meeting was an important step in exploring how companies and associations work together. Particularly exciting approaches were discussed at EU level and in the area of ​​the newly formed EAC – European Association Cooperation IVZW. Both sides benefited from the exchange and want to further explore the international perspective.