The Bike4Life Team

About Björn Welter

I am a 25 year old student of architecture (9. semester) and communication design (7. semester) at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany. As a high school student, I participated in the "Young Life Amicus" Student Exchange program. I spent a year studying in Dallas, Texas. From '94-'97 I was involved with Young Life Berlin both as a leader and organiser. I learned a lot about the American culture and people. In the summer of 2000, I attended the Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. This enabled me to further experience different cultures and languages.

I am currently completing 2 degrees at the same time (architecture and communication design). Combined with my real life experiences, I have gained a solid knowledge base that can be applied to future endeavours. During my academic studies, I have also taken the opportunity for freelance work with different companies in the fields of advertising, marketing and architecture therefore further broadening my knowledge base. As well, I have worked as a freelance photographer since 1994.

At the end of 2000, I started a cultural, communications and event platform with a friend known as "Bauhaeusler Lounge Weimar". In March 2001, myself and 3 other students founded the "glutamat an der ilm". This project enables entrepreneurial business ideas to become a reality by connecting student ideas with established companies. Our current project is a campaign to raise awareness of disadvantaged groups.

To balance my work life, I use mountain biking as a form of relaxation. I enjoy this sport not only for its physical demands but also because it enables me to explore and discover new terrain not known to others.

Developing Bike4Life with Konstantin and raising funds for disadvantaged children has been my biggest challenge to date. I am looking forward to meeting the challenges set out by Bike4Life and riding from Canada to Mexico!

About Konstantin Henschen

I am 27 years old and a graduate of the Business Communications program at the Berlin University for Economics and Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft).

My working career began when I was a student. At 16 I worked for a small bicycle repair shop in the city centre of Berlin where I gained experience in different areas such as repair, purchasing and retail sales. This experience solidified my resolve to work in the business field in the future.

After my high school diploma and mandatory service in the German Federal Armed Forces, I decided to start an apprenticeship at an advertising agency. The following three years were very interesting and influenced my decision to study marketing.

Business Communications at the University for Economics and Applied Sciences offered a broad selection of courses. During the four-year program I participated in many practical communication projects for various clients in different industries. In my term holidays and my co-op semester I went to North America several times to work for different advertising and marketing agencies as well as a small graphic design studio. I learned a lot about North America and gained a lot of experiences that still help me very much today.

Between 1998 and 2000 I was worked for the German trade union federation in Berlin, where I had the chance to participate in several social marketing projects. I was given the opportunity to present my ideas and supported the planning of internal and external communications.

In October 1999 two of my classmates and I decided to start a small communication consulting agency with the name "dasKOMMUNIKAT". However, since we all had other employers in prospect, our efforts towards "dasKOMMUNIKAT" were reduced.

Like Björn I am an avid mountain biker. I always travel with my bike. It is beautiful to be mobile and to explore unknown areas under your own muscle power. Although I regularly participate in Mountain Bike races involving distances between 30 and 120 kilometres, Bike4Life will prove to be a challenge and influence me in the future. It will be a very exciting trip. I am looking forward to helping a lot of people in a relatively short time.

Expectations of the Bike4Life Team

Bike4Life understands itself to be a communication tool for the charity organisation, donors, sponsor partners, and disadvantaged people through the implementation of this project. For that reason the selection of sponsoring partners will be critical. We want to maximize the exposure for our partners and sponsors.

The Bike4Life Team, Björn Welter and Konstantin Henschen, are committed to use all possible means to achieve the set goals for the sponsors and charities supporting the Bike4Life Canada to Mexico charity ride.

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