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Article

Christian Kucza

With the help of the EGF, Christian Kucza has started his own tree care and gardening business

With the help of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) project for the GMH Guss Group foundries, 53-year-old Christian Kucza has started his own tree care and gardening business in Duisburg. The process was not always easy, but it was definitely worth it, he says.

Without the individual support and funding via the EGF project, I probably would never have made the move into self-employment.

For 30 years I worked as a foundry mechanic at Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte in Mülheim an der Ruhr. There was strong cohesion among the workers. The layoffs hit most of us very hard. I definitely did not want to start working at another foundry, but I also did not have a concrete idea of what else I could do. I told my advisor at the transfer company BOB Transfer GmbH that I was good with my hands and that I had a passion for wood and nature. Together we started thinking about tree care and gardening. I was able to acquire all the necessary qualifications related to tree care (e.g. rope climbing, tree assessment, work safety). So I created new prospects for myself.

Having my own business was the best option for me in the field, but I had no idea how to get started and was afraid I would not be successful. Through the EGF project, I attended a seminar presenting all the basics about starting a business. There was all a lot of material that was completely new to me. My advisor encouraged me, though, and explained that the path to self-employment could be supported via the EGF. I received support from the very beginning. I was able to take advantage of coaching with a business start-up consultant, who helped me flesh out my business idea and create a business plan. I worked through the bureaucratic things that I would not have thought I could do on my own step by step.

I also received EGF funds so that I could purchase all the things I needed to get started (machines, climbing equipment, laptop, protective work clothes, etc.). Of course, that took a great burden off my shoulders.

In the end, all the effort was worth it. I love my work. I love being outdoors, nature, tree work, gardening, and connecting with people. Without the individual support and funding via the EGF project, I probably would never have made the move into self-employment.