Almost 20 years ago, Marion Lüdke and Susanne Döbele (now Jurasovic) founded Lüdke + Döbele, one of the first “consultancies for dialogue marketing” in the German-speaking region. Today, the focus of the successful consulting agency, which now employs eight people, is on the digital and agile transformation of companies in the healthcare industry and beyond. Since 2017, the consultancy from Mannheim has been part of the Consileon Group.
In our series “The Consileon Group: Alone good, together world class” we turn the spotlight on our subsidiaries and present their unique qualities and strengths. Because we know that our corporate diversity and the associated know-how distinguish us and offer our customers valuable added value.
In this article, we wanted to find out from Suanne Jurasovic, founder and managing partner, how Lüdke + Döbele supports companies and what makes them so successful.
Most of our clients come from the health sector, but we now also advise a number of other companies in the non-pharma sector. Because their wishes are often the same: many are also facing major change processes and need support to accompany their teams and managers through these challenges. Or they want to digitalise their processes and business models in order to secure a competitive advantage, increase the performance of their teams and improve the satisfaction of their employees. We like to focus on the latter point in particular, because these projects can only succeed if people are empowered and motivated at the same time. In our opinion, this is exactly where the key to positive change of all kinds lies. We therefore focus on the development of individual employees through to the entire organisation – with the aim of making the transformation in people’s minds conscious, comprehensible and workable.
Every company has its own unique challenges, which is why it is important to find and implement suitable solutions for our customers. We advise clients and support them in implementing the necessary tools and processes. From analysis tools to neurofunctional coaching to agile working methods – we find a suitable lever for every challenge. For example, we work with the PSI Action Control Model and the Zurich Resource Model, with design thinking, vision development, virtual reality tools for collaboration and a digital brand analysis.
Two things are always important to us: firstly, making decisions together with the client for today and tomorrow and jointly drawing up a roadmap of what will happen and when. And secondly, to integrate new ways of thinking and routines into the company.
Many of our clients come to us because they have already tried a lot themselves and are looking for a partner who approaches their challenges from a completely different angle and brings in new perspectives. We are convinced that successful change can only succeed with the right mindset. We unleash the dormant potential of employees and thus create a climate of enthusiasm and courage for change. In order to create an open mindset, transparency is needed first and foremost. That’s why we don’t do any mumbo jumbo, but always explain every step and show that it can be fun to go new ways.
We bring 20 years of consulting experience and have successfully implemented more than 2000 projects, mainly in the healthcare industry. With our focus on transforming people, organisations and leadership, we are a perfect fit for Consileon’s Business Transformation division. The group has a wealth of expertise in management and technology consulting with a focus on IT and processes. With such a strong partner at our side, we can expand our range of services and implement even more innovative projects. The nice thing is that it is not a one-way street, but a give and take at eye level. Together we can offer strategy consulting, software development, process consulting and organisational development from a single source.
Although our team is scattered all over Germany and Austria, our cohesion is unique. We make a conscious effort to meet regularly, even outside of the work context – be it on a joint ski trip in the Alps or to celebrate a team member’s birthday. We have a lot of fun together, celebrate our successes together, support each other and are always willing to go the much-cited “extra mile” for each other. With seven women and one man, we bring an enormous amount of female power to the table, but of course men are also welcome to join our team.
We challenge each other again and again, even with completely new experiences. To gain new perspectives, to develop ourselves further and to keep an open mind. For example, once a quarter, each team member comes up with a new joint challenge that has nothing to do with our everyday work. The courage to embrace new ideas, experiences and perspectives is something we live by every day. We are convinced that we can only be successful if we live and breathe what we communicate to our clients.
Both as a team and as a company, we are constantly evolving and challenging ourselves to leave the beaten track and break new ground. We are currently revising our portfolio and focusing on topics that are becoming increasingly important in today’s digital and globally networked world. Among other things, we offer virtual reality tools for collaboration, with which completely new experiences can be created and messages can be conveyed in a tangible and more sustainable way, both internally and in external communication. Mental health is also becoming more and more important in today’s world, which is why we are placing a new focus here and offering resilience training and similar services, among other things. And in everything we do, the blue cactus plays an important role.
