Camping Trade World – Issue 05

BENJAMIN BAUR INDUSTRY VIEWS
▲ The Baur team has learned to work smarter during the challenges of the financial crash in 2009 and the pandemic more recently.
An important sentence that I learned in the last year is “never
waste a crisis,” – we did that. And I can honestly say that after
this crisis we are in better shape than we would have been without.
CEO OF KONRAD BAUR – BENJAMIN BAUR
also on the supplier side. We
have a very positive experience
in our complete supply chain.
I think to have the consistency
that being a family business
gives you is a big positive point.
In terms of your personal career,
was this your f irst job in the
industry? How did you end up
here?
To be honest, yes it is my first
real job. I was studying until
2009, during my vacations
between 2007 and then I was
working in the company helping
out. When you have a family
business, this is normal. When
I finished studying, I started
looking around for other jobs.
At the time Baur was in a
healthy position but it didn’t
really need anyone else at that
moment – it was too small
really. While I was looking for
a job, I still helped out, I was
the truck driver at the company.
Then in 2009 the financial
crisis hit. We came through it
okay and by the time I really
did manage to find a new job,
Baur was constantly growing.
Fresh from my engineering
studies, I had some nice ideas
to bring into the company, so I
decided to join. It hasn’t always
been easy, it has been a hell
of a ride, but it is extremely
challenging and has brought
me a completely different kind
of work that I love. I really fell
for being an entrepreneur and
the challenges and rewards that
brings. When you are your own
company, there are no excuses.
You cannot say “I’m sorry, this
is not my fault,” because in the
end you have to deal with it.
When you learn these lessons,
they become a big part of your
experiences and your life.
Obviously, the last 18 months
have been challenging for business
to say the least. What have been
your experiences and how have
you met those challenges?
On the one hand, it was a very
challenging time when the
pandemic first occurred. I also
have to say that the last 10 years
have been challenging. We will
always face new challenges, but
it is not so that we have not
faced and overcome challenges
in the past.
Of course, there were
moments where we did not
know what would happen
during the pandemic, and like
everyone else, we had to think
about the worst case scenarios
from time to time. But the
other thing is that we learned
that our business has very solid
foundations. We have a fantastic
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