Faculty team - Prof-Dr-Wolfgang-Rams

Wolfgang Rams

Professor and Senior Researcher

M. Eng. (RWTH), MBA (Hagen), PhD in Economics (Duisburg-Essen)

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Rams teaches entrepreneurship and innovation at EIM. He is a serial entrepreneur, investor and startup coach. He received his doctorate in economics and has also a degree as an engineer in telecommunication.

He used to lead a European CleanTec accelerator program, built his own company builder as a consulting business and was engaged in founding more than 7 businesses. Before become an entrepreneur he worked in leading positions for a German telco company.

In 2016 he invested in Africa GreenTec a company that brings solar power driven minigrids to rural Africa and is now the COO & CFO of the company.

Prof. Dr. Rams leads Africa GreenTec AG (AGT AG) on operational activities and financial acquisition, focusing on innovative financing and business models to expand AGT AG to other sub-Saharan African countries with the plans to address energy access challenges in developing countries.

He has extensive experience and expertise ranging from 27 years in corporate strategy, product & marketing management, 23 years in innovation, venture capital and entrepreneurship, 19 years in finance & venture capital, 13 years in food industries, as well as 5 years of company building as a Founder and Consultant.

Technology- and Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Telecommunication, Higher Education, Renewable Energies

EIM – European Institute of Management (2022 – now)
Professor and Senior Researcher

Research project to determine the Success factors of sustainable start-ups in cooperation with the Technical University Munich (TUM) and financed by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) (2018 – now)

Provadis School of International Management and Technology AG, Frankfurt am Main (2014-now)
Professor for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management

Mercator School of Management University Duisburg-Essen (2020 – now)
Visiting Professor Intrapreneurship and Innovation

Maastricht School of Management (MSM) (2018)
Visiting Professor International Business

Since Feb. 2020:
Africa GreenTec AG, Solar Minigrids in SubSahara Africa
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer
Since July 2006:Consmart GmbH, Management & Innovation Consulting, Company Building, Duesseldorf
Managing Partner / CEO
since 06/2015eit ClimateKIC Accelerator @ Provadis Hochschule, Frankfurt/Main
Executive Manager Content
Responsible for the processes, the content management and the coaching of rd. 85 European start-ups from 13 countries, EU government-funded international Cleantech Accelerator
04/2017 – 02/2020AfricaGreenTec AG, Hainburg am Main
Investor / Business Angel & Chairman of the supervisory board
Solar Power Supplier in rural areas of Afric
since 12/2014 CERAFON a brand of Consmart GmbH, Düsseldorf
Founder
Global Mobile Service, based on an international SIM card
01/2019 - 04/2019Deutsche Bahn AG, Frankfurt am Main
Executive Consultant
Concept on the impact of eSIM-Technology on the IoT solutions of
Deutsche Bahn
10/2017 - 04/2018Unitymedia NRW GmbH, Köln
Entrepreneur / Founder
Realizing of an Ethno-Brand concept as a turnkey company building service including whole IT infrastructure (CRM, ERP, website, sales portal, call center) as well as team staffing and marketing & sales activities (advertisement, branding, social campaigns)
11/2014 - 05/2015Deutsche Post AG, Bonn
Executive Consultant
Preparation of a Business Plan (Product Roadmap and Business Case) for a subsidiary company in the field of ID-Management and BigData
04/2016 - 08/2016Telekom Deutschland GmbH, Bonn
Executive Consultant
Strategy-concept about partnering with start-ups in the department of business sales of Deutsche Telekom
05/2008 - 03/2017Vodafone D2 GmbH, Duesseldorf
- Key-Account Management in Consumer Online Sales for the Prepaid Mobile Brand CallYa (07/2016-03/2017)
- Project management for the introduction of eSIM services (embedded SIM) as well as definition of business processes in cooperation with Samsung and G&D (08/15-04/16)
- Project Management with regard to the lunch of a Vodafone-KabelDeutschland-Campaign (07/14-03/15)
- Project Management KD/VF merger: Definition and launch of CrossSell offers
- Program Management / Change Management eCommerce: Globalisation of Vodafone’s eCommerce Platforms
- Marketing Management (Go-to-Market ) Mobile Services Postpaid
- Programme Management, incl. Governance processes for internal project funding and reporting in the department of eCommerce / Internet Sales
- Programme Management: Launch of a Fixed-Mobile-Convergent Product, especially regarding sales activities
- Product Management: Product Concept for Location Based Services, especially GPS-based navigation services
03/2008 – 04/2008Turkish Telekom, Instanbul, Turkey
Executive Consultant
Development of a Fixed-Mobile-Telco Market Entry Strategy following an ethno based market approach.
11/2007 – 02/2008Schallehn Family Office, Bonn, Germany
Interims CFO
for a company out of the investment fund’s portfolio in the area of ‘Whole-Food’.
10/2006 – 09/2007Ya.com/T-Online Telecommunications Spain, Madrid, Spain
Interims Manager as Head of Product Development,
including launch of a GSM/Wifi Dualmode mobile device in the Spanish market
02/2004-02/2006Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa Sp. Z o.o., Warsaw, Poland
Director of Strategy
Corporate Strategy Development and Implementation // Business Development // CRM-Strategy // Regulation Issues // Portfolio Management // Partner Strategy
07/2002-01/2004T-Venture Holding GmbH, Bonn, Germany
Senior Investment Manager
Technical, financial and market due diligence for investment opportunities
01/2000-06/2002T-Com, Deutsche Telekom AG, Bonn, Germany
Head of Product Marketing for Convergent Products
Management of the existing fixed-mobile-convergent product portfolio
05/1998-12/1999T-Mobile Germany GmbH, Bonn, Germany
Project Manager Customer Retention
Identification and implementation of measures to increase the loyalty of T-Mobile’s customers
11/1996-04/1998T-Mobile Germany GmbH, Bonn, Germany
Manager Corporate Development and Strategy
Corporate strategy development and planning // Portfolio management
09/1994-10/1996T-Mobile Germany GmbH, Bonn, Germany
GSM Testing Engineer
GSM conformance testing for BSS // Specification at ETSI

