At the time, Stephan Wollgarten, born 1980, studied International Business at Maastricht University, the Netherlands, majoring in strategic management with minors in corporate finance and financial accounting, and at the renowned Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris within the master program Carrieres Internationales, following classes in international relations, consulting and political science, given by leading exerts from France and abroad working for the European Union, McKinsey, IFRI and others.