The third HVB mentoring programme for female start-up entrepreneurs The winners and their mentors By women for women An initiative of HVB Women s Council
Amber Riedl The courage to launch a start-up Dorna Hekmat Dr Diana Knodel Dr Angelika Kneidl Patricia Eschenlohr Freya Oehle Stefanie Turber
Successful female start-up entrepreneurs with innovative ideas The winners of the third HVB mentoring programme have now been selected For the third time, the HVB mentoring programme an initiative of HVB Women s Council is ready to guide aspiring female start-up entrepreneurs on the path to launching their own businesses. For six months, the winners will have members of the HVB Women s Council and HVB start-up specialists at their side. At the same time, the entrepreneurs take part in an exclusive programme of events hosted by HVB and the co-operation partners in which they can build and expand their individual networks. The goal is to provide them with the best possible support on the path to establishing their own companies. The winners and their innovative business ideas: Freya Oehle, spottster.com Digital shopping wishlist with an integrated price alert Amber Riedl, makerist.de Europe s first online handcraft platform Dorna Hekmat, i-frontdesk Tablet app as a mobile, personalised, round-the-clock concierge service for hotel guests Dr Angelika Kneidl, accu:rate Simulation of crowd dynamics for large events and building projects Stefanie Turber, comfy Smart house security system with LED technology and internet connection Patricia Eschenlohr, Landpack Environmentally-friendly insulated packaging for the efood sector Social entrepreneur special award: Dr Diana Knodel: App Camps Coding workshops for young people Gabriele Zedlmayer, Vice President & Chief Progress Officer Corporate Affairs at Hewlett-Packard Company, President of the HVB Women s Council: Once again this year, the seven winners of the HVB mentoring programme for female start-up entrepreneurs have filled us with inspiration. They do not simply talk about the future, they are playing an active part in it by seizing opportunities for ideas and utilising megatrends like digitalisation in their innovative business concepts. They serve as role models for anyone who wants to make a difference and create something new. I have no doubt that we will hear a great deal more about these start-up entrepreneurs in the years to come.
Female start-up entrepreneurs are still underrepresented on the German start-up market. Our mentoring programme seeks to promote the involvement of women in the world of business. All of the entrepreneurs start-up ideas were innovative and showed huge potential. (Dr Theodor Weimer, Board Spokesman of HypoVereinsbank UniCredit Bank AG) Having a brilliant idea is a good start. We aim to support these women so that they can also establish their businesses on the appropriate market. (Professor Susanne Porsche, mentor of the HVB mentoring programme for female start-up entrepreneurs, Managing Director of summerset GmbH)
There is an amazing atmosphere among the aspiring entrepreneurs, who have supported one another repeatedly over the last few years and opened up their own networks to the other participants. (Alexandra Schöneck, Owner and Independent Corporate Consultant at Schatzmeisterei)
In order to set up a company you need passion, courage and a certain appetite for risk. All of our female start-up entrepreneurs have these characteristics. I really enjoy lending my support to and sharing my knowledge and experience with these enthusiastic, go-getting entrepreneurs. The mentoring programme is an excellent tool to support promising projects and people. (Nina Hugendubel, Mentor, Managing Shareholder of H. Hugendubel GmbH & Co. KG)
winner: Freya Oehle spottster.com mentor: Stephanie Czerny Co-Founder of the DLD Conference and Managing Director at DLD Media GmbH/Hubert Burda Media Lost in the online shopping jungle? The online service spottster.com, brainchild of the economics graduate Freya Oehle, can help point the way: the digital wishlist works in any shop, enabling customers to save and watch their favourite products, with a clear overview, at the touch of a button. If the product goes down in price, the customer is notified via email or app. The service also automatically includes any valid voucher for the products. In addition, by virtue of its link to the product catalogues of more than 3,000 online shops and the analysis of customer interests, spottster.com is a reliable benchmarking tool for the online retail industry. The integration of social networks increases the tool s usability. www.spottster.com
winner: Amber Riedl makerist.de mentor: Nina Hugendubel Managing Owner of H. Hugendubel GmbH & Co. KG, Member of the Advisory Council of DBH Buch Handels GmbH & Co. KG Do-it-yourself is an up and coming trend. Together with Axel Heinz, the online-specialist Amber Riedl has founded the first online handcraft platform in Europe, which focuses on sewing, knitting, crocheting and cake-decorating makerist.de. The webshop offers training courses in the form of video tutorials, plus printouts of instructions and matching material boxes. The mainly female users from Germany, Austria and Switzerland can exchange ideas and tips on Facebook and upload the results of their handiwork in the Werkschau on makerist.de. The new categories like barbecuing, woodwork and photography are designed to appeal to men as well. www.makerist.de makerist Deine Handarbeitsschule im Internet www.makerist.de
