"My mum was a successful warehouse
manager," laughs the 44-year-old woman.
"My father was a pilot and studied
engineering. Both were always my role
models." So it was no wonder that Klara,
barely arrived in Germany, began studying
business administration with a
focus on logistics. "It was already hard.
I first had to learn German and then I
went through with my studies in a language
that had been foreign to me until
then. That cost me a lot of energy. But I
really wanted to complete it successfully."
While still studying, she worked as a
student assistant at a logistics company
before she completed her studies in
2002, was taken on by the company and
finally moved to MBS in 2008 together
with her boss, Arne Lorenzen. "We went
to MBS as a whole team because we all
got along very well and worked great together.
That hasn't changed after thirteen
years," says Klara Boger.
In 2008, a second branch was founded
in Hamburg. "Right at the harbour, with
10,000sqm of space and seasonally up to
20,000 pallets," Klara Boger proudly explains.
"Until the branch1 closed in 2013, I
was the branch manager there and was
always surprised how few women there
were at that level in the logistics sector.
That irritates me to this day and it starts
with the choice of studies." Unlike in Germany,
almost half of all logistics students
in Kazakhstan are women. In Germany,
Klara Boger was one of five women -
among 80 students. "In Kazakhstan, girls
are much better supported in terms of
science subjects already at school," Boger
says. "Germany was a real culture
shock for me in this reguard." And the
second shock was to follow quite soon:
"It was and still is incomprehensible to me
how such a highly developed country like
Germany can allow itself a gender pay
gap of almost 20 percent." The gender
pay gap describes the difference between
the average gross hourly earnings
of women and the gross hourly earnings
of men. Here, Germany has occupied a
top position for decades... from behind.
According to Eurostat, the statistical office
of the European Union, women in
Germany earn about 19.2 percent less
than their male colleagues.
"There is still a lot to do in terms of
equality," says Klara Boger, herself the
mother of a son and a daughter. "I want
my daughter to be perceived by the world
as a human being. Not as a girl who
has to fulfill certain roles, but as a human
being who can achieve all that her brother
can achieve. I want a world without
gender discrimination. And that should
be in everyone's interest. After all, we
all have mothers, sisters, daughters or
nieces for whom we want the best." ■
1Due to the withdrawal of the main client from Germany,
the two branches were merged. This ensured that
none of the employees had to be laid off.
MBS is a medium-sized
company and the competition
is strong, but we have
even been able to poach
some from large logistics
players because of the way
we deal with our customers.
My recipe for success: We
fully engage with the needs
of the customer.
„Meine Arbeit besteht zum größten Teil
aus Beziehungsarbeit. Die fachliche
Kompetenz ist selbstverständlich sehr
wichtig, aber wir sind Dienstleister und
der Kunde steht stets im Mittelpunkt.
Das ist mein Erfolgsrezept, um Kunden
nachhaltig an uns zu binden.“ Klara
Boger arbeitet als Managerin für die
Implementierung von Neukunden und
ist Importabteilungsleiterin bei MBS
Logistics Hamburg.
"My work consists largely of relationship
work. Professional competence is
of course very important, but we are
service providers and the customer is
always in the focus. That is my recipe
for success in retaining customers in
the long term." Klara Boger works as a
manager for the implementation of new
customers and is import department
manager at MBS Logistics Hamburg.
Photos: © MBS / Klara Boger
INSIGHT 3 . 2021 9