KfW Entrepreneurs' Award 2018: successful start-ups honoured in Berlin

• Schuhe24 crowned national winner for 2018
• "People's choice" award goes to Superseven from Wentorf near Hamburg

Successful start-ups were singled out for the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award 2018 at an awards ceremony held Thursday evening at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Berlin. Schuhe24, a company from the state of Hesse, emerged as the national winner from among 16 state winners. Founded in 2013 and based in the city of Wiesbaden, the company will receive a total of EUR 10,000 in prize money for its online platform for shoe shops. It offers retailers a financially attractive opportunity to sell their products online, which in turn helps to retain jobs and strengthen local retailers. Dr Ingrid Hengster, Member of KfW's Executive Board responsible for the domestic promotional business, presented the award to the founder and managing director Dr Dominik Brenner at a ceremony attended by Federal Economics Minister Peter Altmaier.

The special prize for Social Entrepreneurship, endowed with EUR 5,000, was awarded to Ackerdemia e.V., an initiative from Potsdam which was founded in 2014. Ackerdemia came up with a comprehensive educational concept: it sets up vegetable gardens at schools and day care centres, provides educational materials and trains educators to use sustainable gardening as a teaching tool.

Superseven GmbH from Wentorf near Hamburg was voted winner of the "People's Choice" award by the guests in attendance. Founded in 2017 by Katja, Sven Seevers and Hannes Füting, the company created the Repaq® brand, a packaging solution made from renewable raw materials.

Eligible to compete for the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award 2018 were companies from all sectors founded in 2013 or later. The award winners were selected by a jury of experienced representatives from KfW, promotional institutions, and the world of business, politics and media, who evaluated the business ideas according to their degree of innovation, creativity, and how they assume social responsibility. They also took into account how environmentally friendly the implementation was and whether trainee positions and jobs were created or maintained.

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You can find further information about the winners and photos from yesterday's event at www.kfw.de/award and www.degut.de/pressefotos.