winner: Dorna Hekmat i-frontdesk mentor: Andrea Karg Founder and Managing Director of Allude GmbH The former director of the Hotel Cortiina in Munich knows the specific needs and requests of hotel guests. i-frontdesk is a mobile, personalised and multilingual concierge-app, offering a range of round-the-clock services for hotel guests. These include all the standard information services offered by a particular hotel and a listing of the current cultural events for that city. On their next visit, i-frontdesk recognises the users preferences and tastes and offers individual, personalised services. www.i-frontdesk.com
winner: Dr Angelika Kneidl accu:rate mentor: Dr Christine Frfr. von Münchhausen Independent Corporate Consultant, Business Mediator When large numbers of people all need to take the same route, this can lead to bottlenecks. Planning smooth, safe crowd control at major events and trade fairs, as well as at railway stations or airports is an enormous challenge. After obtaining a PhD in computer engineering, Dr Angelika Kneidl turned her attention to security and crowd dynamics, founding the company accu:rate. She uses a software she developed herself, which analyses complex crowds and simulates the flow of people in various scenarios from standard, everyday situations right up to emergency evacuations. www.accu-rate.de
winner: Stefanie Turber comfy mentor: Prof Susanne Porsche Managing Director of summerset GmbH People s yearning for security is higher than ever. As a doctoral candidate at the University of St Gallen, Stefanie Turber developed a simple and reasonably priced house alarm system with her team. comfy is an app-controlled LED bulb that registers changes in its surroundings and sends the resulting data to the user in real time. Thus, comfy makes your house safer, even when nobody is home. Moreover, comfy provides automatic light, in every conceivable colour combination to boot. www.comfyhome.eu
winner: Patricia Eschenlohr Landpack mentor: Alexandra Schöneck Owner and Independent Corporate Consultant at Schatzmeisterei The growing trend in the UK, France and Switzerland has now reached Germany: the market for online grocery shopping, known as efood, is increasing. Nonetheless, supermarkets still face the problem of how to get the refrigerated, fresh deliveries to the customer. A particular problem for supermarkets specialising in organic products is that no ecological packaging has been available on the market until now. As an alternative to polystyrene boxes, Landpack has developed a complete range of products based on straw, a renewable resource. No chemicals whatsoever are used to make it as simple as possible for the consumer to dispose of the packaging in an eco-friendly way. www.landpack.de
Social Entrepreneur Special Award: Dr Diana Knodel App Camps supported by the whole mentoring team Anyone can program an app the computer engineering graduate Dr Diana Knodel wants to get young people excited about programming. A lot of students are not given the chance to experience this creative field. If you know how to write a software program, you can try out your own ideas and develop your own apps. It is not only great fun, it is also an important skill in today s working environment, said Dr Knodel. The workshops teach programming basics and the participants learn how to develop their own products. www.appcamps.de
What are the winners concrete expectations for the mentoring programme? Stefanie Turber: I met Professor Susanne Porsche in person at the kick-off event. I was thrilled and I have already benefited from her experience and her valuable network. Having her as a mentor will lend our start-up a lot of credibility. Dr Angelika Kneidl: I m expecting to develop my entrepreneurial personality during the coaching phase, make new contacts through the network and raise the profile of accu:rate in order to make it a success. Dorna Hekmat: I appreciate Andrea Karg s experience and creativity very much. I would be happy for her to become an ambassador of i-frontdesk. Dr Diana Knodel: It s great to meet so many exciting and successful women. Not only the mentors, but also the other mentees, are very impressive. It s nice to meet female role models in this context. Freya Oehle: I m looking forward to benefitting from my mentor s life experience. Handling all sorts of situations is always a new challenge for us as young entrepreneurs. It s helpful to have an experienced mentor at our side to give us a different perspective. Amber Riedl: I m looking forward to a regular exchange with my mentor. I want to learn from Nina Hugendubel how to manage a company successfully and combine it with a fulfilling family life.
