Editorial

You can't do it alone.
With this introduction I started my editorial in the last issue of the SEQUA-Forum. At that time it was about private-private partnerships between chambers or associations. Today I add: One plus one is more than two. This time we present development partnerships with industry. In the Federal Government's Public Private Partnership Programme (PPP), companies and the public sector work together to achieve both development policy and entrepreneurial goals.
 
SEQUA has been working as an implementing organisation in the PPP programme for eight years. During this time, we have worked together with companies to develop and support 69 - predominantly successful - projects in 31 countries. In a survey we found out that 70 percent of the companies came to us as PPP implementing organisations via a recommendation. This explains why companies were reluctant to approach the programme in the early stages. In the meantime, it has become clear that awareness is good - recommendation is better. 95 percent of our partner companies stated in the survey after completion of the project that they had had "positive or very positive" experiences with SEQUA.
 
If both survey results are taken together, they also provide an explanation for the fact that the number of enquiries from companies is growing continuously. Of course, we are pleased with these results. But the better is the enemy of the good. That is why the good feedback is not a cushion of peace for us, but an incentive to become even better - in terms of sustainability, broad impact and developmental impact. After all, in this programme we act as an extended arm of the public sector. If we also look at the results of the public-private partnership projects, it becomes clear that "public" and "private" can achieve more in their cooperation than each for itself. In the PPP programme, one plus one is actually more than two

Gebhard Weiss, Managing Director