Made in Germany | Boatbuilder Michael Schmidt

He's a sailing world champion,boat builder and innovator. Michael Schmidt is not your typical chief executive officer. He wears corduroys,has long gray hair and the hands of a working man,and never went to university. That hasn't stopped him from turning his Greifswald-based company,HanseYachts,into a success story. He is a Self-Made-Man -- uncompromising,authentic.Long ago he lived with friends in a Hamburg commune and moved from job to job. After German unification,he took over a run-down boatyard in Greifswald in eastern Germany. Since then,HanseYacht has established itself as a leader in the market for low-cost mass-market sailing yachts. In the 2007-2008 business year,HanseYacht had total sales of 135 million Euros. Schmidt has added motorboats to his product line. Like other boat makers,Schmidt has suffered from the economic crisis. People are buying fewer boats. But that didn't stop Schmidt from expanding his business by buying the rival Dehler boatyard.