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Let the Start-Ups Begin
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Among the posters of stylish models on the walls of Michaela Pütz's Bonn hairdressing salon hangs her Meisterbrief the master craftsman's diploma that all German artisans must acquire before they set up their own businesses. The 40-year-old Pütz got hers 12 years ago, by attending six months of all-day classes on business management and crafts law at a cost of more than €12,000. Pütz's 21-year-old apprentice Susan, however, may not need to cram for a master's exam; the qualification, which dates back to the country's medieval guilds and exists nowhere else in Europe except Luxembourg, might be on...