2021

  • Neubert, M., & Rams, W. (2021). Africa GreenTec – Sustainable Internationalization in Sub-Saharan Africa (Live Case Study)

2020

  • Neubert, M., Rams, W., & Utikal, H. (2020). Experiential learning with live case studies. International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies11(2), 173-190.

2003

  • Rams, W. (2003). S. Patent No. 6,600,925. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

2001

  • Gerpott, T. J., Rams, W., & Schindler, A. (2001). Customer retention, loyalty, and satisfaction in the German mobile cellular telecommunications market. Telecommunications policy25(4), 249-269.
  • Gerpott, T. J., & Rams, W. (2001). Bindung, Loyalität und Zufriedenheit von Geschäftskunden im deutschen Mobilfunkmarkt. telekom praxis78(2), 11-22.
  • Gerpott, T. J., & Rams, W. (2001). Kundenzufriedenheit und-Loyalitat-Einflussgrossen der Kundenbindung. Telekom Praxis78(2), 11-21.
  • Rams, W. (2001). Kundenbindung im deutschen Mobilfunkmarkt: Determinanten und Erfolgsfaktoren in einem dynamischen Marktumfeld. Springer-Verlag. (Dissertation)
  • Rams, W. (2001). Ansatzpunkte für die weitere betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung. In Kundenbindung im deutschen Mobilfunkmarkt(pp. 297-302). Deutscher Universitätsverlag, Wiesbaden.
  • Rams, W. (2001). Status des deutschen Mobilfunkmarktes Ende des Jahres 2000. In Kundenbindung im deutschen Mobilfunkmarkt(pp. 69-143). Deutscher Universitätsverlag, Wiesbaden.
  • Rams, W. (2001). Branchenübergreifende Grundlagen der Kundenbindungsforschung. In Kundenbindung im deutschen Mobilfunkmarkt(pp. 23-68). Deutscher Universitätsverlag, Wiesbaden.
  • Rams, W. (2001). Kundenbindung im deutschen Mobilfunkmarkt als empirisches Problem. In Kundenbindung im deutschen Mobilfunkmarkt(pp. 145-255). Deutscher Universitätsverlag, Wiesbaden.
  • Rams, W. (2001). Zusammenfassung sowie konzeptionelle und praktische Implikationen. In Kundenbindung im deutschen Mobilfunkmarkt(pp. 257-296). Deutscher Universitätsverlag, Wiesbaden.

2000

  • Gerpott, T. J., & Rams, W. (2000). Kundenbindung, -loyalitat und -zufriedenheit im deutschen Mobilfunkmarkt. BETRIEBSWIRTSCHAFT-STUTTGART-60(6), 738-755.