The crew of Consileon Digital Xperience GmbH, in short: Consileon DX, has known each other longer than the company has existed. They used to sail under a different flag, as fintechcube GmbH, founded in 2015, and have been part of the Consileon Group since the beginning of 2022. With around ten employees, it may be the smallest subsidiary, but it has made a name for itself as a specialist unit for innovation and creation, user experiences and design with great fintech know-how.
In this interview, former fintechcube founder and current CDX partner Florian Oswald explains how both clients and the Consileon Group benefit from the skills of Consileon DX and why it is fun to work for the Munich-based digital agency.
Thanks to our company history, we know our way around not only the world of finance, but also the world of technical possibilities. In the meantime, word has spread. We advise many companies on setting up their own fintech solutions and link them to existing core banking or portfolio management systems. We also have a wealth of experience in implementing systems and modules from partner companies such as finAPI or Kontowechsel24.de.
We always work in a user-centric way, which includes simple user interfaces, a clear structure and intuitive menu navigation of tools, landing pages, apps and the like. With our “design first” approach, we manage to immediately present our customers with a product they can experience. Our three UI/UX designers are therefore in high demand, also within the Consileon Group!
For a few months now, we have also been offering support in website quality assurance. In order to help our customers gain a competitive advantage through accessibility and content optimisation, we work closely here with our software partner Siteimprove.
We have an above-average passion for creative product development and lots of experience in digital products. We also bring an entrepreneurial mindset and a lean start-up mindset. That means we don’t just do what is asked. We really want to understand the problem, we think along with it and always look for the very best solution for customers and users.
Since we have become part of the Consileon Group, we have another superpower up our sleeve, namely the unbelievably large wealth of IT experience from a wide range of projects and access to almost 500 experts from various fields.
What is special about us: We always start immediately to visualise the task, the topic – be it with a flowchart or with a small click-dummy. It is important to understand what the client wants and imagines. This creates trust and understanding. A shared vision is the basis for every assignment.
As a small team – a mix of project managers, product designers and creative design heroes – we always work in an agile and solution-oriented way. Since we have known each other for many years and can rely on each other, we don’t need a lot of overhead, but can be there for our clients in a targeted and effective way.
It never gets boring with us! We see ourselves as limitless solution creators and are lucky to be able to work on so many exciting and always new topics and projects. Our corporate philosophy is characterised by values such as honesty, sincerity and passion. We live these values internally and also towards our customers.
Cyber attacks are at top of the list of criminal and terrorist threats. Never before has the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) considered the situation as dangerous as it is at present. Never before have so many vulnerabilities been detected in software products. Never before have there been so many cybercrime incidents as last year.
And yet many CEOs and department heads consider their companies too small or insignificant for an attack. Even large entrepreneurs and company bosses are often falsely lulled into a sense of security.
“Like the real economy, cybercriminals rely on the division of labor, a growing service character, and close networking across national and industry boundaries. With the concept of ‘cybercrime-as-a-service,’ cybercriminals are becoming increasingly professional, as specializing in certain services enables them to develop and deploy their ‘services’ in a targeted manner,” writes the BSI in its report on the state of IT security in Germany in 2023.
The fact is that wherever people work with computers, smartphones and tablets, there is a threat. At a time when hackers and IT experts are vying for the latest technologies, many security systems often no longer offer sufficient protection.
The consequences are often devastating and extremely costly: loss of data, loss of competitive advantage, enormous damage to image, usually accompanied by high costs due to fines, production downtime and/or unprepared reinstatement of systems.
Consileon Business Consultancy is not a pure software house itself, but maintains various partnerships. The aim is always to offer customers the best possible current solutions and to be able to advise them on technical, professional and organisational issues in the field of cyber security.
“In order to keep the security standards in companies permanently high, we need professional solutions from our customers!” knows Andreas Grau, Head of Cyber Security at Consileon. “One of these is the CONTECHNET Suite for Information Security.”
