Interviews

New York is one of the most popular destinations in the world. If you want to give your stay a very special flair, The Greenwich Hotel, whose owners include Robert De Niro, is just right. European Business spoke to managing director Philip L. Truelove about the hotel´s very special style, forms of hospitality and his personal favorite places.

Having a barbecue outside with family and friends is a popular summer activity. You might have used an aluminium portable barbecue to cook your vegetables and meat for this. But there is a problem: it is not sustainable. Danish company CasusGrill has developed a biodegradable 100% natural single-use grill. European Business talked to founder and CEO Carsten Nygaard Brøgger about the advantages of the CasusGrill and found out how you can decrease CO2-emissions.

Why buy a ride when you can build one yourself – and foster your children’s engineering skills in the process? That’s the idea behind Infento: The Dutch company manufactures and sells kits from which children ages two and up and their parents can build actual rides. European Business spoke with Infento’s co-founder Sander Letema about the rave response his product garnered from customers and Kickstarter investors, the importance of engineering skills for succeeding in the jobs of the 21st century and why children’s shorter attention spans are no problem for Infento’s ride kits.

Are the days of drinking cows’ milk coming to an end? Plant-based alternatives are currently gaining a lot of attention and importance. The Swedish brand Oatly is known worldwide for its oat milk. Only a few years ago, it conquered the US-market and launched a post-milk trend. We spoke with Communication Manager Linda Nordgren about the differences between oat milk and cows’ milk, the health benefits of consuming oat milk and sustainability.

Sponsorship fast tracks careers. In her new book "The Sponsor Effect" economist and author Sylvia Ann Hewlett quantifies the benefits that accrue to both the sponsor and the protege in this powerful relationship. It is not a "one way street." European Business talked to her about the differences between sponsorship and mentorship, the tactics that allow senior executives to maximize their investment in junior talent and the tactics that allow junior talent to win sponsorship. Threaded through this book are remarkable portraits of sponsor/protege pairs - vivid examples of how this relationship works when it crosses the lines of gender, race and generation.

How to turn the clock back – without going under the knife: That is what many people dream of. And there is no end of new products that promise just that. But can they really keep what they promise? We talked to Natalie Franz, founder and Managing Director of Magicstripes. She has developed adhesive strips that rejuvenate the eyes and also work to combat droopy eyelids. In an interview with European Business, Natalie Franz explains exactly how they work and why customers choose them.

Think of watches and you automatically think of Switzerland. The country is home to many of the world’s most prestigious watch brands; many are distinct in their style, all are sophisticated and well made. Few, however, can generally be described as fun. RJ Watches SA offers its customers something unique; a high-end, exclusive brand with highly creative, limited edition timepieces made from materials that, in some cases, have made history. RJ Watches’ CEO, Marco Tedeschi, explained to European Business just what makes RJ Watches different and what the firm is doing to develop its business while retaining its niche.

Endel has recently made headlines, when the app’s founders signed a deal with Warner Music to release more than a dozen albums this year, even though they wouldn’t call their service music. Instead, they prefer the term “functional sound”, which, when played in the background, helps its users relax, sleep or focus. European Business spoke with the company’s founders Oleg Stavitsky and Vlad Pinskij about the thin line between science and art, their ambition to use big data to improve their users’ lives and not sell them ads, and why their service has garnered much greater traction abroad than in the company’s native Germany.

Waste is everywhere and unfortunately, we cannot avoid producing even more. But it is time for a change, we are facing a worldwide waste crisis. US-company Loop has a solution: a global shopping platform to eliminate waste by transforming the packaging of everyday products into multi-use designs. We talked to founder Tom Szaky about the new service and hygienic standards coming along with it as well as his vision of a waste-free future.

Imagine how it would be if you were able to not just watch your favourite football team play on television but see all of the relevant player statistics at the same time. When Bayern Munich take to the pitch, you can read all about goalkeeper Manuel Neuer’s vital statistics and use that information to score points with family and friends. With Augmented Reality (AR), the Munich-based start-up eyecandylab transforms two-dimensional information into interactive content. European Business spoke to Managing Director and co-founder Robin Sho Moser about how you can bring AR into your own living room, how it can improve the viewing experience and what the future of AR in Germany holds.