BASF celebrates 140th anniversary
German chemical company, BASF, celebrates its 140th anniversary on April 6, 2005, and the company is planning a wide range of campaigns, events and sponsorship programmes to celebrate this milestone.
For example, through the “We Help the Region Win” campaign, BASF intends to fund youth affairs and education, social affairs, culture and sport in the Rhine-Neckar region with €22 million in 2005 –around three times last year’s amount. One of the main thrusts is a project called “Proactive Education” which is intended to improve the prerequisites and framework for schooling and education over the coming years. The focus is on laying the foundations for a good education, starting in daycare centres, nursery schools and elementary schools. The goal is to give children of all abilities the best possible stimulation and encouragement.
“To us, 140 years of history means 140 years of responsibility – to all our customers, employees, shareholders and neighbours,” said Dr. Jürgen Hambrecht, chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF Aktiengesellschaft.
BASF came into being on April 6, 1865, when Friedrich Engelhorn, a goldsmith by trade and later owner of a lighting gas factory, set up a stock corporation called Badische Anilin- & Soda-Fabrik (Baden Aniline & Soda Factory) for the production of dyes. When a planned real estate deal in
