During a ceremony at the former royal palace in Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg economic minister Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut awarded the state’s business medal to Ursula Ida Lapp, Founder of Lapp Group. The medal represents a tremendous honour bestowed on an outstanding businesswoman. Among the federal state's most prestigious honours, it is awarded only to people who have made an outstanding contribution to the economy of Baden-Württemberg. "With diligence, ambition and perseverance, you and your family have created a company of international renown over the past 58 years. You are open, interested person and you participate in the lives of your fellow human beings. Your varied and considerable social and entrepreneurial achievements are to be particularly emphasised. For this reason, it is a particular pleasure for me today to personally hand over the business medal to you”, Minister Hoffmeister-Kraut said in her laudation.

 

An entrepreneur through and through, Ursula Ida Lapp has made German business history. Together with her husband Oskar Lapp (1921-1987), she channeled her passion, energy and understanding of the industry’s requirements into founding a company of international renown. Today, the Lapp Group employs approximately 3,440 people around the world and has 17 production sites and 40 distribution companies. The company also works in cooperation with around 100 foreign representatives. The first chapter of the Stuttgart-based Lapp Group's success story was written at the end of the 1950s. Ursula Ida Lapp's husband Oskar Lapp was a gifted inventor and innovator. 

 

When the company started out, single cores and strands had to be inserted into cables by hand, a time-consuming task. Oskar Lapp set to work developing the first industrially produced oil-resistant and flexible control cables that used different colours to distinguish cable cores. Another innovation followed: the ÖLFLEX brand name for the invention. Coined by the Lapps, the name became synonymous with extremely oil-resistant and flexible cables. U.I. Lapp KG was founded in 1959 with initial capital of DM 50,000. U.I. stands for Ursula Ida. The fledgling company was based in the couple's garage in the Vaihingen suburb of Stuttgart.