David Zülow welcomes you to Gut Gnadental in Neuss in jeans and a hoodie. The headquarters of the electrical service provider Zülow, which Burkhard Zülow founded in 1971, has been located here since the mid-1990s. Of the approximately 350 employees, most of them travel to customers from industry and commerce, reports the 48-year-old master electrician and industrial engineer, who runs the business together with his mother Jutta Zülow. His voice also has weight outside of the company; Zülow has led the North Rhine-Westphalia State Association of Family Businesses since 2019. According to his own information, he speaks for 180,000 companies nationwide. Together with the Young Entrepreneurs, NRW represents the largest state association with around 2,000 members.
World: Mr. Zülow, the coalition is at an end. In your opinion, who is to blame for this?
David Zulow: It was probably like in a marriage – in a divorce it is usually both partners' fault. And here there was a third partner, which doesn't make things any easier. But I think the FDP should have pulled the emergency brake earlier or hit the table hard. Maybe with the controversial heating law. Now it's over, and that's a good thing.
World: An election date has now been set. How do you look at it?
Zulow: This government has been completely unable to act since November 6th, so elections should be held as soon as possible. It's good that facts have now been established.
World: At some point after that there will be a new government – what projects would it have to push forward?
Zulow: If I could personally wish for something, we would have a stable black-yellow coalition, but without Christian Lindner. This fits together best in terms of content. I would like to refer you here to the last black-yellow coalition in North Rhine-Westphalia, which initiated many positive things, for example when it came to digitization and reducing bureaucracy. Unfortunately, a lot of speed has been lost under the current black-green government in Düsseldorf. In football you would say this is midfield banter, but no goals are scored.
World: How do you perceive the economic situation? What should change, at the federal level but also at the state level?
Zulow: Here in the Rhein-Kreis Neuss we are one of the most energy-intensive regions in Europe, for example with Bayer in Dormagen or the aluminum industry in Neuss and Grevenbroich. Erosion has already begun there due to high energy prices. The Speira company has already reduced aluminum production in the region and cut over 300 jobs. If lignite mining and power generation ceases in the Rhenish mining area, this will affect thousands of jobs that will have to be replaced.
World: What would have to happen?
Zulow: We need to strengthen competitiveness, an affordable climate policy, a reduction in the tax burden for employees and companies, a directing of citizens' money towards those who are really in need and a further reduction in excessive bureaucracy. We want to support structural change locally and have great hopes for the topic of hydrogen. There are already a few clusters for this purpose, for us this is the hydrogen hub Rhine-Kreis-Neuss/Rhineland. And we are also relying on new business models here, including in our company in the area of electrical services. We also went to Japan to exchange ideas and network with the partner region Fukushima in the area of hydrogen. In Japan, they aren't that much more technologically advanced than we are, but they are getting started faster, for example when it comes to building electrolyzers to produce hydrogen.
World: You sit on the state government's SME Advisory Board and also regularly meet the Minister of Economic Affairs, Mona Neubaur (Greens). How do you assess the minister's work compared to her predecessor Andreas Pinkwart from the FPD?
Zulow: On a personal level, Ms. Neubaur is very friendly and pleasant. But when it comes to contact with business, medium-sized businesses and family businesses, a lot of things aren't going well, and the minister is obviously strange. I just experienced this in Japan in October.
World: What happened in Japan?
Zulow: I was at a renewable energy trade fair in Japan with 18 other NRW entrepreneurs, Ms. Neubaur was also there the same week. Unfortunately, the state government did not take up our initiative to organize at least a partial joint trip. At the trade fair, Ms. Neubaur came to our NRW partner stand for three minutes. A photo was taken, then she was gone, there were no deeper conversations or further meetings.
World: What were the reactions?
Zulow: You can imagine that there was disappointment and horror in our tour group. An opportunity has clearly been missed, something that would not have been conceivable under Minister Pinkwart.
World: How do you see the role of Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst here? He was also with entrepreneurs in Japan in 2023 and in the USA in the spring to promote investments in NRW and initiate new contacts in the economy.
Zulow: The coalition under Mr. Wüst works quite quietly, in my opinion even too quietly. But at the end of the day there isn't enough concrete information. In a country comparison, NRW ranks third from last in terms of gross domestic product development. Our infrastructure is crumbling, for example the bridges. And an official culture of prevention, especially in construction law, stifles investment and actively costs jobs in North Rhine-Westphalia. Dismantling them would have to become an absolute top priority in the country. Politicians must listen to the suggestions and experiences of medium-sized entrepreneurs and strengthen the competitiveness of our location.
World: You are a CDU member yourself and would like to move into the Bundestag soon as the successor to Neuss MP Hermann Gröhe. What impact could you make as an entrepreneur?
Zulow: I think you can't always just stand on the sidelines and complain. But you should try to help shape it. Unfortunately, there are not enough entrepreneurs represented in the Bundestag, and I would like to change that. But I am only one of several applicants; the decision will be made at the delegate meeting at the end of November.
World: What would happen to the company if you were elected?
Zulow: Our company is well positioned and stable, and I can rely on a good management team so that I can devote my time to this task. My mother is also active on the board of directors, my sister is on my supervisory board. Incidentally, we could hire and train even more if we had more employees. We pay well; experienced masters earn more than some academics. We family business owners have no plans to leave here and our employees don't want to either. That's why we're committed to keeping every worker here on site.
