WE HELP AMBITIOUS COMPANIES GROW BEYOND
their current reach.
Expanding Together works with companies navigating growth, new markets, and high-stakes relationships.
PURPOSE
Founded in Hamburg in 2020, Expanding Together grew out of a simple observation: most companies that want to grow internationally have the ambition — but not the access, the network, or the execution capacity to make it real.
We built this platform to change that. Not as advisors who hand over a strategy and step back, but as partners who stay involved until the outcome is real. We bring together two decades of entrepreneurial experience, deep cross-cultural networks across Europe, China, and LATAM, and the operational discipline to translate opportunity into results.
Markets don’t expand themselves. People do.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Five principles. Non-negotiable.
01
Win-Win is the only sustainable strategy
Every engagement is designed so that all parties benefit. Long-term mutual success beats short-term advantage.
02
Global by conviction, not by circumstance
International collaboration, open trade, and global value creation. Operating across borders means respecting them and thinking beyond them.
03
Partnerships over transactions
Long-term relationships built on trust, performance, and mutual benefit. Not transactions. Partnerships.
04
Ownership and delivery
Accountability runs deeper than the brief. Commitments are kept. Outcomes are owned.
05
Selective by design
Good work starts with the right fit. That takes honesty on both sides.
THE FOUNDERS
The people behind the platform.
Pascal Warnecke
Strategy · Growth · China
Pascal started his first company at 21. An online broker, founded with three partners and €75,000 in capital in 1999, a year before the dot-com bubble burst. Over the next two decades, he built it into a regulated financial services group with offices in Germany and Spain and over 35,000 clients across 30 countries. He led it through every phase a company can go through: rapid growth, a full restructuring, a cross-border acquisition, and a successful IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In 2020, he sold the majority of his stake to FOSUN International, one of China’s largest investment groups, and founded Expanding Together.
Pascal has been through the full cycle — growth, crisis, expansion, and exit. That shapes how he works and what he brings to every mandate.
Zheng Xu
Market Entry · China · Networks
Zheng left Shanghai for Germany in 2001 without speaking a word of German. That decision shaped everything that followed. What came next was a career built at the intersection of European premium brands and Asian markets, developing deep expertise in cross-cultural business development, luxury brand strategy, and the relationship dynamics that determine whether a partnership between Europe and China succeeds or fails. She also served as Director of Strategy at the I.M. Pei Foundation and represents Germany as Chinese Delegate to the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance.
Zheng’s strength is not just her network. It is her ability to make things work across cultures where most partnerships fail. She understands both sides of the Europe–China relationship from the inside, and she brings that understanding into every project Expanding Together takes on.
OUR NETWORK
A curated ecosystem of specialists.
Expanding Together works with a select group of independent experts who are brought in when a mandate requires their specific depth. Not a roster. A network built on trust and track record.
Klaus Mayer
Innovation, Quality · Sustainability
Klaus spent more than three decades at the intersection of global consumer goods, quality, and sustainability. At Unilever, Wrigley, and REWE Group, he built and led functions across markets, categories, and regulatory environments of considerable complexity. He now serves as an independent advisor and board member. His expertise in global supply chains, product quality, and sustainable business practices makes him a trusted resource for companies navigating European market entry and compliance requirements.
Börn Ognibeni
Digital Strategy · China
Björn has spent more than two decades advising companies on digital strategy, with a particular focus on what European businesses can realistically learn from China’s digital ecosystem. In 2019, he founded ChinaBriefs.io, an online think tank making Chinese digital innovation legible and actionable for Western organisations. He also co-founded BuzzRank, later acquired by dpa. He teaches at the HSBA, UC Davis, and the University of Münster, where he is also co-founder and Strategic Director of XRLab@MCM.
Angela Qu
Supply Chain · Board Governance
Angela’s executive career spans more than two decades across global supply chain, procurement, and industrial operations at ABB Group, Lufthansa Group, and Iveco Group, where she served as Chief Supply Chain Officer and member of the Group Executive Committee. She has served on boards including Lufthansa Cargo, SAIC Fiat Powertrain in China, and Danx Carousel Group. She currently serves as Senior Advisor to KKR and Strategy Advisor to Airbus Group
Detlef Schmidt
Hospitality · Cultural Programming
Detlef has spent more than two decades at the intersection of strategy, hospitality, and cultural programming. After a long career at IBM, he founded viabledesign, advising luxury and lifestyle organisations on future-ready business models. He has curated and hosted more than 100 invitation-only hospitality and study tour formats across five continents, and is recognised as one of the Top 100 Global Hospitality Leaders.
Frank Marco Günzel
Strategic Innovation · AI
Frank is an engineer, entrepreneur, and strategist with a career built on pioneering work at the edges of innovation. Two decades ago, he played a founding role in bringing the German NewSpace scene to life. Out of that experience, he developed the CRI Method, a strategic framework connecting organisational culture to measurable value creation. He works exclusively at CEO and C-level.
Dr. med. Frauke Bataille
Health · Executive Wellbeing
Frauke has been a practicing pathologist for more than 25 years and runs her own medical practice with close to 30 employees. As co-founder of the INHESA Institute für Health & Selfcare Coaching in Berlin and author of “Wieder spüren, wer ich bin” (2026), she combines medical depth, entrepreneurial experience, and coaching expertise. Her work focuses on high-performing people under sustained pressure and shows why long-term performance depends on staying connected to oneself.
Kara Pientka
Healthy Leadership · Coaching
Kara founded the INHESA Institut and has spent more than 25 years coaching senior leaders at IKEA, Allianz, and PwC. Fellow Member of the Institute of Coaching, a Harvard Medical School affiliate. Author of „Selfcare Next Level“ (Campus Verlag, 2024). Her work addresses something most executive development programmes overlook: that sustained performance is not just a strategic question, but a personal one.
Ibrahim Ahmiane
Creator Economy · Digital Brands
Ibrahim has built a following of more than two million across platforms, establishing himself as one of Germany’s most recognized voices in personal finance and entrepreneurship. As a serial entrepreneur, he combines that reach with first-hand experience of the creator economy. His expertise in influencer marketing and digital brand building is relevant for companies navigating the intersection of content, community, and commerce.
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