Ian Karan: “I have never been punctual to work”

 Former Minister of Economic Affairs and Employment Ian Karan in his office on Harvestehuder Weg

• As celebrated entrepreneur Ian Karan turns 80, he opens up about his eventful life and how he became a successful businessman​

Ian Karan is fit. Unbelievably fit, you have to give him that. With almost a spring to his step, he emerges out of his office in Harvestehuder Weg - and immediately embraces the photographer. No surprise here, these two know each other. 

Q: Mr. Karan, you’ll soon be turning 80 and still seem incredibly fit. How do you manage it?

A: Does it really appear that way? Well, surely my genes have something to do with it. But I also exercise every day, at least an hour or so of either fitness training or tennis. That said, I must admit that it is starting to become more difficult. I play men’s seniors tennis (age 50 and up) however, most of my opponents are 30 centimeters taller, and 30 years younger than me.

Q: What kind of sports did you play as a child?

A: As a child, I was often outside, constantly running around. I started boxing when I was 11 years old. Then I discovered cricket, and I was really good at it. Cricket was also the main reason why I came to England as a teenager.

Q: You received a sports scholarship in London. How could you even imagine that, at the beginning of the 1950s growing up in a village in Ceylon, now present day Sri Lanka? How did you get the idea of going to London?

A: It wasn’t my idea, it was my grandmother’s, whom I grew up with. She was already 91 years old when I was turned 16 and she knew that her time was coming to an end. She was very religious and wanted to make sure I would be taken care of. In fact, I never saw her again after I left.

Q: How was the flight?

A: I did not fly since we couldn’t afford that. I travelled by boat and when I arrived in London I remember thinking: no wonder the English came to us. The colonial history of England suddenly made a lot of sense to me. It was January 6, in the middle of a freezing winter, and I had just come straight out of tropical summer weather. I grew up on the coast. It smelled of seaweed and open seas. The air was always fresh. There was no large city and hardly any cars. And then here was London. The polluted air and not a single leaf on the trees, everything was dead. I asked myself: How do people live here? I have to admit, I didn’t know at the time that the seasons would change and that spring would soon arrive. 

Q: Did you freeze?

A: Not at first, I think I still had enough warmth from back home in me. However, at some point I started to feel the cold. I had a small gas heater in my room in the boarding school. You had to drop a shilling in the heater and the fire would burn for an hour. Before I went to sleep, I sat in front of it, warmed my blanket, and then went off to bed.

Q: Is that why you went to Hamburg, because you didn’t like it in London?

A: No, I really enjoyed being in London. After I got kicked out of university, I started working for a forwarding (transport) agency, that was a great time. Originally I planned on only staying in Hamburg for a year - to learn the language.

Q: How was your first week?

A: A colleague from the company in England lived in Hamburg at the time, and he helped me find a room in Mittelweg (Hamburg). After a week, however, the landlord asked me not to shower every day, but only twice a week. I then moved into a shared flat in the Eppendorfer Landstraße - with five other boys.

Q: Oh my! What did the kitchen look like?

A: The kitchen was actually fine. However, the bathroom ... nobody can imagine that today.

Q: What kind of work did you do back then?

A: At first I was washing plates in a vegetarian restaurant. In the afternoon I went around town and tried to find a job in my area, in a forwarding/transport agency. And I found one. One day they asked me to write a report for a Canadian customer about the German traffic routes, tariffs and costs. Apparently I did such a good job that the boss wanted to meet me in person. My office was in Ferdinandstraße, the main branch of the company was located at Ballindamm, and because I was so excited, I arrived a quarter of an hour too early. The secretary was not at her desk, and the boss received me personally. He was a very elegant gentleman and immediately offered me a sherry. I thought to myself: My goodness, the Germans know how to do it right! We got along splendidly until at some point the secretary came back from her break and said to the boss: “You do know that Mr. Karan is from our Ferdinandstraße office - and not a customer?”

Q: Wonderful. And then what?

A: We kept meeting every Wednesday from then on. We no longer drank sherry but enjoyed a good tea. My boss wanted to improve his English. Truly a great, wonderful man, I will never forget him. I learned a lot from him. About style and form, about real Hanseatic tradition. About what it means to be a merchant in Hamburg.

Q: Until you became one yourself?

A: Until that point a few years passed by. Everything was going well. My boss liked me. After our ‘sherry’ talks, at some point he doubled my salary to 1,500 D-Mark. One year later I was at 2,500 D-Mark and received a small company car. One day a friend of mine, an owner of a container rental company, was involved in a fatal accident. At the funeral, an American sat next to me. He asked me if I wanted to take over the container business. I hesitated, and at first said no. He asked again, including asking about what kind of salary I could imagine. I answered 10,000 a month, thinking we were talking about German D-Marks.

