Tulipan Zollinger: "The basic requirements for a family-owned business are long-term planning, cohesion and flexibility."

When you were a kid, what did you want to be?

I never had a dream job – through good luck and good advice from the people around me I’ve just simply moved from one interesting job to the next!

You completed the MAS in Management, Technology, and Economics at ETH. Why did you choose to study at ETH?

I’ve always had an interest in the economic aspects of life, even when studying science at university and when working in research. For me, the MAS-MTEC was the perfect way to educate myself in these areas.

Your family business produces organic seed. How did you get involved?

In 1984 my parents started to breed and sell organic seed. They were real pioneers in the organic sector. Over time, the business grew and when I was younger my brothers and I always helped out. I've always been interested in the family business; sometimes very interested, at other times less so. After studying plant breeding and genetics, I initially wanted to gain experience in other areas. Then in 2016, we found a good way of my brothers and I continuing to run the company as the second generation of the family to do so.

Traditional garden centres were closed for some weeks. Did you already have alternative operating methods before the crisis?

Our first catalogue, containing just two dozen varieties, came out in 1987 and since then we have always sold our seeds directly to the customer. Of course, in the meantime, we’ve also got our own website. Our first online shop opened in 2005 and was something of an innovation at the time. We have always tried to provide as intuitive an online shop as possible and to encourage our customers to order online. For example, our shipping costs are low – one Swiss franc for next-day delivery per order.

So we were unwittingly perfectly prepared. But we are fully aware that this time we’ve been incredibly lucky, it has nothing to do with good planning. Who knows, maybe the next crisis will hit us hard: for example, if the postal service stopped, we’d have to close.

Are you still able to produce the quantities are seed people want?

No! Seed stores well, and where possible, we always produce a reserve to last us three to five years. But demand for seed over the last few weeks has been such that we’ve sold out of a lot of items. We now need to work to increase production of these varieties so they are available again next year.

Have you attracted any new groups of customers, which have surprised you?

Yes, huge numbers of teachers have ordered seeds for their pupils. The kids are studying remotely at home and all of them are being sent their own seeds, like soya beans or sunflowers. They can be germinated on damp cotton wool and the kids can follow and describe the different stages of germination and plant growth. It’s a great idea: simple, cheap and very educational!

What edge do you have over the competition at the moment?

It’s very banal but the basic requirements for a family-owned business are long-term planning, cohesion and flexibility. We’ve always managed our finances carefully and have been lucky enough to never rely on external capital. When everyone was suddenly at home due to COVID-19 and wanted to get out in the garden, we were only able to cope with the sudden massive demand because the whole team got stuck in.

What advice would you give anyone studying at ETH today?

I get the feeling that a lot of students dream of a well-paid job in a big company after they leave university. I guess that’s fine and allows you to gain a lot of experience. But I think that working in SMEs is vastly undervalued. A talented and ambitious person working in that kind of an environment has much more potential to innovate and changes things! :)