Andreas W. Gerdes Founder & Chairman, iWG

Andreas founded Germany's first mobile service provider (ABC Telekom) at age 20 in his parent's garage in 1987, together with his friend and partner Rene R Obermann. Within four years he successfully sold the business to Li Kashing, Hong Kong's wealthiest entrepreneur, and was instrumental in integrating the business into Hutchison's European telecom operations, which included the Orange Group, third-largest mobile-phone operator in the UK (Orange plc has meanwhile been sold to France Telecom).  Growing restless, Andreas then founded ABC Telecommunications Consultants, which assisted major national telecom players in establishing their multi-billion dollar international operations. He advised telecom power brokers, such as the Dutch PTT and Telefonica of Spain, on investment decisions in mobile communications. Based on his extensive experience and professional business network in Asia, Andreas was a chosen advisor, facilitating, negotiating and supporting investment decisions by Deutsche Telekom's and DeTeMobil in the region.

Andreas is an active member of Rotary International and the World Entrepreneurs' Organization. He co-founded the pan-European Business Incubation Association (BIA Europe) that focuses on promoting business incubators as the key platform for next-generation entrepreneurship in Europe and globally. Moreover, Andreas is an advisor to Europe's leading business schools and universities, including the renowned European Business School. In August 1999, Andreas was nominated as a new member by the distinguished World Technology Network, an international think tank focused on networking new ideas, new relationships, and new business opportunities. In 2001, he was one of the winners of the European Award " Elite of the Future " (Elite der Zukunft), the nominators of which include Egon Zehnder International, BMW, Deutsche Bank and Bertelsmann. Andreas is also a sought-after speaker on Entrepreneurship and TIME (Telecommunications, IT, Media, E-commerce).  In 2003, Andreas co-founded the non-profit foundation Startup Malta that boosts entrepreneurship within young people. Andreas has also been prominently featured in the Financial Times publication "101Leaders of the New Economy." Andreas is a qualified Master in NLP, an art sponsor, a collector of classic cars and loves to travel the cultures and continents of the world. Andreas is a passionate father of two boys, Maximilian and Alexander.