HANS STOISSER
My name is Hans Stoisser. I am 66 years old (2025), consult, write, learn and invest.
Above all, I am concerned with the functioning of social systems.
What does this abstract term mean?
It means that I can contribute precisely when it comes to leading, managing and communicating. I have particular experience when organisations from the German-speaking region collaborate with those from emerging countries.
My networks currently extend to Kenya, Rwanda, Germany and Austria. Previously, they included the USA, Switzerland, South Africa, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Senegal and Cape Verde.
I am a founding member of NextAfrica and Worktank Africa Europe. Until recently, I was an associate at the Global Peter Drucker Forum and a meber of Management Expert St. Gallen (MESG). Prior to that, I was a Licensed Content Associate für Management 3.0, CMC® – Certified Management Consultant and external partner of Management Centre St. Gallen for Africa.
Over the last decade, I have spent a lot of time in East Africa, mainly in Kenya and Rwanda. Most recently, I worked there for an Austrian technology provider for two and a half years . In Rwanda, I was co-founder of the IT outsourcing start-up Code of Africa. And with my company Ecotec, we have organised a total of twelve Learning Journeys on the ‘mobile revolution’ and start-up ecosystem in Nairobi, Kigali and Dakar (Senegal) over the last eight years.
I have written about my insights from working at the interface between Europe and the Global South in two books, articles and blog posts.
I am happy to share my knowledge and learn new things. You can reach me at office@hansstoisser.com.
In 2024 und 2025, I was included by the Africa-Table editorial team in the 100 most influential figures in the German-speaking Africa scene.
What did I do professionally before I turned 50?
My 20s – studying economics and development aid
When I travelled to Africa for the first time in 1982, I became the co-founder of a town twinning partnership in Cape Verde. For two and a half years, I lived in the small town of Pedra Badejo and oversaw the establishment of commercial enterprises and construction projects to expand the town’s infrastructure. At that time, I still experienced the archaic rural structures of a “pre-modern” world. That was before global networks and interdependencies made these countries part of the interconnected global society.
My 30s and 40s – Interdependencies of the new world, manager and management thinker
During my postgraduate studies at Johns Hopkins University in Bologna, Italy, I focused on international relations and gained a better understanding of the increasing interdependencies of our world order.
In 1990/1991, shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain, I assisted Austrian companies with their expansion into neighbouring Eastern European countries. We provided financing and financing guarantees through the state-run ‘East-West Fund’.
In 1992, I took over a family business and managed a contract furniture production company for ten years. We established an Austrian-Slovenian production network.
At that time, I also founded the company ECOTEC – Institutional Infrastructure Development Ltd together with architect Johannes Fiedler. We provided urban development concepts, built municipal infrastructure and were involved in ‘institutional development’ and ‘capacity building’. We were active in Bulgaria, Palestine, Brazil, South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Cape Verde.
In the 2000s, I gradually moved away from development cooperation. We began to support Austrian companies in their internationalisation efforts in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Angola and Mozambique. At the same time, we became an external partner of the Management Centre St. Gallen (now Malik Management). We conducted management training and consulting in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Mozambique.
Hans Stoisser, in November 2025