Horst isn’t an adherent to any religion or doctrine. According to his holistic worldview, every individual possesses the ability to actively shape their own life and act for the benefit of a better world. Horst’s beliefs have developed over decades of self-examination and search for purpose, and as he puts it, he is now flying his own magic carpet, without regret. Horst encapsulates his philosophy with the words, “There is only one truth and one origin – the rest is interpretation.”.

A German by birth, Horst was raised in northern Bavaria in a small town known best for manufacturing ball bearings and other parts for the automotive industry. Horst’s father was a policeman and his mother a fashion salesperson. Although an industrial hub, the manufacturing took place outside the centre, which was clean, with a historic old town and plenty of green space. Horst and his sister, four years his junior, had a nice childhood with parents who shared their love of nature with them. The children shared many interests such as music and the swim team until Horst reached puberty and his attentions turned elsewhere.

Horst was a child with lots of questions. Even today he is naturally curious and wants to understand the background to everything before determining his own position on any issue. As a child he was not interested in learning from a school book or doing much homework. An engaged learner, Horst focused on listening closely to teacher input then asking questions; lots of them, making him a teacher’s dream. Horst revealed it took him quite a long while to find himself as a teen. While his peers went to parties and clubs, he preferred to sit alone on a bench with his Walkman and electronic music.

Fresh from high-school graduation, Horst took an entry-level position as a clerk at a local bank and so started to learn banking from the ground up, working for the company for a decade before switching employer. During his time at this bank, Horst switched to IT business within his bank in 1987 - a field that was still in its infancy at the time and opened up endless possibilities for him. Horst became a valuable employee as he was able to find common ground between those in the bank with business perspectives and those with the IT know-how. 

The early 1990s was at the very beginning of computerisation of the banking industry and for Horst, it was a golden age, with a rapid pace of change bringing constant challenge to his work. His golden key to his entire professional career was the ability to bridge the gap between business and IT. Horst was soon leading major rollout projects and reporting directly to the CEO. Never one to do things by halves, during these years, Horst had married and welcomed two sons, in 1993 and 1995. By 2000, Horst was a Director at IBM Germany and divorced from his first wife. His team of 47 was responsible for system and operational support for major global clients. In 2001, IBM fired 1000 staff across Europe and Horst’s division was dissolved.

Luckily for Horst, a former customer offered him a management IT position in an automotive business and so began six challenging and happy years working while travelling around the world. Dealing with new people, in new cultures and new countries and trying to lead them in the company’s strategic direction was a novel, and due to locally differing corporate cultures, surprisingly difficult challenge for Horst. Managing groups of people, and getting them to want to follow your lead, required Horst to fall back on his skills of strategical thinking while engaging his empathy and cultural sensitivity. Again, Horst was required to bridge the gap.  With the help of Human Resources, Horst developed a series of cultural seminars aimed at assisting employees to work together in worldwide projects, both harmoniously and effectively. 

Around this time, looking for another challenge, Horst began learning some Korean, after having made two business trips to South Korea. Although still a long way from conversational fluency, learning Korean was an unwitting portend of what was to come. Ever a believer in fate, Horst trusted that in keeping one’s eyes and heart open,  the right person would come, though he would never have imagined that his soulmate would be a Korean-born Swiss woman.

Horst and Ye-Soon met in early 2006 and realised quite quickly that together, they were meant to be. Horst took his sons to stay at Ye-Soon’s place in Switzerland on holiday and it was the boys who delivered Horst an ultimatum: “If you let her go, we’re finished.” With a rousing endorsement like that, it is not surprising the couple has been married for 20 years, with Horst and his elder son moving to Switzerland to be with Ye-Soon. Horst’s management career continued seamlessly in Switzerland. He worked as Head of Business Engineering at a newly founded Swiss bank. The main project which Horst initiated was to migrate the company to paperless banking across a two-year transition. After that, there were no more printed or handwritten customer orders. Everything was supported by electronic workflows, now transparent and with a clear processing status.  Horst was able to present this success in several international expert panels.

In 2015, Horst became a Swiss citizen - further proof that he had long held Switzerland in his heart. A perfect Yin and Yang, the couple lived in Switzerland for over a decade before a four-week-long holiday in Hua Hin made such an impression that in December 2019, they took up permanent residence. Horst was impressed by the kindness of the people and the way of life available to him in Hua Hin. He was aware that he and his wife had a very comfortable life. And it was time to give something back to life.

Starting a new chapter in his personal development. Horst was keen to see the world not as “us” and “them”, but instead as “we”. For Horst, always a man of his word, words are no longer enough, it’s actions which count.

Living in Hua Hin was a revelation to Horst. The natural beauty was also accompanied by challenges he perceived including people suffering from poverty, issues with garbage and the every-present and proliferating soi dogs. Prior to his arrival in Hua Hin, Horst had had limited interaction with animals, never having owned a pet. He will admit that bringing dogs into his life for the first time in his mid-50s has changed his life for the better as they have taught him so much about unconditional love. 

Horst claims his pair of rescued street dogs chose him, not the other way around, and have become silent, loyal companions in his daily musings. Each evening around sunset, beer in hand, Horst, accompanied by Kyrah and Khalid, spends a quiet hour, pre-dinner, reflecting on the day’s events; how they went and how he could have done even better. It has become a personal ritual, a daily opportunity to focus on self-awareness, a mirror to the morning ritual of waking in bed with the dogs to get the first dog lick of the day. 

In Hua Hin, Horst has chosen to devote much of his time and energy to a number of not-for-profit organisations. Yet Horst remains selective about utilisation of his considerable skill-set, keen to understand the people involved and the genuineness of their motivation before becoming involved. He sees his greatest strengths in his ability to turn words into deeds by working with people as a moderator and building on common ground. 

Horst acknowledges it would be easy to fall into a rut and allow himself to be consumed by routine, but this is exactly what he aims to avoid. Intuitively, Horst knows there is a long-term, large-scale sustainable project waiting for him to discover both the need and the necessary response. He wants to ignite a spark in Hua Hin perceiving that there is a community-wide capacity for goodness and positive action that is currently untapped. 

Each new day starts with self-awareness for Horst, it is a new page to be filled and may indeed bring that trigger, the spark of inspiration that solidifies Horst’s heartfelt but as yet unrealised vision.