The CONTECHNET Suite is a sustainable solution for the implementation of common security standards, legal data protection requirements and reliable IT emergency management.
The common safety standards:
“In discussions with entrepreneurs, IT experts, managing directors, department heads and others who are concerned about cyber security, we come across the same questions again and again,” says cyber security expert Andreas Grau. That’s why he wants to start holding free webinars on a regular basis to provide information about the current threat situation and possible countermeasures. He agrees with the BSI’s opinion in this regard:
“Because the past year has shown that unforeseen events can raise the threat situation to a new level and collateral damage from cyber attacks in neighbouring countries can also have a direct impact on Germany. All this makes it clear that preventive IT security measures are the most effective IT security measures. Every computer system that cannot be hacked, every IT-based service that cannot be disrupted, is an elementary contribution to a functioning digitally networked society.”
The Hospital Futures Act (KHZG) offers hospitals in Germany the opportunity to invest in their digital infrastructure and thus improve healthcare. The aim of the law is to use funds from the federal and state governments to advance digitisation in hospitals by 2025.
In order to receive funding, your project must be approved in advance by the Federal Social Security Office (BAS). In the best case, you have taken these steps and your project has been given the green light. In this case, of course, we hope your hospital has already been successful in securing service providers and suppliers for your selected project within the framework of the KHZG.
However, we can report from observations that in a large number of KHZG projects, various challenges and misunderstandings can arise when working with external partners, especially if they are not an optimal fit for the project plan or difficulties arise in the implementation.
To counteract such delays and ensure that the project goal is achieved, we offer you our support (as an independent sparring partner). With a quick check, we can first identify and eliminate possible weak points and optimisation potential. In doing so, we analyse the project in detail and identify possible areas for improvement. We are also happy to carry out a non-binding gap analysis to check whether the implementation of the KHZG project also fits in with the goals set.
In addition, it is also possible to identify precise weak points with a quick assessment that is individually tailored to your project plan. Based on this, you can be given concrete recommendations for optimisation. After all, our goal is to support you in your KHZG project and to lead you to success together. As an independent partner, we will support you with our expertise and know-how and accompany you on your way.
If you also need support with your KHZG project or simply want to get a second opinion, we look forward to hearing from you. Together we can ensure that your KHZG project is successfully implemented and that digital healthcare in Germany continues to advance.
Investing is still a man’s job. In 2023, this sounds absurd – nevertheless, the offers of the financial sector are currently mainly tailored to a male target group. This circumstance describes the financial service gender gap.
This article first discusses the reasons why women have hardly appeared as investors so far:
We then explain what financial institutions can offer to tap into the untapped potential of the female target group and cite best practices for each point:
Women represent a high, as yet untapped potential on the capital market. Not only do they represent a significant factor in the global economy, but they will also be much more strongly represented in investment and financing projects in the future, on the one hand because of their further increasing income, and on the other hand as a result of their growing willingness to invest. In order to establish themselves as a long-term partner for this target group, financial market participants must now create offers that take into account the individual needs of women.
The average net household income of women is growing steadily. Eight out of ten women say they want to invest more in the future. If they were to invest to the same extent as men, the additional investment potential would be over three trillion euros, which would also increasingly flow into impact-oriented investment products [1] that have a positive social and ecological impact. Although women have long since ceased to conform to the image common in the past and their role has changed in many areas of life, financial institutions have often not adapted their product and service offerings to the needs and desires of a female target group.
In order to design offers that are target group-oriented, it is important to shed light on the backgrounds that lead to the existing inequality in the investments of men and women. What are the obstacles that still stand in the way of women investing?