Still on course for success The 2012 winners With her company cosinuss GmbH, Greta Kreuzer develops high-precision mobile sensors worn in the ear for continuous and comfortable measurement of the wearer s vital signs. www.cosinuss.de Christina Ramgraber, the founder of sira munich GmbH, advises small and medium-sized companies on how to set up company childcare facilities. She advised HVB on setting up its own childcare facility. www.sira-munich.de Barbara Sarx-Lohse founded flexperten.org, an employment and information platform focusing on flexible and part-time work and job sharing. Companies can present themselves and post job offers for highlyqualified professionals. www.flexperten.org Andrea Pfundmeier, managing director of Secomba GmbH, launched the BoxCryptor encryption software package, which enables users to store data securely with such providers as DropBox. She is winner of the 2014 German Founders Award in the Start-up category. www.boxcryptor.de Catharina van Delden founded innosabi, which provides crowdsourcing software that enables companies to involve their customers in product development. With Andrea Pfundmeier and other German entrepreneurs, she accompanied a delegation headed by Germany s Minister of Economic Affairs Dr Philipp Rösler to Silicon Valley at the beginning of 2013. Since 2013 Catharina has been a member of the Presiding Committee of Bitkom (the Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media). The first innosabi book was released in autumn 2014: Methods and Best Practices in Crowdsourced Innovation. www.innosabi.com
the 2012 winners and their mentors The mentoring programme enabled me to be part of an exclusive network, not only to be connected with the whole mentors team, but also to other founders, important contacts to experts in the start-up scene and to the press. (Catharina von Delden, innosabi) I am still in close contact with many of the start-up entrepreneurs who have participated in the programme. The network is incredibly valuable and without the mentoring programme for female start-up entrepreneurs I would never have met many of these outstanding female entrepreneurs. (Andrea Pfundmeier, secomba GmbH)
The 2013 winners Dr Nicola Rodewald is the founder of Amiravita GmbH. In addition to an interactive online care advice service and the development of individual care solutions by experts, Amiravita offers working people the opportunity to place family members in need of care in company-operated daycare centres. www.amiravita.de Dr Beatrix Förster has developed new antibody drugs that do not cause antibiotic resistance and provide effective results specifically against the germs present in hospitals and nursing care facilities. PYCAB is thus a real alternative to standard antibiotics, achieving medical progress through innovative research. Baroness Claudia von Boeselager and her business partner Anna Mangold offer designer dresses and accessories at laremia.com. Via the online rental they offer every woman the opportunity to wear designer fashion on special occasions for only a fraction of the regular purchase price. www.laremia.com Marthe-Victoria Lorenz founded the crowdfunding platform fairplaid.org, where athletes and clubs can post fundraising initiatives free of charge. Fans, friends and sponsors can donate as little as one euro to support their favourite project within a limited timeframe and receive vouchers from cooperating companies in return for their commitment. www.fairplaid.org With TalentRocket, a job search platform for legal professionals, Magdalena Enzinger and her co-founder Yacine Coco offer the unique combination of onsite recruiting events, online matching processes and headhunting. The internet portal determines who suits whom based on the law firms requirements as well as the stated interests of the young talents. www.talentrocket.de Nicole Oberhofer developed Clevermess: the world s only digital shoe measurement device for children. It measures both width and length to match feet and shoes reliably. Thanks to additional adaptors, measurements can also be made to compare the feet and shoes of youths and adults. www.clevermess.de
(Claudia von Boeselager, laremia.com) the 2013 winners The support we received through the mentoring programme was truly overwhelming. Now our connection with our mentor has developed into an exchange of experiences continuing beyond the mentorship year. (Magdalena Enzinger, TalentRocket) To launch a start-up you always need the right blend of a promising idea, a strong will to make it real and a network of mentors and sparring partners in order to ensure sustainable growth for your company. The HVB mentoring programme has provided us with fantastic support right across the board and helped us to successfully develop our ideas.
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