Q: Then what?

A: He swallowed hard, but said nothing. A few days later a telex came and said: “We agree to employ you - at a salary of USD 10,000.” That converted to 24,000 D-Mark! That was my entry into the container business. When I look back on my life, it is full of such stories: sudden twists and surprises that have often brought me further. However, I have also had my setbacks.

Q: When, for example?

A: In 1993 I decided to quit the container business and sell my company to an English competitor. The best law firm in the city spent weeks preparing the contracts, but had overlooked one tiny detail: It was written what the English company was supposed to pay. However not when they were supposed to pay. I transferred my assets to them - and waited for my return. However, it didn’t come. At one point I called them up and said, “I haven’t seen any money from you yet, what happened?” They replied, “We know. Sue us, if you want.” That was the most difficult time of my life. I had no business and was insolvent. We had to sell our house, which was especially difficult for the children. I myself felt such a rage in my stomach.

Q: Did you sleep badly during that time?

A: Yes, very badly.

Q: How did you sleep when you became Hamburg’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Employment in 2010?

A: There were also some very tough nights.

Q: What did you take with you from that time?

A: On the one hand, the realisation that politics is a tough business. Sometimes I wondered why anyone still wants to enter political office. It’s badly paid and things happen mostly outside of your own control. What’s more, I quickly noticed the way I was treated as a person changed. For many I was suddenly no longer simply Ian Karan, but ‘Mr. Senator’. For me, this position turned into a burden.

Q: Could you understand why Andrea Nahles (German Politician, SPD) announced her withdrawal from politics a few days ago?

A: Yes. This woman was harassed from all sides. At some point it’s enough, nobody can stand being treated that way for such a long time. However, I myself have hardly experienced any political attacks during my time as a senator. A little bit from the Green Party towards the CDU, but that was of course to be expected, being that they were our junior partners in the coalition. I did take notice of Katharina Fegebank. A great politician. She is always honest, always straightforward. I have great respect for her.

Q: In retrospect, do you regret having supported right-wing populist Ronald Schill’s party?

A: I don’t regret the fact that I supported him. I wanted to help the CDU win the election. What I truly didn’t see coming was this person’s rapid crash. When I first met Mr. Schill, I had the impression he was a well-read, intelligent, witty person. In essence, he was no right-wing radical, no xenophobe. Many of his closest friends back then were foreigners.

Q: Which is not necessarily reflected in politics now.

A: I don’t have the luxury you have as a German. It doesn’t affect you directly when a million refugees come here. But it does me, because over the years I have tried to integrate myself, to learn the language, to pay taxes - to be a decent citizen of this city. When people see me on the street, they immediately see, that is a foreigner. And I don’t want my reputation in this city to dwindle because other foreigners behave badly in my hometown.

Q: Has xenophobia ever happened to you in Hamburg?

A: No. But I also think that this has something to do with the fact that I hardly ever use public transportation. I drive a lot and move around in districts where xenophobia is hardly an issue. I am privileged in that sense.

Q: Have you ever wanted to be anything other than an entrepreneur?

A: No. I became a merchant because I am basically a lazy person. It has always been tough for me to get out of bed in the morning, and now, at almost 80, I can admit it: I never got to work on time. As long as I was an employee, I always ran the risk of being dismissed. In the morning I was always in a hurry, I always caught one train too late, I was always running. That was one of the driving reasons why I became a merchant. But of course, kidding aside, I also enjoyed doing business and building a business in general. Creating something. Money was always just a minor matter.

Q: Do you think the rich should give up their wealth?

A: Yes. Charity is an important Christian virtue. The parable of the Good Samaritan has significantly influenced me and my social understanding.

Q: What are you proud of Mr Karan?

A: That I have a great family. Almost every Sunday we come together, my four children, two grandchildren, the parents of my wife, my son-in-law and my prospective son-in-law; this is always a wonderful celebration. I cook curry for everyone and we share a meal together. I am proud of my children because they are good people. I am proud of my wife, who took over my business and does it better than me. She manages everything anyway, the whole family, the children, our estate. And she also plays tennis incredibly well. She plays in the top level for amateur tennis in Germany! Yesterday was our 31st wedding anniversary. We went out to dinner, just the two of us. It was a wonderful evening! (Source: Hamburger Abendblatt, Germany)