Peter Schüßler: From Kreissparkasse Waiblingen to Ghana
1. In which institution of the Sparkassen Finance Group did you start your career and what brought you to the Sparkasse?
I joined the Sparkassen Finance Group after graduating from university via Sparkassenverlag GmbH in 1988. I worked for Sparkassenverlag GmbH for about 2 years as a card systems officer, then I went through a trainee program for training in corporate banking at Kreissparkasse Waiblingen, followed by 2 years of corporate customer processing.
2. How long did you work for this institution? Please describe your Sparkassen-career briefly.
I then worked for 3 years as a corporate customer advisor, division manager and deputy department manager at Kreissparkasse Waiblingen (SWN) until the end of 1995. In 1996 I changed to the (then Württemberg Sparkassen and Giro Association, (WSGV)) Sparkassen Association Baden-Württemberg (SVBW). In management consulting, I was responsible for the development and consulting of the Sparkassen in Baden-Württemberg in subject areas such as sales concepts and corporate customer processes. With an interruption between 2002 and 2004, I worked for the SVBW until 2008. For this period, the then president of the SVBW, Heinrich Haasis, had granted me and my wife Susanne Giese (who was also employed by the SVBW) leave of absence for a 3-year assignment for the German Development Service (DED) in Burkina Faso.
3. When did you start your career at German Sparkassenstiftung and what motivated you to work in international cooperation?
My first assignment for German Sparkassenstiftung was in 2001, when my wife and I went on a short-term mission to Uganda. The assignment was to work with and for Postbank Uganda to revise its strategy. My first long-term assignment for German Sparkassenstiftung was from 2012 to 2017, when I supported the Bank of Zambia in implementing the "National Strategy of Financial Education". My first long-term assignment in development cooperation (DC) was for DED, as mentioned above. I had a second assignment in DC (as did my wife) for GIZ as a coordinator for sustainable economic development. Here I had points of contact with the German Sparkassenstiftung, as both projects worked with the Ghanaian credit union. My motivation to work in development cooperation and later for German Sparkassenstiftung is manifold. In general, I want to bring the knowledge and experience I gained in Germany to developing countries to advance their development. For the last 9 years, I have worked for German Sparkassenstiftung as a long term expert and in numerous short-term assignments. Here, I have been motivated by German Sparkassenstiftung's (long-term) approach to empower the respective partner organizations to offer adequate (financial and non-financial) services to their target groups, thus promoting financial inclusion of broad sections of the population. Of course, curiosity about other countries, people and cultures has also been a deciding factor for me to choose this work and life.
4. What valuable experience have you taken with you from your work at Sparkassen Finance Group to your project region?
I am currently working on developing a strategy for credit unions to finance small and micro enterprises. Here, I can draw on numerous components that we had developed and introduced at the Sparkassen Association Baden-Württemberg (SVBW). Among other things, the partners are familiarized with topics such as risk-oriented credit conditions, development and introduction of lean credit processes, use of scoring to standardize credit decisions, etc. These are then integrated into the project work, while keeping in mind that it is essential to adapt these components to the Ghanaian context.
You can learn more about our projects in Ghana here.
