Egeli Group celebrates 75-year anniversary
In 1943, Willy V. Egeli founded a fiduciary office in St.Gallen. Today, 75 years later, the family business, now in its third generation, has additional pillars in the areas of information technology, credit agency, real estate and even its own printing house.
The history of the Egeli Group can be read as a reflection of how the service sector as a whole developed: from manually executed bookings to paper customer files, the path led first to mechanical calculating machines and finally to digitalization. But the corporate culture has also gradually modernized. Today, the group consists of EGELI Treuhand for "classic" fiduciary services, Creditreform for credit information and debt collection, EGELI Immobilien for comprehensive real estate management, EGELI Informatik for standard or individual software and IT solutions, and E-Druck AG. Today, the entire group employs a good 170 people.
Three generations shape the Egeli Group
Three generations have shaped the Egeli Group to this day. First, there was the charismatic founder Willy V. Egeli, who started his one-man business "Willy Egeli Treuhand Inkasso" in St.Gallen in 1943. Apparently, the business must have gone quite well right from the start - in the middle of the Second World War, nota bene - because the first employee was already hired in the founding year. A lot of "busy life and work" has been handed down from the early years, as can be read in the anniversary brochure. One employee remembers it as follows: "At that time, the clock did not play a role after the official closing time. We crammed like in a recruit school, where the boss was the non-commissioned officer and we, the employees, were the drill soldiers. Nevertheless, there was a good comradely spirit between the principal and the employees, and I count those years, despite the long working hours, among the best in the company." The boss always came to the office early in the morning, took care of the mail and distributed orders to the employees. And then it was off - by bicycle - to visit customers... In 1957, the company already had 26 employees, including six apprentices. Accounting, debt collection, field service and the district office of the Creditreform association were located at the St.Gallen headquarters, while branches in Weinfelden and Winterthur also offered fiduciary and debt collection services.
From manual labor to digitization
In 1958, the in-house print shop was added to the "core business" in order to produce customer information and forms in-house. The print shop - which today operates under the name E-Druck AG - was managed from 1965 by Bobby Feurer, the son-in-law of company founder Willy V. Egeli. Today, E-Druck AG is still a successful printing service provider in St.Gallen - managed by Andreas Feurer, also in the second generation. At that time, the fiduciary business was naturally still characterized by a lot of paper. However, mechanical office technology was also introduced at Egeli. From the beginning of the 1960s onwards, client accounts were kept using a new accounting machine with 26 registers, an "electromechanical rattletrap". But annual financial statements were still typed on a typewriter - with carbon copies, of course. It is easy to imagine the consequences of a typing error. It is not known how much overtime had to be worked because of this... It was not until the 1980s that the first electronic accounting systems were introduced.
Company founder Willy V. Egeli died in 1980 at the age of 63. His son Willy J. Egeli - who had already taken over operational management of the trust, auditing, real estate, credit and accounts receivable management business areas in 1968 - continued to run the company. His father's sole proprietorship was subsequently transferred to EGELI Treuhand AG. Under Willy J. Egeli's leadership, the company's culture gradually became fresher. Whereas previously interaction between employees had been characterized by the formal "you", the "you" culture finally took hold towards the end of the 1980s. Digitalization also began in this decade: EGELI Informatik AG was founded in 1986, led by another branch of the family in the person of Werner Egeli and his wife Eliane. With the digital recording of the Creditreform registers, they laid the foundation of a database that is continuously updated and modernized to this day.
Family business built on values
In 1995, the third generation joined the company. His son Raoul Egeli first took over the management of EGELI Treuhand AG in Zurich and in the following years assumed more and more functions and offices, also outside the company. For example, he has been president of the Swiss Creditreform Association since 2008. In 2009, Raoul Egeli becomes President of the industry association Treuhand Suisse and Vice President of Creditreform International. Together with his sister Francine Egeli, he finally succeeded his father Willy J. Egeli in the company in 2011. Today he recalls: "I am very grateful to my grandfather and father for what they built up. That binds and obliges at the same time. Central to me is respecting the company's heritage and always looking for new opportunities to develop the business." And he emphasizes that in all the succession arrangements in the 75-year history, there has never been any pressure from the older generation on the younger generation. This probably explains the organic growth that the Egeli Group can look back on in 2018, based on the values of future, past, freedom limits and trust.
