Jochen Schweizer (born 23 June 1957) is a German

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

. He founded the eponymous group of companies that offers, among other things, experience vouchers. Schweizer is a pioneer of

extreme sports Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...

and

bungee jumping Bungee jumping (), also spelled bungy jumping, is an activity that involves a person jumping from a great height while connected to a large elastic cord. The launching pad is usually erected on a tall structure such as a building or crane, a ...

in Germany. He has worked as a stuntman in films and advertising, set several world records and appears several times in the

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

. Schweizer also works as a motivational speaker.

Biography

Education and world records

Schweizer was born in

Ettlingen Ettlingen (; South Franconian: ''Eddlinge'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about south of the city of Karlsruhe and approximately from the border with Lauterbourg, in France's Bas-Rhin department. Ettlingen is the second largest tow ...

near

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, he grew up in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. After the ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'', he traveled through Africa. Working for an international freight forwarding company, he first led shipments for the

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (English: ''German Agency for International Cooperation GmbH''), often simply shortened to GIZ, is the main German development agency. It is headquartered in Bonn and Eschb ...

in West Africa and was subsequently appointed

Managing Director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the new branch office in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. In the 1980s, Schweizer had various engagements as a

stuntman A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

. He performed a

bungee jump Bungee jumping (), also spelled bungy jumping, is an activity that involves a person jumping from a great height while connected to a large elastic cord. The launching pad is usually erected on a tall structure such as a building or crane, a ...

in Willy Bogner's action film "

Fire, Ice and Dynamite ''Fire, Ice and Dynamite'' (German original title ''Feuer, Eis und Dynamit'') is a German feature-length sports film directed by Willy Bogner in 1990. It a sequel to '' Fire and Ice''. The screenplay was written by Tony Williamson, based on an ...

". In the following years, Schweizer set several world records, including in 1997 for the jump from a helicopter with the longest bungee rope and the highest fall distance of 1,050 meters. The same year, Schweizer ended his career as a stuntman.

Entrepreneurial activities

In 1985, Schweizer founded the event and

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

''Kajak Sports Productions'', headquartered in

. This company later became the foundation for the Jochen Schweizer Group. Kajak Sports Productions produced several fun sports and action sports movies, such as "Mad Family", "Over the Edge", "Topolinaden" and "Verdon – Die Schlucht gestern und heute". In 1989 the company opened the first stationary facility in Germany, located in

Oberschleißheim Oberschleißheim () is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Munich (district), district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. It is located 13 km north of Munich (centre). As of 2005 it had a population of 11,467. Oberschleißheim is ...

. It is the oldest still active jumping facility in Europe. In subsequent years the company expanded its activities to include other activities and adventures, such as the vertical catwalk show. Schweizer's companies faced a major crisis in 2003 due to a fatal accident at the

Florianturm The Florianturm (Florian Tower, ''Florian'' for short) is a telecommunications tower and landmark of Dortmund (Germany). It is named after St. Florian, the patron saint of gardeners. The Florianturm is the TV tower of Dortmund and was built in 1 ...

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

. The company changed its business and focused on selling experiences from then on. In 2004 the company started to sell experience vouchers over the Internet. Later, they opened their own stores in Germany, with experience vouchers also sold through trading partners. Today, the Jochen Schweizer Group offers a total of 1,900 different experiences, employs 500 people and achieves an annual turnover of 70 million euros. The company is the market leader for experience vouchers in Germany. In addition to his position as

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the Jochen Schweizer Group, Schweizer is an investor. Jochen Schweizer Ventures is involved in numerous

startups A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses t ...

. In 2014 and 2015 Schweizer was part of ''

Die Höhle der Löwen ''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it is k ...

'' on VOX.

Literary works

In 2010, Schweizer published his biography entitled "Warum Menschen fliegen können müssen" ("Why People Have to Fly"). The book was reviewed positively and appeared in 2014 as an

audio book An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

. In 2015 Schweizer published his second book "Der perfekte Moment" ("The Perfect Moment"). It became a bestseller.

References

External links