How It All Began

Switzerland, 1997: Two young German students meet while enrolled in an MBA program at the University of St Gallen. Sharing the experience of living abroad in an international environment, they soon become close friends and sparring partners for discussing their ideas and plans.

After graduation, their ways part as each of them pursues his own dream: Malte Zeeck follows his passion for travel, cultures and people and starts working as an international television reporter in Europe, India and Brazil. Philipp von Plato, an entrepreneur at heart who started his first business while at university, embarks on a career as a consultant for global blue chip companies in Germany, the UK and Croatia.

Two Friends, Many Countries, One Problem

Germany, January 2007: Malte and Philipp meet again. Despite several years apart following different career paths, they soon realize that there is one experience they both share: being an expat. No matter where your work or travels take you, you are confronted with the same problems; because every time you arrive in a new place, you start all over again.

Finding new friends, making new business contacts, sorting out all the essentials for your daily life – all of this can be a very time-consuming, nerve-wracking and disheartening experience. Wouldn’t expat life be so much easier if there was just one place you could turn to and find everything you need?

An Idea Becomes Reality

Malte and Philipp decide that there should be such a place: A platform where expats from all countries of the world can network, socialize and find trustworthy information and services, wherever they are. A platform that makes life easier for expats. And so the idea of InterNations is born.

Malte and Philipp get their friend Christian Leifeld on board, and in an attic apartment in Cologne, their vision begins to take shape. Full of ideas and enthusiasm, they organize their own boot camp in an old castle, where they draft the first version of the InterNations website and a detailed business plan that would help them turn their vision into reality: In May 2007, InterNations is founded. Within a couple of years, InterNations grows from a network of friends living abroad to the no. 1 platform for expats and global minds worldwide.

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