With her educational game "Zick Zack - Müll Weg!" for children and families, founder Annika Hester came out on top against her competitors in the greenhouse.ruhr 2024 scholarship program. The design student from Fachhochschule Dortmund is delighted to receive 10,000 euros in prize money.
The award ceremony marked the end of the fifth edition of greenhouse.ruhr in Dortmund's port. At the end of the scholarship program, which once again supported eight start-up teams in the further development of their social or ecological business idea over a period of almost four months with workshops and coaching, the scholarship holders presented themselves in a five-minute pitch in front of around 100 guests. A specialist jury (with experts from the fields of impact finance, communication, university & transfer and non-profit urban society) then asked questions about the business model and assessed the founders' performance.
Educational game with sustainable materials
Germany is considered the world champion when it comes to waste separation. However, choosing the right garbage can is not always easy. Incorrectly sorted waste continues to cause high costs and pollute the environment. In order to sensitize children to the correct handling of waste, Annika Hester has developed her new educational game, which introduces children to this challenge in a playful way. The design student relies on sustainable materials and additional information material for parents to involve the whole family in learning. In the coming years, Annika Hester would like to set up her own publishing house to develop more games with a social impact.
Podcast episode as a special prize
In addition to the regular prize money, the scholarship holders were also able to apply for a special prize: their own episode of the "Purpose Projects Podcast". Six teams took advantage of this opportunity and submitted short audio pitches, which were published by the podcast hosts in a special greenhouse.ruhr episode in the run-up to the closing event and put to the vote. 420 podcast listeners took part and voted "Zick Zack - Müll Weg!" into first place. As a reward, Annika Hester will be invited to produce her own podcast episode to report in detail on her further plans.