Intern Spotlight: Henry Steikowsky

Internship period: August 2023 – January 2024

Tell us a bit about yourself:

I'm Henry from Hamburg in the Northern part of Germany. My hometown is actually Bremen, which is one hour South of Hamburg and where I grew up. After graduating from school, I started a three-year apprenticeship as merchant in wholesale and trade at Ferrostaal in Hamburg, which is now part of the Jebsen & Jessen Hamburg Group. While completing my apprenticeship I started pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in International Business in Hamburg and continued working for Jebsen & Jessen Hamburg – first in the steel trading business and then in the group’s Corporate Development department.

As part of my Bachelor programme, I was required to do an internship abroad. Hence, I decided to try to go to Singapore to intern here at Jebsen & Jessen Group, which was the perfect way for me to spend time working abroad while staying within the Jebsen & Jessen family enterprise at the same time. Also, coming here offered a great opportunity for me to experience another culture, meet new people, explore South East Asia, and continue playing field hockey.

What are the most memorable aspects of your internship experience?

Since I have been working for the sister company in Hamburg for nearly five years it was an awesome experience to get to know the group here in South East Asia with all its businesses and people. I enjoyed seeing how different the two groups are – especially in terms of business and structure – while simultaneously having many things in common, such as its culture and principles.

Moreover, I had the privilege to see numerous areas of responsibilities within Jebsen & Jessen Group, from M&A and Corporate Development to Corporate Communications and Sustainability. This also gave me the chance to understand the Group’s diverse businesses, strategies and processes, as well as to meet many different and amazing people across the Group.

Finally, developing and learning on both a professional and personal level made this internship very memorable. I am glad that I had Nina Jessen and Lucien Ong as my supervisors who let me experience other ways of working from what I had been used to and introduced me to new areas in which I was able to learn a lot.

What have you learned about the culture at Jebsen & Jessen during your internship?

When I think about the culture at Jebsen & Jessen, the first thing that comes to me is the family spirit that I felt was very present. The culture is built on certain values such as trust, partnership, and prudence, which are upheld and lived by every employee I have met. I also felt like a valued member of the Group throughout the internship. This impression emphasises Jebsen & Jessen’s strong attention on its employees and business partners within the Group, which is why I am not surprised that people have been working here for decades.

A notable aspect of the culture was the open and honest communication amongst employees, but especially with my supervisors Nina and Lucien.