I moved to the Waterloo Region from Germany in 1983 to manage the family business (Ontario Drive & Gear Limited) which was established in Kitchener, back in 1962.

In the early 1960s, my father contacted a delegation from Kitchener under the leadership of Mr. Beingessner Senior who had traveled to Germany to promote investment in Waterloo Region. He subsequently visited Kitchener and founded Ontario Drive & Gear Limited as a subsidiary of his gear manufacturing company in Munich, Germany. My father himself has never lived in Canada, but by the early 1980s ODG had grown to the point where we felt it needed the direct attention of a member of the family.

Although I had a good idea of what to expect when I was moving to Canada, I’m still trying to get used to the cold winters! What I didn’t expect was an extremely warm and welcoming community. I felt right at home from the start, and have never felt like a stranger or outsider in this town. While finding a family doctor was a challenge even then, we managed to find one with the help of our friends, and we are still with that same doctor to this day. 

The biggest challenge I faced was adapting to the North American business culture, something I had to familiarize myself with in order to run the company effectively. Additionally I had some difficulty transferring my credentials to Canada from Germany. After graduating from The Technical University of Munich, a prime engineering university in Germany, and having worked as a professional engineer for two years, I was told that my credentials were not easily transferrable to Ontario. I contacted the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario to find out what I had to do to get accredited. I was told that I had to re-write the engineering exam in exactly the same subjects I had already graduated in back in Germany four years earlier. Despite these disappointments, my immigration to Canada has otherwise been a very positive experience.

Moving to a new country can be intimidating, but I’m happy I was lucky enough to land in such a welcoming community.