Helping students turn ideas into successful start-ups

In recent years we’ve seen many of the incredible ideas that have received grants and donations of up to €12,000 through our College Community Challenge and Smart Mobility Challenge initiatives, led by Ford Fund, blossom into fully-fledged enterprises.

From turning advertising banners into bags (INN.MYBAG, Germany) to redistributing surplus food to the needy (Foodprint, UK), and from raising money for non-government organisations through homestays (Socialbnb, Germany) to connecting people digitally who want to volunteer with non-governmental organisations based on criteria like their location (Proximo, Spain); we’re incredibly proud to have been able to play a small part in helping them on their way.

Many of these student-led start-ups have been active in helping their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic too. Grena, which has received support from our European Ford Resource and Engagement Centre in Craoiva, Romania, develops hybrid plant varieties and grows fruits and vegetables in greenhouses. Partnering with another project we support, GoBike, enables eco-friendly delivery of their produce by bike. During the COVID-19 crisis, the Grena team has grown fruits and vegetables specifically for people in need. 

Some ideas, such as Cafe ohne Worte (Café without Words), in Cologne, Germany, have developed beyond their initial concepts. A grant winner in 2017 for the unique idea of a café set up to employ, train and serve people who are deaf or hard of hearing, the project has evolved into SIGN IT Events.

Further funded projects that are ongoing and developing into enterprises include Slurp, a UK-based soup maker that involves homeless people working alongside students to make soup that is sold on the campus of Edinburgh University; and Townbee, an integration project with refugees tending beehives placed on rooftops and in gardens in Munich, Germany, and making honey that is sold at local markets.

This is just a snippet of some of the ways in which inspirational students are developing innovative ways to help their local communities. For more information on our College Community Challenge, Smart Mobility Challenge and other initiatives, visit https://www.fordfund.org

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