Thomas Ricke,

Founder and Managing Director

 

married, 3 children,

 

2007 - present   Founder and Managing Director of Villageboom

2007                 AD Braun RE, CEEMEA, Integration P&G

2003 - 2006      CFO P&G, West Africa, Nigeria

2002 - 2003      AD, Plant Controller, Cairo Plant, P&G Egypt

2000 - 2002      AD, Corporate Accounting Manager, P&G Belgium

1997 - 2000      Finance Manager P&G, Yemen

1993 - 1997      Plant Finance Manager, Beverages, P&G, Germany, Hamburg

1991 - 1993      Senior Financial Analyst, Fine Fragrances, P&G, Germany, Dreieich

1990 - 1992      Competitive Analyst, Paper Products, P&G, Germany, Schwalbach

1983 - 1989      Business Administration Studies, Hamburg University, Germany

 

 

Thomas Ricke is the initiator and founder of Villageboom. He studied business at the University of Hamburg. While still a student, he was fascinated by the enormous potential going untapped in the world's developing countries. This eventually led to his being named a manager in Africa for his former employer Procter & Gamble at the age of 34, where he was active at the company's Sana'a, Cairo and Lagos offices for a total of 8 years. He developed new, very successful sales models for Procter & Gamble that continue to be used to this day. These models gave the rural populations of the continent their first access to consumer goods to meet basic daily needs. This is where he also first learned how sustainable business ideas could significantly improve the lives of the disadvantaged rural populations and still turn a profit if implemented professionally. The bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) model initiated and implemented in Nigeria by Ricke tripled the annual turnover in a short time and has since come to be used by the global conglomerate in many other countries.

Inspired by this success, Thomas Ricke decided at the age of 44 to quit his job as Proctor & Gamble's CFO in West Africa and to devote himself exclusively to reducing poverty through sustainable economic development.

Since 2007, he has been developing and implementing sustainable business ideas under the Villageboom brand.

 

Dr. Claudia Merdausl – Ricke,

Legal Counsel / External Relations

 

 

Married, 3 children,

2010 - present   Villageboom GmbH

2001-2010         Founding Partner, Wirth | Collegen, Münster

2000-2001         DZ Bank, Frankfurt, Investment Banking

2000                  Doctorate earned

1996-1998         University instructor

1994-1996         Academic assistant at Institute for Inter'l Economic Law, Münster

1988-1994         Law studies, Bonn, Münster, St. Andrews

 

Dr Merdausl-Ricke got her first experiences in the fields of investment banking, IPOs, corporate and structured finance at DZ Bank, Frankfurt. Along with 3 other partners, she founded the law firm Wirth | Collegen(Rechtsanwälte, Wirtschaftsprüfer, Steuerberater) in Münster, Germany in 2001, where she established an interdisciplinary consulting concept for SMEs. She was responsible for 17 employees at the firm. In 2010, Claudia Merdausl sold her share in the firm and left the practise. She has particular expertise in the areas of corporate and commercial law, M&A, corporate financing and restructuring. She started working for Villageboom in 2010.

She studied law at the Universities of Bonn, Münster and St. Andrews, Scotland. After graduating, she completed her doctorate at the Institut für Internationales Wirtschaftsrecht in Münster and was also admitted to the bar.