When a Global Group Realised Their Bottleneck Was a Managing Director

But at the very first drafting of the GmbH documents, a simple but critical question came up: “Who will actually act as managing director in Germany?”

Internally, no one truly fit. The HQ team knew the group, but had limited knowledge of German corporate law and hesitated to take on personal liability in an unfamiliar jurisdiction. External candidates were hard to assess, needed lengthy recruitment processes, and wanted long-term employment packages the group was not ready to commit to. Meanwhile, deadlines for contracts, bank account opening and regulatory registrations were getting closer, and the German entity could not properly operate without a registered managing director.

This is exactly where the group decided to work with Greenfields.

Instead of delaying the expansion while searching for “the perfect person,” the company appointed an experienced German-resident managing director provided by Greenfields. Someone who could be put in place quickly, understood governance and compliance, and could later be replaced or withdrawn without internal friction once the organisation was ready.

In practice, Greenfields’ role for the company looked like this:

👉 Directorship & Management: A seasoned professional acted as managing director, ensuring that the German entity was properly represented and its governance ran smoothly.

👉 Legal & Financial Oversight: Regular checks on the entity’s legal and financial “health” kept it in good standing and avoided unpleasant surprises.

👉 Contract Execution: Pre-approved contracts and key documents were signed efficiently, so sales and operations teams could move ahead without waiting for the next board meeting.

👉 Regulatory Compliance: All relevant German legal requirements and shareholder instructions were implemented consistently in the local entity.

👉 Office Support: Post and official correspondence were received, monitored and processed reliably in Germany.

👉 Language Bridge: Communication with authorities, banks and advisors in German and with the international team in English remained seamless.

From the group’s perspective, appointing a Greenfields managing director turned a structural risk into a managed service. The German entity could start doing business, while HQ kept strategic control and retained full flexibility for future changes.

If your company is setting up or restructuring a German entity and still debating who should take on the managing director role, Greenfields can step in exactly at that point, so your expansion can proceed without waiting for the perfect internal candidate.