Trainer
Gurdatar Singh Bal works for ICUnet.AG as an intercultural consultant and is responsible for the development and implementation of intercultural country training, specialising in South and South-east Asia. Born in Butala, in the state of Punjab, India, he studied Political Science and History at the Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar, India. He gained practical experience in various functions and company sectors as a process, logistics and project manager in India. Furthermore, he worked as the managing director of an industrial company in Sri Lanka. He has been living in Germany for 18 years and has many years of experience as a trainer at home and abroad.
Gurdatar Singh Bal speaks English, Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu.
Annette Becker works as an intercultural consultant and trainer for Eastern/Middle-Eastern Europe and Central Asia at ICUnet.AG. After completing her training as a journalist she gained an MA at the University of Cologne in Slavonic Studies, Cultural Anthropology and Literature. During the following period she has been working for 8 years in Slavonic speaking countries, in her last position as the Marketing Director of a pharmaceutical company in Prague. She gained extensive intercultural experience during her frequent travelling for marketing projects in the countries of Eastern/Middle-Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In the field of intercultural consultancy she is specialising in stress management for executives/expats as well as in conflict management in intercultural business by mediation methods and techniques.
Annette Becker is fluent in English and Czech and also speaks Russian and French.
Julia Bindrich works as intercultural consultant as well as assistant to the board here at ICUnet.AG.
During her Language, Economic and Cultural Studies at the University of Passau, she specialized on Spanish-speaking countries and Mainland China. In order to further this unusual combination, she conducted an empirical research about intercultural strategies in Spanish-Chinese business relations. She not only gathered intercultural experience during her studies but also during extended stays and work practice in Spain, Costa Rica and China – amongst others while working at the management department of the German Chamber of Commerce in Beijing. Together with Alexander Kramer, she is head of China Competence Centre at ICUnet.AG.
Julia is fluent in English, Spanish and Mandarin.
Jörg Büechl works as an intercultural consultant at ICUnet.AG. He studied Language, Economic and Cultural Studies at the University of Passau and “Chinese Language Studies” at the Beijing Language and Culture University. He gained intercultural experience during extended stays in the USA and in China, where he worked independently on projects for various companies. As part of his degree dissertation Jörg carried out university marketing campaigns in Chinese during a stay in China, he researched the motivational structures of the Chinese as well as the intercultural problems which arise when American and Chinese workers cooperate on projects. He worked at the University of Passau as a tutor for the USA, Canada, Australia and China and was able to pass on his intercultural experiences to students who were interested in foreign culture. He also designed and presented intercultural foreign and reintegration training.
Jörg Büechl speaks fluent English and Mandarin.
Bassam Elemam works at ICUnet.AG as an intercultural consultant focussing on the Arab world. Born in Egypt, he studied Business Administration at the University of Cairo and has been living in Germany for 7 years. He gained intercultural work experiences during his extended stays in the Arab world, where he worked for several years in various industries - mainly in the electrical industry as a sales manager, procurement manager and later as a managing director distribution at a leading regional company in Saudi Arabia. Lately he worked as a general manager of a trading and distribution company in Egypt.
Bassam Elemam speaks Arabic, English, German and has basic knowledge of French.
Alexander Kramer works as an intercultural consultant and trainer for the East Asian region at ICUnet.AG. He is responsible for projects concerning the Chinese cultural zone, including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. He also carries out country awareness raising, preparation and reintegration training for these regions. The familiar and the foreign in culture and languages have always been important subjects to Alexander Kramer. He studied Cultural Studies and Sinology, focusing on history and politics, linguistics and literature as well as philosophy and anthropology at the University of Leipzig and the Huà Shi Dà in Shanghai. He wrote his dissertation on the subject of cultural identity in Chinese film. He gained intercultural work experience through several years working for various German and Chinese firms. Most recently he worked for a German-Chinese market research and marketing consulting agency in Shanghai. Together with Julia Bindrich, he is head of China Competence Centre at ICUnet.AG.
Alexander Kramer speaks English, Mandarin and has extensive knowledge of Russian.
Kerstin Grönlund is intercultural Trainer and Coach at ICUnet.AG. The Swede lived and worked for several years in both New Zealand and in the Netherlands before moving to Berlin in 1989. Kerstin's diverse experience spans working in the theatre, making acquisitions and conducting business transactions for Scandinavian companies. In Berlin, she realized that there was a growing need for comprehensive relocation services and founded a relocation company that merged with ICUnet.AG in 2011. Kerstin Grönlund was a board member of EuRA (European Relocation Association) until 2004 and was responsible for the training of EuRA relocation professionals.
Kerstin Grönlund is fluent in German, Swedish an English.
