Berlin/Potsdam, 04.10.2016. The Winzki GmbH & Co. KG from Frickenhausen is the state winner of Baden-Württemberg in the nationwide company competition KfW Award GründerChampions 2016. The prize is awarded as part of the German Start-Up and Entrepreneurship Days (deGUT). The festive award ceremony will take place on October 6 at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Berlin.
Originally, Rainer Brang, founder of Winzki, only wanted to build a child-friendly MP3 player for his sons. He crafted a wooden box, drilled holes for speakers, buttons, and eleven keys, and assembled the whole thing with a handle and a specially developed electronics. The first player called “Hörbert” was ready. In 2011, due to growing demand from the private sphere, Brang founded the company Winzki and produced the music player in series. Since then, the Swabians have sold over 7,500 Hörberts, with sales nearly doubling each year. The player stands for a change in values: Instead of quick consumption for little money, Hörbert buyers are interested in longevity and environmental protection. The concept also includes that all components can be reordered or individually exchanged by the manufacturer on request. A team of eleven people now works on the product, which is finding more and more customers in Germany, Switzerland, and the neighboring European countries.
Rainer Brang: “Being a GründerChampion is a personal confirmation for me that we have set the first milestones correctly. Now exciting tasks lie ahead for us as a team that has literally earned this award. We want to shape our company according to our values as a team, so that it is prepared for further growth. Then we can continue to give our customers the best we have: genuine joy in our products.”
Note: More about the state winner at www.winzki.de. A photo of the company can be found from October 4 on www.degut.de/presse. From October 7 at 12:00, a photo of the award ceremony will also be posted there.
Winzki will receive 1,000 euros as prize money. In addition, the company automatically qualifies for the national award, which is endowed with an additional 9,000 euros and will be presented at the festive gala on the evening of October 6 at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. In addition, an audience award (5,000 euros) will be presented by the audience that evening.
The title “GründerChampion” is a quality award for young companies. The GründerChampions 2016 were selected by a jury comprising experienced representatives from politics and economics, state development institutions, as well as industrial and trade chambers. The business ideas were evaluated based on their degree of innovation, creativity, and assumption of social responsibility. The award was also influenced by how environmentally conscious the implementation was and whether jobs and training positions were created or preserved. Companies from all sectors founded since 2011 were eligible to apply.
With the award, KfW wants to not only honor successful entrepreneurs, but also contribute to giving more public recognition to the step towards self-employment.
About KfW: The KfW Bankengruppe supports the German economy with a wide range of funding options. For example, it offers the ERP Gründerkredit StartGeld for loan amounts up to 100,000 euros and the ERP Gründerkredit Universell for larger volumes, among other support for founders.
About deGUT: The deGUT is the largest trade fair for start-ups and entrepreneurship in Germany. It will take place on October 7 and 8, 2016 at the ARENA Berlin in Treptow. The deGUT is organized by the Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) and the Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg (ILB). Supporters of the deGUT are the Senate Department for Economics, Technology, and Research in Berlin, and the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of the State of Brandenburg. The patron is the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Sigmar Gabriel.
Press contact:
deGUT Press Office / KfW-Award GründerChampions Carmen Vallero, Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 91, 14467 Potsdam Tel.: 0331 / 231 890-20, Mob. 0179 / 54 53 972, E-Mail: gruenderchampions@degut.de
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