Women participate in career and education issues much more equally today than in the past, and as a result, they are also more involved with finance and investing. However, research shows that women have less financial knowledge than men and are less likely to see themselves as investors. This is partly due to a different socialisation and less contact with financial topics within the social sphere. “There is too little talk about finance with young women,” emphasises Prof. Dr. Alexandra Niessen-Ruenzi, who researches gender-specific differences in the capital market at the University of Mannheim. [2]
This is also reflected in self-perception: seven out of ten women cite lack of financial education and lack of income as reasons why they do not invest or invest little. For example, according to a study by BNY Mellon in 16 selected markets, women believe that they need around 4,000 euros of disposable income per month to be able to successfully invest part of their money.[3] In comparison, men already consider investing at a lower income, while women invest less at the same income. [4]
The touchpoints of today’s customer journeys do not address the individual circumstances and life events of women. Possible interruptions and changing life circumstances in which childcare, part-time employment, re-entry into the workforce or retirement planning with regard to longer life expectancy play a role are not taken into account. The life phases that women go through are not only more volatile, but can also trigger uncertainties regarding the long-term financial situation, crises or failures. Since these contingencies are neither part of the product design nor of the personal approach and advice, 80 percent of women do not currently feel adequately advised by their banks [5]. This not only reduces satisfaction, but also the trust placed in banks and financial service providers on the part of women.
The female target group is becoming increasingly heterogeneous. 13 percent of those under 30 say they also want to invest in speculative and risky products. [6] However, empirical studies show that women generally invest less riskily. They attach importance to financial security and usually link investment decisions to clear goals that include social components, for example education or provision for the care of relatives. ESG-compliant [7] and impact-driven investment products [8], which generally aim for a longer investment horizon, are therefore popular among women. However, these preferences are currently not reflected in either product design or client approach, which means that women often feel unappreciated in the financial industry and lack confidence in financial services. Although professional advice is preferred by women, 67 percent of them feel misunderstood in advisory situations and would like more information and transparency. [9]
Financial institutions should view women as a large, heterogeneous target group for which specific solutions need to be designed according to subject areas and segments. In the case of lending, flexible instalments might be needed during parental leave, for example, while in the case of investments it is more a matter of addressing the target group specifically, but not other products.
Based on various studies, pilot projects and Consileon project experiences, three main proposed solutions can be summarised.
In order to change the self-perception of women as investors and to increase the self-confidence to invest that goes along with it, educational and awareness-raising offers are necessary, for example on the part of financial institutions. They help to open people’s eyes to the fact that the aforementioned concerns and misconceptions as well as the resulting reticence are ultimately unfounded. Missing financial knowledge can be built up and expanded with the help of financial blogs, podcasts and knowledge platforms, but also through seminar-like educational offers. In addition, women can exchange information about similar needs and challenges in corresponding networks and learn from the experiences of others. Individual coaching offers and knowledge transfer in advisory services also help to establish a trust-based client relationship and strengthen women’s self-confidence in investing. This accommodates the desire for transparency and well-thought-out decisions and ultimately leads to confident participation in the financial market.
Die Direktbank Comdirect hat sich mit den „Finanzheldinnen“, einer Initiative, die verschiedene Produkte zum Aufbau von Finanzwissen und zur Finanzplanung anbietet, als eines der ersten Geldinstitute diesbezüglich aufgestellt. Die Sparkasse zieht mit verschiedenen Veranstaltungen und der 2021 vom Sparkassen-Innovation-Hub veröffentlichten Studie „Female Finance“ nach. Daraus entstand jüngst „Blooom“, eine Lösung, die die Bereiche Finanzwissen, Mindset sowie Finanzmanagement und Planung für Frauen vereint.
The direct bank Comdirect has positioned itself as one of the first financial institutions in this regard with the “Finanzheldinnen” (eng. Financial heroines), an initiative that offers various products for building financial knowledge and financial planning. The Sparkasse is following suit with various events and the “Female Finance” study published by the Sparkassen Innovation Hub in 2021. This recently resulted in “Blooom”, a solution that combines the areas of financial knowledge, mindset and financial management and planning for women.
The individual life phases of women lead to different needs in the design of financial planning, some of which only become apparent upon closer examination. They need to be identified and addressed in the approach, product design and advice. “Every customer should be advised individually according to her respective phase of life and the resulting needs. However, this is currently not the case,” says Milena Rottensteiner, head of the S-Hub. [10] Research shows that gender-specific products are not necessary for this, but rather access and counselling in this context are decisive. [11]
Fintech Vitamin, funded with 1.7 million euros, was founded in 2021 and offers two different models to help women with financial planning and management depending on their current life situation: “Saving Sara” helps women to save early in their working lives through tools and an investment plan. “Learning Lea” offers financial knowledge for women who have already saved. The first step is an orientation test on investment preferences; later, goals and different impact fields can be selected.
