Tunisian Nouha Schönbrunn and her husband have founded a company specialized in IT security. The office is located in the industrial area of Neue Ramtelstraße.

Nathalie Mainka

Nouha Schönbrunn leads through the expansive, approximately 600 square meter business premises on the sixth floor of a semi-circular office building on Leonberger Riedwiesenstraße. There is plenty of space for meetings, training, and daily work. There is also a children's room with toys – family-friendly working is emphasized. On the walls hang not only an impressive black-and-white photograph of the Leonberger marketplace but also some motifs from the 32-year-old managing director's Tunisian homeland. She runs the Schönbrunn TASC GmbH with her husband Jan-Sebastian, which specializes in IT security. TASC stands for Training, Audit, System, and Consulting and forms the four pillars of the company's offerings. "We offer the entire portfolio in the area of information security. From consulting to the implementation of systems and know-how to ongoing support in everyday life," says Nouha Schönbrunn.

"Especially small and medium-sized enterprises need to do quite a bit, as the topic of security is becoming increasingly relevant, but many think they are too small and therefore not at risk," says Schönbrunn. What is a big misconception, when she looks at the aging servers, the outdated software, or the operating systems. That is where all the knowledge of an organization is stored – and perhaps never examined for errors or potential vulnerabilities. "There is always the possibility that data is lost or hackers are at work. Our experience is that many entrepreneurs see the topic of IT security as a necessary evil." She wants to change that together with her clients. Because: Many companies are increasingly receiving security requirements from their clients.

Nouha Schönbrunn works in a male-dominated profession. According to a cyber-security study from 2024, the proportion of women in this field worldwide is currently only 24 percent. In Germany, it is only 14 percent, according to the study. "In school and career counseling, girls are hardly encouraged to pursue technical professions. They quickly lean towards psychology, business administration, or social sciences – but not IT or mechanical engineering," she laments. Therefore, she, along with two other women, founded the initiative She@ISACA. "We want to encourage women to become speakers, to be present at conferences, to be proud of their work – and not just organize in the background what no one else wants to do. Visibility creates self-confidence."

Nouha Schönbrunn's parents, born Loukil, studied in France. Her mother is a financial mathematician and a university professor. Daughter Nouha attended a French school and completed her degree in Management and Financial Mathematics at the University in Sfax, Tunisia, in 2014. "At that time, I was already dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur. I was fascinated by analyzing conversations, thinking strategically, and never losing patience," she says. She could have stayed in Tunisia as tradition dictates, married, had children, and continued to work. "The economy in my home country relies on women." But she wanted to leave, see something new, and decided to go to Europe. In 2014, she initially moved to Speyer to stay with a cousin of her mother. In an intensive course, she learned the German language. "That went quite well, as I am a logical person, and I was able to grasp the language this way." She then moved to Stuttgart, where she studied Technology Management – a mix of mechanical engineering and business administration.

As a research assistant at the Fraunhofer Institute, she met her future husband Jan-Sebastian, who worked as an information security consultant. Nouha Schönbrunn gained work experience in various companies in the fields of quality and process management. In 2020, her husband, who grew up in Leonberg, had the idea of starting a business in the field of IT security. Everything started in their Sindelfingen attic apartment. The company was founded in January 2021. And then everything happened very quickly.

They built an applicant management tool. In 2022, the company moved to Warmbronn. In the same year, their son was born. The office space became too small, and they found a suitable property on Riedwiesenstraße, moving in there in October 2023. Currently, the company, with 20 employees, serves over 200 clients from all industries, primarily in the regions of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In her home country, Nouha Schönbrunn is currently building up the business.

"It was a small project that grew step by step. Our combination – man and woman, technology and strategy, German and non-German – was never a hindrance but our strength," says the Tunisian.