‘International cooperation is immensely important for Germany’
Susanne Friedrich has been at the helm of the Agency for Business and Economic Development (AWE) since July. She inherited a team that since the beginning of the year has been redefining and building itself. How does she view her first 100 days and with what plans and ideas will she take AWE into the new year?
Interviewer: There’s no second chance for first impressions. What were your first thoughts when you joined AWE?
Susanne Friedrich: My first thought was that the agency has huge potential! In an era in which geopolitical tensions, conflicts, climate change and other crises put their stamp on world events, we have to make a special effort to improve Germany’s networking at international level. We have to nurture our relations with countries in the Global South, and this brings benefits for both sides. Private sector actors with their expertise and financial resources play a central role here. AWE is ideally equipped to leverage these resources for international cooperation. On the one hand, we have technical expertise in the themes of the future, such as energy, digitalisation and health, to give just a few examples. On the other hand, we know the projects of German development cooperation and its political, business and civil society partners in the countries of the Global South. This means we can advise private sector actors on building successful business models in the Global South and at the same time make a meaningful contribution to economic transformation.
Die Erwartungen an uns sind hoch
Interviewer: What made you decide to take over as head of AWE?
Friedrich: Cooperation with the private sector is increasingly recognised in development cooperation circles as a decisive lever for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. AWE is the key development cooperation actor if we are looking to harness this potential in cooperation with other actors. This offers enormous scope for action and for shaping developments but at the same time brings with it many challenges and high expectations. Both aspects appeal to me and spur me on. In my view, work should be fun too, and this is exactly the right mixture.
Interviewer: What have you learned already at AWE?
Friedrich: I’ve taken a lot of time to get to know and understand the various partners at AWE. There are many actors with widely diverging perspectives. Based on its understanding of social responsibility, the German skilled trades sector would like to make a contribution in international vocational training. The Federation of German Industries (BDI) expects development cooperation to play a part in tackling the major strategic challenges facing the German economy, for example securing raw materials in conflict situations. The trade unions are fighting for social justice as economic systems evolve. Partners in the Global South on the other hand expect us to put sustainability aspects on the agenda and bring in German investors to establish and expand value chains. These are all legitimate interests. The expectations placed on us are sometimes very high. We therefore have to find a good way to prioritise and structure our work so that we can implement specific solutions with measurable success.
Interviewer: What were the most important decisions you took in your first 100 days?
Friedrich: AWE today is a fusion of three predecessor projects. So, first of all we had to develop a common perspective on how to fulfil our mandate, and then reach clear agreements on how we should proceed along this path. AWE has enormous know-how and a wealth of experience. Our task is to find the best way to combine these elements. At the same time, with a shrinking budget we cannot always focus on current developments in all thematic areas. We need good partners that we can call on to provide this expertise. That’s why I felt it was important to take a look at all our services from the customer perspective – and to do this together in the team. Having done this, we are now optimising our processes and interfaces. As a result, we’ll be starting the new year well prepared.
Wichtige Beiträge zur nachhaltigen Gestaltung unserer Wirtschaften
Interviewer: Where do you see AWE’s major strengths?
Friedrich: Various things come to mind. Firstly, in Division 411 at BMZ we have a client with whom we have a very trusting and creative working relationship. For this I’m most thankful, because it’s essential for our success. Secondly, AWE has an excellent team with a wide range of expertise, good networks and a lot of experience in dealing with companies. Our advisors have to ‘translate’ the language of development cooperation into business logic and at the same time be able to spot opportunities in order to bring the right partners together at the right place. This calls for a lot of experience, not to mention openness and curiosity. And thirdly, over the years AWE has built up an excellent network of partner institutions, companies and actors from academia and civil society with whom we cooperate exceedingly well. I’m therefore very confident that – even against the background of social tensions and a sometimes very critical attitude towards development cooperation – we can make specific and important contributions towards shaping sustainable economic systems. We must be realistic about what development cooperation can achieve, but we should not be too modest. In my opinion the importance of international cooperation for Germany cannot be rated too highly.
Interviewer: What experience from your career to date is most helpful to you at AWE and why?
Friedrich: For decades I’ve been bringing together various actors with different perspectives from the private sector and politics, and creating spaces in which they can develop innovative and practical solutions to specific problems. If you create the right conditions, in particular trust and transparency, this can work fantastically well. With AVE, I’m very confident we’ll be able in future to harness and capitalise on the potential that lies in the interplay between diverse actors. I’m also setting store in a very stable and wide-ranging network of relationships that I’ve built up over years in my professional career. This opens many doors in my new role and also gives me the critical feedback I need to continually improve.
Interviewer: Since joining AWE what have you found that you intend to change?
Friedrich: With respect to cooperation with the private sector, we have only recently been given the task of raising the impact of existing German DC projects in the countries of the Global South. Among other things, we have bolstered our presence at foreign locations. We are now focusing all our efforts on matching the companies’ long-term business interests with the sustainability requirements of our partner countries. Here, we are making good use of the development cooperation structures in the Global South as a door opener. Our colleagues there are keen to cooperate more closely with us. We would like to offer a structured and flexible range of support services to them and also to the chambers of commerce abroad, with whom we have been working very successfully in many countries for years. Our task now is to breathe life into this matchmaking function, and we are working flat out on this.
Unternehmen können von vielen Finanzierungs- und Beratungsinstrumenten profitieren
Interviewer: If things go according to plan, where will AWE be in five years?
Friedrich: In five years, AWE will be used in the same way as AWF (foreign trade promotion) as a central point of contact for companies that are actively involved in sustainability topics in the Global South. This applies especially to small and medium-sized German enterprises. Various beacon projects attest to the success of cooperation. That’s my vision.
Interviewer: Why should companies work with AWE?
Friedrich: We set ourselves apart from foreign trade and investment promotion through our focus on sustainability in the countries of the Global South. Any company that wants to make a contribution in this field can benefit from numerous financing and advisory instruments, for example develoPPP, ImpactConnect, the Infodesk Ukraine and the Helpdesk on Business and Human Rights, to name but a few. But we can also seek out tailored solutions in which companies are able to make a contribution with their expertise, technology and financial resources. Try it for yourself!
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