At the end of March, Hape China once again welcomed students from Nottingham University Ningbo, giving them the opportunity to gain first-hand insights into our business practice, our culture, our products, our services and what our toy production looks like.

During the visit, Peter Handstein, founder and CEO of Hape Group, shared his own experiences with the students about how he became an entrepreneur, discussing the challenges he has encountered and ruminating on the key factors that helped him to succeed. Upon their return to campus, students gave their feedback and communicated what inspired them most about the visit.

Here’s what they had to say….

“Challenge yourself, or others will challenge you”, is what Peter Handstein told us during the visit. I think he tried to motivate us to embrace challenges and to develop a life-long habit of learning. What he said also reminded me of something I once read in a business management book, “If you don’t pay the price of success, you’ll pay the price for failure”.

—Zhu ZhanJie

When we toured the company, we came across a photo collage of Peter Handstein’s family. Once we stopped there he said: “It's about reminding ourselves. Don’t forget where you started from and why”. It made me think that no matter where your journey takes you, you should not forget your roots and background and never lose track of your original intensions.

—Zhang YiYi

Peter Handstein began the tour by introducing Hape’s corporate history to us. I learned that Peter started his career as a Kindergarten equipment sales representative back in Germany. It was during that time that he realised the importance of toys in children’s development and the joy that toys can bring to children. He also explained to us that the company’s name “Hape” not only sounds like “happy”, but that it is the company’s mission to bring happiness to all the children of the world.

—Lin PengCheng