On July 2, 2016, right after the meetings at Caux, Monica and Folker Mittag drove Sarosh Ghandy (chairman of CIB International) to their home near Hannover, Germany. The next day was used for rest after the meetings at Caux as well as the long hours driving. Besides that, work on the minutes from the two main CIB meetings at Caux was started.

On Monday morning (July 4), the discussions about the development of CIB in different countries went on. It seems that new developments are possible in Africa and Europe. In the afternoon, two guests, Br. Helmut and Br. Markus came to see Sarosh and renew their link with CIB. Both had attended the CIB conferences at Panchgani. During the exchange of ideas on how to develop CIB Germany, they both offered their location in Volkenroda to be used for a Round Table in Germany and to be used to build a team for CIB Germany. This will be followed up by Folker.

On Tuesday, our next guest travelled more than five hours by train (one way) to meet Sarosh and to learn more about CIB International and how to help build a team for CIB Germany. Folker shared news about his visits to Frankfurt and Flensburg to speak to businessmen and management students. He also spoke about business people in various European countries and their interest in CIB.

The discussions then focused on the best way to build a chapter for CIB in Germany. The main obstacle is the history of MRA/IofC in this country. Right after WW II, MRA played an important role in rebuilding the country with the help of many international friends and conferences at Caux. At that time, many German business people were involved in this work. Today, most of them are not working in business any longer and a new network has to be set up. Most of Folker’s recent contacts are not aware, that MRA/IofC still exists and are wondering why it is not known anymore. The next step could be an international programme in Germany to get interested people in touch with CIB to spread the knowledge about the main theme: “Be ethical and still competitive”.

Since Sarosh had to return home to India, his short two-day visit to deepen our friendship and inform more people about what is going on in CIB was nevertheless very valuable. We all hope that this has helped to launch CIB in this part of the world.

Thanks Sarosh and come back soon.

Report by Folker Mittag, Germany