DESCUBRIS Institute

About us

„1995. I am working for Accenture, an American based and largest consulting firm in the world. Projects in Switzerland, Germany, France, the US. One common denominator: Boring presentations. Some with PowerPoint, some without.
After six years I am taking a sabbatical. Time to think. I decide to follow the example of my Dad and my brother. They both have successfully established their own company.
My vision: There will be only informative, persuasive and entertaining presentations in the world.”

Thomas Skipwith, Founder of DESCUBRIS Training for Public Speaking

The above story was the trigger for founding the company. This was in 2002 in Zurich, Switzerland.
Coaches and trainers of the DESCUBRIS Institute themselves get up on the platform regularly. They walk the talk: Only practice makes perfect.
“In our keynotes, coachings and trainings for public speaking we pass on time tested techniques, formulas and experiences to our clients. In a fun and entertaining way.”

The name of the company is derived from Spanish. “Descubrir” means to discover. Same as French “Découvrir”. It’s a call to action to all audience members and participants: Leave old stuff behind and try something new.

The DESCUBRIS Institute offers its keynotes, trainings and coachings in German, English and French. In Switzerland and abroad.

Team

Thomas Skipwith

MBA of the University of St. Gallen

Thomas Skipwith is a management trainer and coach for public speaking and presentation skills. Thomas is the founder and CEO of the DESCUBRIS Institute (since 2002) in Zurich. He collected seven years of experience in international business consulting with Accenture in Change Management and Human Performance. He is the co-founder of the „Rhetoric Center“ at the business university of St. Gall in Switzerland. In addition, he was the founder and president of several Toastmasters Clubs both in English and German. He is a four time European Champion of Public Speaking. He speaks four languages fluently and is now working on his Mandarin Chinese.

Reto B. Rüegger

B.A. Marketing

Reto Ruegger is a management trainer, consultant and coach for public speaking, marketing and sales. Reto is a partner of DESCUBRIS. For over 10 years, he held different marketing and sales management roles in international corporations such as Swisscom, Credit Suisse and Microsoft. He has more than 10 years of experience in the field of management development in different organizations as a manager as well as entrepreneur. He studied marketing in Switzerland and screenplay writing for motion pictures at University of California, Irvine, USA. He is the author of various stage plays. He is a certified mental coach. Reto is fluent in German and English. His hobbies are sports (jogging, biking, trekking) as well as travelling.

Jörg Blömeling

B.A. Business

Jörg is a presentation and memory trainer for Neue Kommunikative in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. He used to be an Alumnus Client Service Manager at Michael Conrad & Leo Burnett (International Advertising Agency) - Responsible for brands like Marlboro, Polaroid, Epson, Landliebe, Kelloggs. His international work experience is: Quiksilver / France. He is the two time winner of the European Championship of Public Speaking (Lucerne, Switzerland and Paris, France, 2003).

Alex Csorba

Alexandru Csorba is one of our team assistants.

Sulma Böni

Sulma Böni is one of our team assistants.

Partners

Athenas, Speaker Bureau

Athenas Athenas puts companies in contact with experts for workshops, seminars and speeches in Switzerland. Since over 10 years. Thomas Skipwith is also listed as one of their specialists for presentation skills.

Guglielmo Imbimbo

A top sales and personality trainer who has been working with people for over 20 years.

Training und Beratung in Medizin und Pharma

Training and Consultancy for Medical and Marketing Professionals in European Pharma and Medical Device Companies:

Realize Your Full Potential and Deliver Results.

smavicon Best Business Presentations

smavicon is specialized in multimedia slide design.

Donations

Thomas Skipwith donates a check to Lesley Stephenson of Ethiopian Enterprise.

About 85 million people live in Ethiopia – more than half in poverty. That makes Ethiopia one of the poorest countries on the planet. Therefore its people need support from outside. Ethiopian Enterprises is a non-profit organisation founded in 2010 by Lesley Stephenson, Thomas Baumann and Hans Möhr. They are committed to the sustainable end of poverty in Ethiopia. With the help of their members and donors, their association provides financial and educational support for selected projects which can help Ethiopians escape the cycle of poverty and lead lives of self-reliance. To this end, they also collaborate with similarly oriented organisations active in Ethiopia in the realisation of larger scale projects. All projects must contribute to the sustainable development of Ethiopian society and its economy. 100% of donations are put into its projects.

The DESCUBRIS Institute is happy to support Ethiopian Enterprises financially. To this end Thomas Skipwith gives up to 10 keynote speeches per year without fee, but a donation to Ethiopian Enterprises.

June 2016: Langnau am Albis (next to Zürich)/Oberwil-Lieli: Ethiopian Enterprises is a non-profit-organisation, that helps to build schools locally in Ethiopia. All donations go 100% to Ethiopia. To support the organization Thomas Skipwith gave a speech at the Rotary Club Dübendorf. His fee was sponsored by Hempel Special Metals AG and donated to Ethiopian Enterprises. Many thanks! The check was handed over personally to Lesley Stephenson from Ethiopian Enterprises. And what pleasant coincidence: It was Lesley Stephenson’s birthday.

April 2017: Thomas Skipwith was invited to speak at the Lions Club Herrliberg. Instead of a speaker fee, the Lions Club with their president Christian Vass donated CHF 500.- to Ethiopian Enterprises. Many thanks.

INFO:
www.facebook.com/ethiopianenterprises
www.ethiopianenterprises.org