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7:32 – Realizing corporate life isn’t for you
28:32 – Hiring strategies
32:57 – Handling divergent expectations within the company
45:14 – Setting and changing targets
49:17 – Work-life balance
Roman is best known as the Founder and CEO of UrbanFarmers, a company dedicated to building commercial food production systems in and around cities. Together with Andreas Graber, he has developed UrbanFarmers’ vision how food could be grown in an urban space at a large scale. He noticed the trend abroad and learned about a breakthrough Swiss technology that could make it more reliable and sustainable. Since 2011, UrbanFarmers has become a technology leader in Aquaponics, saving water, energy and nutrients to grow fish and plants in a closed-loop.
Roman graduated from University of St. Gallen with an M.A. in Accounting, Finance and Controlling. Before starting UrbanFarms, he has a worked with various large companies in the food and health sector, such as P&G, Novartis and Franke Group.
“Entrepreneurship is about drive and passion, but it’s also about management and leadership.”
“There’s a lot of inefficiency in agriculture. I think urban farming will play a role in fixing that.”
“I would not trade skills over passion. If someone is passionate, that goes a long way.”
“A friend of mine told me: it takes a long time to achieve instant success.”
“Having a great partner at home is a key ingredient for entrepreneurial success.”
“It’s difficult to separate your professional life from your personal one, when you’re an entrepreneur. You bring it home.”
To listen to more conversations on agricultural businesses, check out our conversation with Mark Essam.
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