ALL EYES ON DÜSSELDORF HIDDEN CHAMPIONS

In its state-wide study, the NRW state government identified 34 hidden champions in Düsseldorf alone. These three examples alone show just how different they are: The tea bag manufacturer TEEPACK Spezialmaschinen, the plant manufacturer GEA with a multi-billion euro turnover and the start-up Volunteer World, an online portal for worldwide volunteering.

Hermann Simon has helped Germany‘s small and medium-sized businesses gain more prestige with the concept of hidden champions. A conversation about specialism, false modesty and the success of sausage skin clips.

Düsseldorf is home to a variety of coffee houses. And more are springing up all the time: the number of trendy coffee locations that attract visitors at any time of day with their cosy ambience, tasty delights and cultural diversity keeps growing. In the city centre, but also in other boroughs. The focus of interest lies not only on individual roasts that give each coffee its own, distinctive flavour. The origin of the beans is also crucial: sustainability and fair trade were never as important to coffee connoisseurs as they are today. Four coffee houses from Düsseldorf present their concepts!

Despite the pandemic, Düsseldorf‘s start-up ecosystem is flourishing. That is reflected by some impressive figures for 2021. 500 startups with more than 5,400 employees were recorded - that‘s an increase of 23 percent compared to the previous year! 103 start-ups were founded here - that‘s an increase of 12 per cent compared to 2020! So we can look forward to seeing how the success story continues this year. Also contributing to this are these three start-ups from Düsseldorf, who are likewise undeterred by the current particularly difficult conditions: Camper Active, Livello and UPLINK Network.

She is the woman to whom celebrities like Nazan Eckes, Franziska Knuppe and Liz Mohn entrust their beauty and have relied on her beauty and fashion sense for many years. Laila Hamidi doesn‘t like to talk about her celebrity clientele. Styling means discretion. As a self-employed beauty artist, she handled numerous glamorous events and travelled around the world, to the Cannes Film Festival, the Bambi awards, the parties surrounding the Oscars in Hollywood, Fashion Week in Berlin or the Rose Ball in Monaco. All that changed with the outbreak of the pandemic: during the times of COVID-19, the stars stayed at home and the previously successful business concept lost its very foundations overnight. But Laila Hamidi soon devised a new plan. We meet her in the Steigenberger Parkhotel on Königsallee, an environment in which the Afghan feels at home today.

The individually crafted pieces of jewellery by Ariane Ernst Jewelry enjoy great popularity: there are often long queues of eager customers for specials such as the annual birthdays in the store on Bilker Allee. But it‘s not just business that‘s going well in Düsseldorf; Freiburg native Ariane Ernst now loves living here, too.

The street magazine fiftyfifty, founded in Düsseldorf, is known far beyond the region and has many prominent supporters. VIVID editor Rainer Kunst spoke with managing director Hubert Ostendorf about entrepreneurship, the current Housing First project, civic engagement and the future of fiftyfifty.

KAP1 is the new cultural centre in the former post office building at the main station. The FFT and the central library have found a new home here. VIVID met Stephan Schwering, head of the central library, for a tour of the new premises.