Not only in the challenging times caused by the Corona pandemic, innovative business ideas are tremendously important for our economy. That's why Frankfurt has been awarding the Gründerpreis since 2001, and this year it will be presented on Monday, October 26, in the Kaisersaal of the Römer. Now it has become known who can hope to win the award, as this year's finalists have been announced. After a two-stage application process, the young companies "Die Auffüllerei", "Die Backhelden", "Lithium Designers", "raumvonwert" and "Zemuye" were able to prevail over the jury in the end.
"The Frankfurt Founders' Prize has a particularly high status in our startup and founder landscape. Anyone who has been awarded the Frankfurt Founders' Prize is ennobled with a seal of quality. Thus, we are also pleased with the 20th organization of this exciting competition about a qualitatively strong and diversified field of applicants," says Head of the Department of Economic Affairs Markus Frank, who as a former city councillor was a driving force to bring the award to life.
The 20th award ceremony should actually be celebrated in the spring with a large anniversary celebration. Unfortunately, that couldn't take place, nor could the selection of the finalists. This is because the outbreak of the pandemic suddenly made it uncertain under which circumstances the jury meetings, company visits and the award ceremony could take place. "We are very happy and proud of ourselves to have found a good solution anyway!", Oliver Schwebel, chairman of the jury and managing director of the Frankfurt Economic Development Agency, is pleased to say.
So, instead of being awarded in spring as is the regular schedule, the Frankfurt Founders Award will now be presented in autumn in 2020. "Not only the date is a premiere! Corona has also forced us to rethink and we have seized the opportunity to go flexible and digital," adds Schwebel. In order to comply with hygiene and distance regulations, the award ceremony will be broadcast live from the Kaisersaal in the Römer. On site will be a smaller audience - first and foremost, of course, the finalists and their escorts or teams.
The five finalists can already be proud to have stood out from a total of 26 strong entries. Prior to being nominated for the final, eleven shortlisted companies were visited on site by the judges and put through their paces. "As in previous years, the quality of entries has been consistently very high. It was a pleasure to meet such innovative, courageous and competitive Frankfurt companies!", confirms Schwebel.
Dezernent Frank and the Economic Development Department are particularly pleased this year about the many applications from the retail and creative industries. "Especially in these economically strained times, the courage of young company founders is not to be valued highly enough," emphasizes the City Council. And that has always been the goal of the city's award: to encourage young founders to become entrepreneurs.
The award ceremony can be followed live at https://frankfurt-business.net/existenzgruender/frankfurter-gruenderpreis/
The recording of the event will be available afterwards on the Youtube channel of the Frankfurt Economic Development Corporation.
The finalists in alphabetical order:
The Refill Shop
Industry: unpackaged food store, retail.
Founders: Marlen Richter, Christina Schwab
The Baking Heroes
Business: Baking box for creative birthday cakes, food (e-commerce)
Founder: Luwam Tecle-Debesay, Joel Tecle
Lithium Designers
Industry: Architecture, Construction Industry, Facade Node
Founder: Alamir Mohsen
SpaceofValue
Branch: Furniture and product design
Founders: Bastian Amberg, Katja Becker, Lukas Wagner
Zemuye
Branch: Fashion Design
Founder: Rahel Zemuye
