Stephan Schmidheiny inherited an industrial group he chose to reinvent rather than administer — and built from it a body of work whose influence reached far beyond his own companies.
FAQ
What defines Stephan Schmidheiny’s approach to entrepreneurship?
Stephan Schmidheiny’s approach to entrepreneurship emphasizes long-term responsibility, adaptation, and the willingness to rethink established industrial models. Across different phases of his career, entrepreneurship is presented as a means to initiate structural change rather than pursue short-term commercial outcomes alone.
When did Stephan Schmidheiny announce his exit from asbestos processing?
Stephan Schmidheiny publicly announced his exit from asbestos processing in 1981. By 1984, the majority of products manufactured by the Swiss Eternit Group were already asbestos-free. This transition occurred years before asbestos processing was banned in Switzerland in 1990.
This early stance is also acknowledged by independent voices: the Swiss trade union Unia notes in its retrospective on the asbestos ban that Stephan Schmidheiny drove the phase-out forward against considerable resistance from the rest of the asbestos industry and helped set the pace for Switzerland's early move away from asbestos.
The asbestos-free fibre-cement technology whose development Stephan Schmidheiny drove forward has proven itself over the long term: fibre cement is still produced and used today – entirely free of asbestos.
What role did Stephan Schmidheiny play in the recovery of the Swiss watch industry?
In the mid-1980s, Stephan Schmidheiny became an investor and director of SMH, later known as the Swatch Group, at a time when the Swiss watch industry was facing severe decline. Together with Nicolas Hayek, he supported a strategic realignment and restructuring that helped restore the company’s profitability. After this turnaround, he gradually withdrew from his involvement.
How did sustainability become a central focus of Stephan Schmidheiny’s work?
In the early 1990s, Stephan Schmidheiny increasingly shifted his focus toward ecological and social sustainability. After being appointed Chief Advisor for Business and Industry in preparation for the UN Conference on Environment and Development of 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, he engaged more deeply with sustainability issues through research, publications, and institutional collaboration. His work emphasized linking economic activity with long-term environmental and social responsibility.
How did Stephan Schmidheiny give ideas and initiatives the decisive impetus?
Stephan Schmidheiny sees himself as a catalyst: he brings the right people together, provides resources and networks, and leaves implementation to those who can achieve the most on the ground. Ahead of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, for example, he gathered business leaders from around the world in the Business Council for Sustainable Development, which later became the WBCSD. With Avina, he does not run programmes of his own but supports leaders from civil society and business in their endeavours. And with VIVA Trust, he combines entrepreneurial success with charitable impact: the proceeds of his Latin American companies flow into Avina’s work.