10 Hungarian women startups in EWA Programme 2022
EIT Food and Pozi.io launched the Empowering Women in Agrifood programme for Hungarian women entrepreneurs in the agri-food industry.
10 women entrepreneurs will participate in a 5-month pre-incubation programme to help them create solutions to the specific challenges of the agri-food sector. EWA programme supports women entrepreneurs in the early stages of their business development, usually before they start their own business.
On the 14th of July 10 women entrepreneurs and 10 mentors met each other in an online matchmaking programme, officially launching the Empowering Women in Agrifood project for the first time in Hungary.
The programme was also attended by Aleksandra Bara from EIT Food North-East, who welcomed the audience and gave a short presentation of the EIT Food initiative.
The programme started with networking and an introductory presentation by Tamás Müller (Pozi.io) about the EWA programme, what mentoring means and how it helps entrepreneurs.
Hungarian EWA participants are without any doubt a highly motivated and fantastic women, among which are great ideas with huge business potential. One of them focuses on growing saffron and promoting the benefits of the herb widely. Another exciting idea poses a question whether urban mushroom growing will become a new hobby for Hungarians. Still, research made by one of the applicants suggests that there is a future for easy-to-grow food production alongside urban gardens.
Several reforestation projects also made it to the top 10, including indoor composting and bio-intensive gardening, which advocate solutions that reduce environmental impact and are free of chemicals and fertilizers.It is particularly interesting to see how a company that is also rethinking the use of traditional raw materials is turning wine vinegar into super healthy soft drinks, or how the healthy 'smoothie' of the future will be lactose and all-free, delicious, and nutritious.
“The current mortality rate of ideas in the startup world remains unacceptably low, and this has to change. Pozi aims to put a stop of wasting ideas and talents. The end result of innovation should not be only an excel sheet.”
At the final Pitching event of the programme in November each Mentee will present a business idea and business model to the broad audience. All pitches will be evaluated by a jury with a selection of the 1st and 2nd place with total prize of 15 000 euros.
After the introductory part of the event, 10 selected participants presented their business ideas:
- TÜNDE UDVARNOKI - COMPOT - Clay indoor composter,
- ÉVA KOVÁCS - VEGENDÁS - Plant-based products, fermented vegetables and creams fermented with bacteria
- CSILLA KÁDÁR - STELLA SAFFRON - Growing, processing and marketing of high-quality saffron - crocus sativus
- DOROTTYA SZÁM - NETWORK MEDICINE FOR AGRICULTURE (NWMA) - Software that can help pesticide manufacturers develop more effective fungicides
- KATALIN RÉTHY - SZEZONKERT - Chemical-free, organic cultivation of traditional landscape varieties, rare and underutilized plants
- ERZSÉBET BOROS - SUDAR BIRTOK FERTILIZER AND HERB FARM - Herbs and medicinal plants, community garden
- OLIVIA GAZSÓ - ORGANIC HORTICULTURE - Bio-intensive methods to produce chemical-free products
- CSILLA HÓDI - ADOPT A MUSHROOM! - Indoor mushroom cultivation in ceramic pots through a rental system
- ANITA KÉPÍRÓ - BOERECET MŰVEK / CIDER VINEGAR DRINKS - Fruit and vinegar-based healthy soft drink
- SZANDRA NYEMECZ - SUPERFOOD BREAKFAST- Smoothie drinks with sprinkles for food sensitives, health-conscious - production of food powder for gluten and lactose intolerant people.
During the meeting organized by POZI.io, most of the entrepreneurs found the help they needed and will be guided by their Mentors through the thematically arranged programme in the upcoming months.
Throughout their 5-month entrepreneurial journey, 10 Mentors will support the Mentees in the development of their business ideas by providing them with practical knowledge and sharing their professional experience.
Among selected Mentors are:
- PÉTER TAMÁS TURCSÁN - customer development, business development.
- VIKTOR BORBÉLY - business modelling and business development
- BALÁZS HORVÁTH - Startup Grind representative, Digital Content Lead at Vodafone, also building the startup community and helping founders and entrepreneurs to launch their dream businesses
- ANDREA KURUCZ - a multi-award winning, freelance business development consultant and executive coach
- VÖRÖSS LEVENTE – experienced entrapreneur, geolocation app development, farmer, food shop owner, 30km. hu őstermelői net app founder
- DÓRA NAGY - experienced project manager, CEO at Doresz Ltd, startup mentor
- GYÖRGY KÁLI - Co-founder of Humanize Studio, service designer, communication expert
- RITA SZERENCSÉS - manager, researcher and lecturer at MOME Innovation Centre on socially engaged design
- ÉVA TORNYÁNSZKI - design manager, service designer - one of the founders of Kultúrgorilla (sustainable design studio), business development, mentoring specialist
- NIKOLETTA TAKÁCS - independent creative mastermind with an original, modern journalist approach and smart working attitude, experienced in international project management, PR & PA activities and media.
About POZI.io
We created POZI.io to assess and connect the members of the startup ecosystem. We give you the tools that you need to manage and organize your ecosystem, to bring structure to the messy processes of finding an idea, building a team, or launching a new venture. So you can enjoy the bumpy ride of innovation without worrying about all the things that can go wrong.
Find out more on the Pozi.io website
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