Clemens Englert: With contacts to entrepreneurial spirit

His father had already run a few restaurants as a chef before continuing his entrepreneurial career in Leipzig. It was only there that he met his future wife and business partner and started a family with her. "For us as siblings, our parents' experiences in the restaurant business were extremely instructive. They showed us how to deal with stressful situations and that, in addition to performance, it takes courage and a willingness to take risks to realize yourself," mentions Englert, who - in line with his parents' credo "If you want money, you have to work" - started waitressing at the age of 16. "In addition, our parents' independence was one of the reasons why we as a family always tried to make the little time we had together as enjoyable as possible," adds Englert.

In everything that Clemens Englert did and still does today, he acts according to the philosophy of "doing instead of complaining". "This attitude inevitably leads to slipping into positions where you have leverage and influence," notes Englert, who spent two years as a student representative at school and one year as a student senator at university, where, among other things, he reopened communication between a new school management and the student body and between a new university management and the student body. And as an intern at Straßenkinder e.V., he had to learn how to tackle concrete problems with ingenuity: in this case, communicating with supermarkets and wholesalers and distributing the food and clothing they provided to children in need.

After leaving school, Clemens Englert took the time he needed to find out what his strengths and weaknesses were and which course of study suited him best. "Whether in thought or in conversation, it became increasingly clear that university should not only be a place of excellent academic education, but also a place where you are expressly encouraged to take the reins and actively shape your own environment," explains Englert. A very close friend, who was still studying at ZU at the time, urged him to take a look at the university on Lake Constance. "I was particularly intrigued by the PioneerPort, where you can realize your own start-up ideas," adds Englert, who visited ZU no fewer than four times during his final year and - as he puts it himself - "learned to love the university and its people and took them to his heart".

At the selection day, Clemens Englert was asked to work with other applicants in a case study to develop ideas for an online training portal that was faced with the problem of not having access to former training participants. This may have sharpened his focus and - as soon as the CME program had begun - he turned his attention to a more lively and stronger exchange between students and alumni. A unique opportunity arose immediately during the introductory week: when the friend who had brought him to ZU approached him and asked whether he and two fellow students would like to take over the student initiative "Tatendrang e.V.", which he runs. "Our plan was to facilitate meeting and exchange formats in which our former students could pass on their expertise and entrepreneurial spirit to our current students and network with each other to create synergies - be it through internships or working student jobs. Because it was and is important to us to maintain the spirit of our experimental community," explains Englert.

In the end, Clemens Englert took over the "Startup Village" under the umbrella of the student initiative "Tatendrang" and came up with a system to make processes and collaboration more efficient. Around 15 members are involved in four teams, each headed by a Head. "The good thing about this is that the respective overall management doesn't have to make every small decision themselves, which has increased the speed of our work enormously," explains Englert.

In addition to workshops and talks spread throughout the semester, the first major event was the Village Hub 2024, which brought together twelve founders and around 80 students. "After six months of preparation, it was a wonderful moment to finally meet some of our alumni in person and welcome them back to our university," says Englert. The student team even managed to double the number of participants at the Village Hub 2025. Last year, there was also a Village Night in Berlin, where most alumni and alumnae gather. True to the ZU claim "between business, culture and politics", a member of the Bundestag, a marketing manager of a music label and a business angel and investor spoke from the ranks of former students. "Because the Village Hub is also to be opened up to students from other universities this year and the demand for such events is still immense, I firmly expect the hub to continue to grow," says Englert, who is now on the Advisory Board.

Another contact was made in the very first semester and with this contact came a job that Clemens Englert still holds today, when digital strategist and strategy consultant Maks Giordano offered the position of a new employee at the end of a course. "For me as a first-year student, the job naturally offered a unique opportunity to work with an inspiring person who is on a first-name basis with some of the most influential entrepreneurs in Germany," says Englert, who was ultimately offered the job alongside another fellow student. "My job is to support Maks Giordano in his research into future trends, including the question of how artificial intelligence will affect the labor market in general and the work culture in a media company in particular."