In order to successfully address women as a target group, it is important to create more personal and trust-based client relationships and to take into account the individual goals, experiences and needs of female clients. In doing so, it is important to address their preferences such as long-termism, ESG compliance and alignment with personal values not only in the advice but also in the customer approach. In order to facilitate decisions, customer journeys should be created that address those points that have held women back from investing up to now. For example, an included risk assessment creates trust.
The digital finance company Ellevest was founded in 2014 and specialises in financial planning and advice for women. The company offers customised investment strategies, portfolio management and financial planning, as well as educational resources and financial literacy tools. In its client communications, Ellevest focuses on targeting women and their specific financial needs and challenges. In addition to placing online and offline advertising, webinars and formats such as blogs, podcasts and learning videos are offered.
The aforementioned studies, assessments by female experts and the solutions that have emerged show that traditional banks and financial service providers not only enjoy a low level of trust among the female target group, but are also not sufficiently customer-oriented when addressing and offering their financial services. Especially for women, there is often a lack of customised solutions that are adapted to their individual circumstances. Female fintechs succeed in one thing in particular compared to traditional banks: recognising the individual life phases of women, understanding the resulting customer needs, and creating customer-centric solutions and authentic brands that inspire trust in the target group.
One approach for financial institutions can be to expand their existing mandated solutions such as individual custody advice to take into account the needs and preferences of women described here. Within the framework of a three-phase model, the path to a long-term client relationship can be prepared step by step. In the first phase, the focus is on knowledge building and exchange as well as the introduction to investing – for example in the form of savings plans. Then, with the help of individual custody account advice, it is important to enter into a closer discourse and provide assistance as well as investment proposals that are adapted to the individual life situation and tailored to the preferences of the client. In the final step, this can lead to a trust-based mandate business and a close client relationship in which the female target group feels well taken care of and understood.
In summary, there is a need for a holistic approach to better address the female target group, which in particular takes into account the crucial phases of life through custom-fit and specific offers. Although diversity is already an issue for many financial service providers, many products are not designed with the female target group in mind. What is certain: Female finance will establish itself among financial service providers – either through the banks themselves or through specialised fintechs.
In any case, female finance should be seen as an opportunity for banks and financial service providers. By acting in time, financial institutions can thus unlock the enormous potential of more than three trillion euros on a global level and generally enable impact-oriented investments in people and the environment.
If you also want to deal with the topic of female finance, if you are already rethinking your savings and investment products with a focus on female customers or if you want to put existing business models to the test, Consileon’s experts are looking forward to an exchange.
How might the mobility of the future look like? Consileon has set itself the task of discussing this. Traditional mobility concepts are increasingly being questioned and met with criticism. In cities in particular, new urban planning concepts are being devised and space for cars is increasingly being reduced.
For the e-bike sector, Consileon has therefore been working more intensively on the innovative mobility concept Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS), which focuses on the development of a charging infrastructure for e-bikes in city centres and can thus be an important driver of this mobility turnaround. At a so-called battery hub, empty batteries can be quickly and easily exchanged for full ones in just 20 seconds. Empty batteries are recharged so that the next biker can use them. This concept has already been implemented by some e-scooter manufacturers, but has not yet entered the broad e-bike market.
The concept brings a number of benefits for customer experience, environment and health. The customer no longer has to worry about how high the charge status of his e-bike is. As soon as the battery falls below a critical threshold, the e-biker is informed via app and guided to the next available battery. The concept also makes it easy to collect and recycle defective batteries. This and the reduced greenhouse gas emissions can support the transition to a sustainable circular economy. There are also health benefits for local residents through reduced emissions, noise pollution and exercise.
Could Battery-as-a-Service be part of future city mobility?
Consileon would like to discuss these and other questions with you?
