On the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8th, in our hub at Bonn Central Station, the CityHub, we dedicated ourselves to a topic that is particularly close to our hearts: the empowerment of the female start-up scene. After being welcomed by Co-CEO Vera Zimmermann, Head of Start-Ups Jan Klein and via video message from the Minister of Economics, Industry, Kilmaschutz and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia,Mona Neubaur, the interactive program began. We first celebrated the day together with an energetic panel discussion. Simone Plum, funding advisor of NRW.BANK, Florian Schnitzler, Head of Start-up/Scale-up Unit & Israeli at NRW.Global Business and Francis Moellerwessel, Operations manager Digital Hub MünsterLand, explained the commitment of the state of NRW in the female founder scene. Özlem Doger-Herter, founder of ASK-A-WOMAN.COM and ambassador of the hub, then took us on her very personal journey from people interested in founding a company to the “IT Woman of the Year.” As part of the individual pitches of the five start-ups FreeMom, Furnicorn, OH CIRCLE, skinsure and VoltVogel The founders enthralled both us and the jury with their innovative ideas. With the subsequent experts' workshops, they supported, inspired and enthralled the participants.
After the joint exchange and networking, it was time for the award ceremony. With drum roll, the jury announced that the start-up VoltVogel won third place, the founders of skinsure second place and FreeMom first. We sincerely congratulate all winners as well as the two start-ups Furnicorn and OH CIRCLE, who made the jury's decision even more difficult with their fascinating ideas! 👏
The winning start-up FreeMom is committed to a very special topic: working life as a mother. The two founders Anika Schmidt and Lena Pieper know exactly how difficult it can be to combine family and career as a mother. For this reason, they did not release their platform on any other day than Mother's Day last year. With their full-service platform for family-friendly freelancing, they particularly enable reconciliation and flexibility. That from the NRW.BANK The two want to use sponsored prize money not only for marketing activities, but also to build up and expand the FreeMom team. We are delighted! 🎉
The presence of the many female founders interested in founding a company blew us off our feet. So many women who stand up for each other and told very different, but also very similar stories. Unfortunately, such a high number of women in the start-up scene is not usually the case. Even though the number of female founders has increased compared to the previous year, they are still underrepresented. Many of the start-up founders also confirmed that it is sometimes not easy for women in the start-up scene. Whether heard from other women or even experienced it yourself, lack of respect or difficulties in the area of investment are just a few of the disadvantages. In particular, the small number of contact persons and female role models should be improved. The participants of the Female Founders Venture Summit are setting a good example for this. Sharing, networking, strengthening and inspiring each other was an integral part of this day. Özlem summed up the encouraging thought: “Dare, start, take the first step and the rest will come by itself!” 💪
It is important to us to thank all participants, speakers and workshop leaders for their valuable thoughts, contributions, unique commitment and strong solidarity. Also with our partners, NRW.Bank, Sparkasse KölnBonn, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, The technicians, as well as Ask-a-Woman.com, ElevateHer® and HeartBrain Consulting We would like to thank you for your active commitment. Now we're just all the more looking forward to the Female Founders Venture Summit next year. Add the date directly to the calendar: 14.03.2025.
Until then, there will be founders here all year round, especially with our two Accelerator programs HubGrade and HubGrade Cyer. Don't wait for tomorrow and apply now! Here Go to HubGrade and here to the HubGrade Cyber application. Let's continue the regional start-up scene together EmpoWomen! 🙏
If you would also like to appear in HubStories, contact Sarah Mahlmann (sarah.mahlmann@digitalhub.de)
