The art of succession

In Grevenmacher, on a small industrial estate, we are greeted by Sarah, the youngest of the Hilger family. We're at OST-Fenster, a small factory producing made-to-measure wooden windows and doors for a rather upmarket clientele. In the early afternoon, the workshop is noisy as the workers, all men and almost all Germans, bustle about. By 2.45pm, it was already the end of the day. All became quiet, and the workshop emptied out in a matter of minutes. The father, Romain Hilger, started out as an employee in what was then a small local joinery. In just a few years, he climbed the ladder and took over the company. There were 16 employees in 1989, and today there are more than 80. If the professional has been able to devote himself entirely to his 'baby', it's thanks to… his wife: "We came to an agreement with my wife. We wanted children, and she would look after them full-time. That gave me free rein to develop the company, " he says. And that's exactly what happened. The couple had four children: the eldest, who lives in Switzerland and has no connection with the company; Lynn and Sven, who now jointly run the business; and Sarah, the youngest, who works in reception but has no decision-making role.

Let's have a look back. With his nose to the grindstone and day-to-day operational management, Romain Hilger had little time to think about the future of his business and his retirement. In the meantime, he instilled work values in his children: "It's true that they saw how the company worked when they were growing up, they had the opportunity to work there in the summer for student jobs. I taught them very early on that you can't spend what you don't have", says the entrepreneur. The Hilgers didn't give their children a car as an 18th birthday present; they received bonuses for each successful year at school, and it was up to them to use the money wisely and put it to good use.