The 960 food banks (ger.: Tafeln) in Germany feel every day that the economic situation has become worse for many people. More and more people are turning to one of the food banks for the first time and asking for help because their money is not enough to live on. New people in need include refugees from Ukraine on the one hand, and the unemployed, low-income workers and pensioners on the other. Most of them are people who somehow managed to make a living before, but now can no longer afford the high prices for food, fuel and energy.
More than two million people in Germany regularly come to the food banks now – more than ever before!
The food banks also feel the rising prices painfully, but can hardly save: Both the trips to donors and the electricity for lighting, cold storage rooms, etc. are absolutely necessary for their operations.
The situation is exacerbated by the fact that many food banks are receiving fewer and fewer food donations that they can distribute to their customers. Nearly one-third of the food banks have already had to introduce an intake freeze because there is no longer enough food to meet demand. In addition, smaller quantities are often distributed to each household in order to support as many people as possible.
More in need, fewer donations and higher costs: food banks are currently under greater pressure than ever before. Despite the more difficult conditions, the 60,000 TAFEL activists continue to work tirelessly and with all their might against waste and poverty. Consileon Business Consultancy has its headquarters in Karlsruhe and has therefore been supporting the Karlsruher Tafel, a food bank in Karlsruhe, for several years. This year, however, Consileon does not only want to donate money, but also wants to contribute to more attention being paid to the issue of poverty. That is why we asked the honorary board member Joachim Ruf of Karlsruher TAFEL e. V. for a short interview in which he gives a vivid description of the current situation.
We “rescue” food from supermarkets, bakeries and other stores and distribute it to needy individuals and families. For many, our offer is existential. Otherwise they would have hardly anything to eat for days. Only those who can prove their neediness can become our customers.
Three independent food banks operate in Karlsruhe city. The Karlsruher TAFEL e.V. is the oldest one in the city and serves about 1,400 people per week. This year there are definitely more than last year. Many people simply have too little pension or income to be able to absorb the increased fixed costs….
Unfortunately, however, the demand is so great that we – like all other food banks here in Karlsruhe – have had to impose an admission freeze.
This can be summed up quickly: Fewer and fewer goods meet a growing number of people in need… That doesn’t fit at all. Unfortunately, I don’t have high hopes that things will get better in the coming year. On the contrary. The stores are calculating more and more cautiously and are giving away less – but on the other hand the need will increase.
We can use all the help we can get in this situation, be it through volunteer work or donations of money or food.
We are fortunate to have a number of supporters who have been donating chocolate Santa Clauses and other sweets to us for many years. This enables us to sweeten the time of Advent and Christmas for our customers, especially the children.
Donations instead of gifts – according to this slogan Consileon supports further organizations and associations.
Every child deserves a good future. But not all children have the same starting conditions. At least 1.1 million children and young people in Germany grow up in difficult family or financial circumstances. With the intention of also giving such children a chance, the Kinder & Jugend ARCHE Karlsruhe e.V. opened its doors in 2012.
Consileon supports the work of the Karlsruhe ARCHE team. Katharina Große is responsible for public relations. In this interview she gives us an insight into ARCHE’s day-to-day work and the challenges ahead.
In Germany, the chances of pursuing a good path in life are very dependent on the parents’ home. Whether a child looks positively at the world, looks forward to the future with anticipation or follows a career path that ensures a solid life and corresponds to his or her own preferences has a lot to do with the environment in which a child grows up. Some homes, for a variety of reasons, are less able to provide a helpful, stable upbringing for their children. For such children, it can be crucial if they experience encouragement, role models and a good environment through other caregivers, such as our ARCHE staff. I am very happy to help here.
For many children, the ARCHE is like a kind of home in the afternoon. There is a joint lunch, support with their homework and a varied afternoon program. Beyond this framework program, we have four focal points that we incorporate into our daily work.
At the moment, we have 25 children enrolled, who are coming four days a week on a mandatory basis.
As a result of the Corona crisis, the distress and excessive demands on families have increased significantly. As a result, there have been several cases of children being taken into care in the past two years. This means that children had to be taken out of the family, sometimes even at their own request. Some children are finding it very difficult to cope with the school deficits that arose during the pandemic. If some parents already only gave or could give very little support with school issues before, then you can imagine how the learning situation of many children looks like nowadays.
