Hans Schoepflin

Hans Schoepflin is an entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was born in 1941 into a Lörrach family of entrepreneurs that wrote economic history in 20th century Germany with their mail-order business founded in 1907 in Haagen. In the 1970s Hans Schoepflin moved to the United States, where he began a successful career in business alongside entrepreneur Sol Price before starting his own business as a venture investor in the early 1980s. His mentor Sol Price always combined economic success with social responsibility, an approach that greatly influenced Hans Schoepflin. Yet his path from entrepreneur to philanthropist had its deepest roots in a personal tragedy: In 1995, Hans Schoepflin's son died of a drug overdose. In the years that followed, Hans Schoepflin intensified his philanthropic commitment. This resulted in the creation of the Panta Rhea Foundation in the USA in 1998 and the Schoepflin Foundation in Loerrach in 2001, as well as the Spore Initiative in 2020. Today, he continues to work as an entrepreneur and investor. At the core of his philanthropic commitment lies the strengthening of democracy and the concern for future generations. For his efforts in the field of philanthropy, Hans Schoepflin was awarded the German Donors’ Award (“Deutscher Stifterpreis”) 2020.