METRO is happy about eleven "Own Business Girls" and welcomes Düsseldorf's youngest founders

The search for Düsseldorf's youngest founders is over: The eleven girls born on International Women's Day in Düsseldorf were presented with their first own business cards by METRO at the company's headquarters yesterday. This is linked to a fixed-term deposit with interest and has a value of 2,000 euros. It is intended to help the "Own Business Girls" from their 18th birthday onwards to realise the dream of their own company. The background to the campaign is the publication of the second part of the international "Own Business Study"¹, which shows that many women dream of taking the step into self-employment, but rarely dare to do so.

"We are very pleased that our search for the 'Own Business Girls' was so successful and that we were able to welcome the future little founders and their parents personally yesterday," says Heiko Hutmacher, HR Director of METRO AG. "With this campaign we want to draw attention to an important result of our 'Own Business Study': In Germany there are still too many hurdles that prevent women from realising their business ideas - including a lack of financial support.

One of the eleven Own Business Girls is little Johanna. Like nine other families, her parents accepted the invitation to the METRO AG headquarters. Over coffee, cake and balloons, the future Own Business Girls were welcomed and received their first own business card. "Of course, our child is worth so much more than 2,000 euros, but thanks to the starting capital, our little one will later have even more opportunities to shape her future," explained the newly born father René Schmitz. His daughter Johanna was born early in the morning of this year's International Women's Day on 8 March in Düsseldorf's Marienhospital.

The financial partner of the campaign is the HypoVereinsbank - Member of UniCredit. "We are pleased to support the METRO Aktion, which is intended to help ensure that there are more women entrepreneurs here in Düsseldorf in the future," said Daniela Gottwald, Branch Manager Private Customer Business Düsseldorf. "Since 2012, we have been supporting women entrepreneurs on their way to self-employment as part of the nationwide HVB mentoring programme. That's why we know how important it is to give motivating impulses on all aspects of setting up a business". HypoVereinsbank invests the start-up capital for 18 years at two percent in a fixed-term deposit.

"Of course, we do not know yet which ideas and wishes might actually be realised by the small founders later on", says Heiko Hutmacher. "But in any case, we can make a contribution with our campaign to support women on the way to their own businesses - and we are very pleased about that".

¹ METRO surveyed 10,000 people in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania, Turkey, Russia and China in August and September 2017. The Own Business Study was published as part of the second Own Business Day initiated by METRO, which takes place every year worldwide on the second Tuesday in October.

METRO is a leading international specialist in wholesale and food trading. The company is active in 35 countries and employs more than 150,000 people worldwide. In the financial year 2016/17 METRO generated sales of around € 37 billion. The company provides tailor-made solutions for the local and international needs of its wholesale and retail customers. With its sales brands METRO/MAKRO Cash & Carry and Real as well as delivery services and digitisation initiatives, METRO sets the standards of tomorrow: for customer focus, digital solutions and sustainable business models.