Family plays a major role in the life of Hans Georg Näder. He is at the helm of a billion-dollar company Otto Bock, which his grandfather founded over 100 years ago and his father subsequently continued to run. Now, for more than 30 years, the responsibility has been in the hands of Hans Georg Näder. However, the management of the company in the next generation will be female - his daughters, Julia and Georgina Näder are already part of the company.
The story took its course over 100 years ago. In January 1919, Otto Bock founded Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH, then still under the name Orthopädische Industrie GmbH in Berlin. The demand for prostheses and other orthopedic products was high. The First World War had just ended, and many soldiers were seriously injured. Otto Bock wanted to contribute to society and provide help.
Four years before the company was founded, the next generation of the company was born. Max Näder was born in Oberweißbach in 1915. At the age of 20, he joined the company, at that time still as an apprentice orthopedic mechanic. Seven years later, he married his girlfriend Maria. She was the daughter of the company founder Otto Bock. After his marriage, he lived for several years as an English prisoner of war. In 1947, he returned to Duderstadt and founded Otto Bock Orthopädische Industrie GmbH. He managed the GmbH until his 75th birthday.
In 1961, he was the only son, Hans Georg, of family entrepreneurs Max and Maria Näder. His life proceeded as was normal at the time. After school, he spent his free time riding mopeds du n the weekend celebrating and partying. After graduating from high school, he first completed an internship in his father’s company. He then studied business administration in Nuremberg.
In 1990, the time had finally come: Max Näder handed over the business to his son. At just 28 years old, Hans Georg Näder is now CEO of the billion-dollar group. The criticisms from outside are great. “How is such a young guy with no orthopedic technical training, who has just graduated, supposed to run such a large company?” Admittedly, these thoughts are not entirely unjustified. But Näder had better prove it to all the critics. Under his leadership, the company continued to develop rapidly. With the turn of the millennium in mind, Näder introduced new fields of operation. These included, for example, the field of EDP technology. This was to be the foundation stone for the digitalization service provider Sycor. Otto Bock Holding GmbH was now positioned in the health care, plastics and IT sectors and was able to demonstrate and realize enormous growth potential.
1990 was also the year of the birth of Näder’s first daughter, Julia Näder. After graduating from Louisenlund boarding school, she also studied business administration. Parallel to her studies, she was able to fulfill a childhood dream: owning her own riding stable. At the age of just 22, she took over the equestrian facility in Uetz, near Berlin. The focus here is on animal welfare. Through renovation measures and extensive renovations, a species-appropriate husbandry for the animals should be made possible.
One day after signing the purchase contract, however, a heavy blow of fate occurred for Julia Näder. In a riding accident she fell from her horse and broke her back and some ribs. Since then she has been dependent on orthopedic assistance to support her back. She can no longer compete in equestrian sports herself. Göttinger Tagesblatt 5 October 2021
Julia Näder has also been part of the family empire since 2018. As a member of the board, the now 31-year-old has an important position and a lot of responsibility.
Hans Georg Näder has another daughter. Georgina Näder, born in 1997, is taking a similar path to her big sister. She also graduates from Louisenlund boarding school. However, she then moved to Barcelona to study “Business Administration and Innovation in Healthcare”.
Parallel to her studies, Georgina Näder already took on responsibility in the family business in 2017. Her father secured her a place on the management and supervisory boards. The then 20-year-old is thus one of the youngest to hold such a high position. For Georgina, however, this was a great motivation to prove herself.
With her own start-up “Maluwa Superfoods”, she pursues the vision of giving children in developing countries a better life. So every day of these Superfoods products supports a development project in Rwanda. Handelsblatt 8 February 2021