Robe’s Harry von den Stemmen will be back in Africa for Mediatech

Harry von den Stemmen

Harry von den Stemmen, Robe International Sales Director, needs little introduction to South Africans! He is much loved and we always enjoy having him here. DWR asked Hary what accomplishment he is most proud of.

Harry answered: “During my last years in school, we were always told that ‘in the future, you will be doing a lot of your work from home’. Well, at that time we neither had individual computers nor smart phones, and so the contrary happened over the years of my career. Not only did I travel a lot to exhibitions and to visit manufacturers, I also began to travel to meet my customers, first in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (“DACH”), then all over Europe, the continents and – all over the world! First traveling by car for my own company, then as a salesman for a distribution company, then as a sales manager for various manufacturers by plane and finally as sales director for Robe. It has been a wonderful journey to date.

“I started with Robe in the early days and I have had the honour to meet literally all our customers and many more along the way. I could help growing the Robe network, and I am proud of what it is today: The Robe family! And believe me, it was all about meeting the people, getting to know them in their part of the world, in their environment and in their market. While computer and smart phone were important tools over the years, it was about seeing people, learning what they do, finding out what characters they were. It required intense travels, under sometimes intense circumstances, intense negotiations and decisions – but it was awesome, as still is!

Today, when I have one of these rare moments at home, I think about it again: ‘in the future, you will be doing a lot of your work from home’ – pah!”