First, we would like to expand our work with the “older kids”, the teens. As a rule, our program is designed for children up to the age of 14. For many of them, however, this is when the challenging phase begins. When they start to break away from the parental home, a familiar contact point is even more important. Many need support in order to graduate from school or to master the transition to an apprenticeship.
Secondly, we would like to create a contact point for parents in the format of a parents’ café. If we have good contact and exchange with the parents and support them with their issues and questions, then this will also benefit the children.
Like every year, we organize a Christmas party. During the Advent season, the children prepare everything in groups, bake cookies, practice songs and craft decorations. The Christmas party is definitely always a highlight for everyone.
Donations instead of gifts – according to this slogan Consileon supports further organizations and associations.
Every year Consileon Business Consultancy decides to donate the money for Christmas presents to charities instead. Because nobody really needs a third funky bottle opener or the fifth cool coffee can – instead, numerous needy people are sincerely and heartily happy about our financial contribution.
As a mid-sized consulting company, we have a social responsibility. Not only for our nearly 500 employees. But also for others who are less privileged and less secure and who are in need of support, especially in times of Corona after-effects, energy price crisis and inflation. We also support registered associations that foster networking, connections and collaboration worldwide.
We made a donation to the following organizations in 2022:
A lifetime of work – and yet the pension is not enough for the bare necessities. This fate affects more than three million people in Germany. As the first association of its kind in Germany, LichtBlick Seniorenhilfe e.V. has been working since 2003 to help seniors whose pensions are insufficient for a life of dignity and social participation. Consileon Business Consultancy supports this association and would like to help raise awareness of the issue of poverty among the elderly. That’s why we also talked to Lydia Staltner, the founder of LichtBlick Seniorenhilfe, to learn more about it.
Many years before, I observed an old lady in my neighborhood in Munich. Whether summer or winter – day after day she wore the same worn pair of shoes. At that time I did not dare to approach her and offer her my help. But I could never forget the old lady. In 2003, I founded LichtBlick Seniorenhilfe, the first association in Germany to help elderly people in need. The aim was to overcome the fear of contact that I had felt and to work together to promote aging with dignity.
We are now active in three cities – Munich, Münster and Deggendorf – and on two levels: as helpers in concrete need and as advocates.
About a year ago, many seniors contacted us around the 20th of the month because they had no more money and could not buy anything to eat – now they contact us around the 10th of the month. It can’t be that these people have worked all their lives and once helped to build our country – and now they don’t even have money for the bare necessities.
We support needy pensioners with food vouchers, sponsorships (35 euros a month) and emergency aid for things that are urgently needed. These include, for example, a new television set, payment of an electricity or heating oil bill, and even the occasional new pair of glasses.
Our LichtBlick Seniorenhilfe association helps pensioners over 60 who draw a German pension and receive basic benefits or housing allowance, or whose pension is only just above the assessment threshold. We accompany these people not only over the winter or for a few months, but throughout their lives.
Throughout Germany, the association supports around 25,000 needy senior citizens. In Upper Bavaria, there are around 9,000 poor pensioners. The number is growing every day. A year ago, for example, around 50 new applications a week arrived at our Munich office. Now there are around 100 a week!
The seniors’ need is growing: They simply can’t afford the high prices for electricity, heating and food. Many say, “I’d rather freeze than starve.”
Just recently, a poor pensioner told us that she can no longer afford her daily kiwi – even though she has worked all her life.
Unfortunately, on the other hand, we notice that the willingness to donate is decreasing, because the fear of high energy prices runs through almost all strata of the population. Everyone is trying to save.
Due to the extreme rise in food prices, we have decided on a very special offer: Many of our LichtBlick pensioners will receive a food voucher. So that the fridge doesn’t remain empty at Christmas.
My motto is “Those who help others will themselves receive rich gifts and be happy.”
Donations instead of gifts – according to this slogan Consileon supports further organizations and associations.
