Lina Abena
Aboagyewa Stepper

So, Lina, who are you?

I'm of German and Ghanaian heritage: I grew up in Ghana and moved to Germany for my education. That journey between cultures shapes how I see problems. I look for what connects things, not just what separates them. Most of my thinking lives at the intersection of regulation, behaviour, and what fairness actually looks like in practice.

What's keeping you busy right now?

Two things in parallel. My Bachelor's Thesis: I'm mapping the barriers German SMEs face when trying to comply with sustainability regulation, things like the EU taxonomy, supply chain due diligence, and ESG reporting. There are 3.2 million small businesses in Germany carrying compliance costs designed for large corporations. And alongside that, I've been building small apps with Claude Code to simplify my own life: automating the repetitive parts of research so I can focus on the thinking that actually matters.

Why does that matter to you personally?

Because small businesses are where most people actually work. They're the backbone of the economy, and yet the policy conversation often feels like it's written for a room full of compliance lawyers. I wanted to understand what that gap looks like up close, and whether there's a smarter way to bridge it.

How would you describe the way you work?

Somewhere between careful planning and productive chaos. I like to understand a system fully before I try to change it. I make a lot of lists. I also tend to follow curiosity wherever it leads, which means projects sometimes grow in directions I didn't expect, usually better ones.

What's the thread that runs through everything you do?

Turning complexity into something that people can actually use. Whether that's a thesis, a design, a conversation, I want the output to feel clear and intentional. Not dumbed down. Just honest.

What are you looking for next?

I'm available for student jobs from September 2026, and open to opportunities at the intersection of sustainability, strategy, and real-world implementation. I'm based in Berlin and work in English and German. What I'm really looking for are organisations that genuinely value work-life balance, that invest in their people for the long term, and that are building something sustainable: in the business sense, not just the marketing sense.