The Startup Center at Worms University of Applied Sciences is the first point of contact for students and employees in the pre-startup phase of their own company. It offers founders many event formats to raise awareness and provide training.
Among these are events held regularly in cooperation with the Diversity Office, specifically targeted at interested female students and founders. Through events with successful female startup founders, the goal is to inspire and motivate them. Female founders present themselves, their CVs and their start-up stories with challenges and opportunities.
More information about the Startup Center and the semester program can be found here www.hs-worms.de/gruenden as well as on Facebook and Instagram.
EXIST-Women | Round 2 starts...
Attractive funding program for women interested in founding a business at Worms University of Applied Sciences (students, graduates, employees)
The first funding period 2024 has ended. Worms University of Applied Sciences is also applying for the next funding period. Further information will be available here soon.
With EXIST-Women, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection supports women at universities and research institutions who are interested in founding a business in the phase before starting up, especially in the development of their entrepreneurial personality and the further development of their start-up idea.
A press report on the current funding period can be found here.
Experiences of previous scholarship holders
Are you still unsure whether EXIST-Women is right for you and what benefits you can gain from it? Read what our previous scholarship holders have to say about their experiences:
“The EXIST Women opportunity has allowed me to take my business idea more seriously. The other women in my group have been supportive and their own ideas are also very inspiring.” -Suhaidatu
“EXIST Women gave me the opportunity to develop a business idea based on my passion: to be a coach for curly hair. The encouraging atmosphere and the "female empowerment spirit" in the workshops, whether from the lecturers or the other participants, constantly motivated me to follow my vision. I had the chance to meet many amazing and inspiring women, and since networking is one of the most important activities in the start-up sector, I won't stop in the future.” -Sabine
Feel free to contact Sabine via LinkedIn for questions and her experiences at EXIST-Women.
“Through EXIST-Women, I found the courage to give my ideas a name and to see founding a company as a realistic prospect for the future. The exchange with the other women and my mentor has developed my idea further. Together with the co-founder I found there, we are now planning to apply for EXIST-Founder-Scholarship.” -Jorah
Feel free to contact Jorah via e-mail for questions and experiences with EXIST-Women: jorah@posteo.de
“EXIST-Women gave me exactly the strength I needed to finally tackle my entrepreneurial project. Through a variety of interesting workshops such as "Find yourself – Discover yourself and your strengths and weaknesses as an entrepreneur" and exciting networking opportunities, like the EXIST Congress in Berlin, I now have the tools I need to found a business successfully. Within a year, my life has changed fundamentally and I am looking forward to my further journey as a founder.” -Dorinne
Feel free to contact Dorinne via LinkedIn for questions and her experiences at EXIST-Women.
Current events
As soon as new events are planned, you will find information about them here.
Past events
FocusFrauen goes GründungsWerkstatt – Dr. Michelle Luckas peas of joy l 05. December 2023
On the penultimate Founders' Tuesday of the winter semester 2023/24 on December 5, 2023, a start-up story was offered in cooperation between the GründungsWerkstatt and FocusFrauen. Dr. Michelle Luckas presented herself and her food start-up peas of joy to a very interested audience. Click here for the press article.
In advance, we asked Michelle Luckas a few questions about her founding experiences. Here are her answers:
1. How do you currently see the conditions for implementing your own ideas and founding a startup?
I think there is never a perfect time to found a company. The current economic situation is certainly not the best for young, innovative startups and the bureaucratic hurdles involved in founding a company remain high. However, there are now many great support offers for prospective founders, e.g. from universities or various online programs that help with the implementation of your own idea. In general, I believe that it is not so much external factors that determine the right time, but rather personal, internal factors - e.g. that you have found an idea that you are passionate about and that you absolutely want to implement.2. Which stakeholders supported you during your founding phase?
On the one hand, I was able to gain valuable input from the startup consulting services at Worms University of Applied Sciences, TU Darmstadt and the University of Kassel. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) helped me with questions about the formal founding process and some tax issues. And the webinars and online meetings from KitchenTown Berlin gave me specific tips on founding a food start-up.3. What do you wish you had known during your founding phase that you only learned along the way?
It is important to set healthy boundaries, but it is not always easy as a founder. Your startup feels like your baby and you want to do everything you can to make it grow and be successful. I have noticed myself that it can happen that you forget yourself as a person and almost only live for the business. For example, I often worked through entire weekends and rarely allowed myself breaks. Ultimately, I learned that I can only be truly successful if I am doing well and taking care of myself and my needs.4. What challenges are there specifically for female founders?
I have often been in situations where I had the feeling that (especially male) business partners did not take me seriously. I think young female founders in particular are often faced with the challenge that they are seen as less competent in the business world than male founders. This often makes it even harder for female founders to convince others of themselves and their idea and remain assertive during negotiations.5. What advice would you give to female founders during their founding phase?
Connect with other female founders and exchange ideas regularly. Talking openly with other female founders about our experiences, successes and challenges was extremely valuable for me. Not only did I get helpful input for my startup every time, but it was also a huge mental boost (especially as a solo founder) to see that I was not alone with my difficulties and worries. Over time, some of these regular calls with other female founders even turned into real friendships. :)6 How important is the personal network for the company's success? Can you give us a specific example?
A good network can be extremely helpful and open new doors. Through my contacts at KitchenTown Berlin, I met my distribution partner, who now delivers my lentil granola to Edeka, Rewe, and others. Without this collaboration, y products would never have been available in food retail so quickly.7. What were the most important things you learned from your participation in “Höhle der Löwen”?
I realized once again that investors primarily invest in founders, with the actual business idea being secondary. That's why it is worth working on yourself and your appearance first and foremost. And when pitching, it is incredibly important that you believe in yourself and your idea and convey this with enthusiasm and passion.FocusFrauen goes GründungsWerkstatt – Female Founders Night | 23. May 2023
We were pleased to offer FocusFrauen goes GründungsWerkstatt in English this time around with the Female Founders Night on May, 23rd 2023 at Worms University of Applied Sciences. At this event we did not only have one but three very different but equally interesting startup stories, from financial to social endeavors to sustainable companies. The three female founders Chelina Höning, Rukayyat Kolawole and Suhaidatu Dramani talked about their startups, (activist) work and résumés moderated by Prof. Carina Leue-Bensch.
More information about this event, the GründungsWerkstatt and other events can be found here.
To read the press article please click here.
FocusFrauen goes GründungsWerkstatt – Weihua Wang myBuddy l 21. March 2023
The semester had only just begun when we kicked off with the 1st Startup Tuesday in the summer semester 2023!
We were delighted to offer FocusFrauen meets GründungsWerktatt in English on March 21, 2023 with the startup story and founder Weihua Wang myBuddy - growing. together.
myBuddy is an award-winning social tech startup founded in Mannheim in 2021. Under the motto "simply.grow.together". It promotes cultural togetherness with the aim of unlocking latent potential for our society and economy. With modern online and offline offers for the young generation, the initiative focuses primarily on formats that are easily accessible and fun for everyone!
You can read the press article here.
More information about this event, the startup-center and other events can be found here.
FocusFrauen goes GründungsWerkstatt – Sarah Kübler HitchOn l 29. November 2023
This time, in cooperation with the GründungsWerkstatt at Worms University of Applied Sciences, we are excited to present a female founder from the social media sector!
Sarah Kübler is the CEO and founder of HitchOn GmbH, a social media and influencer marketing agency based in Mainz and Hamburg. HitchOn supports companies in selecting the right influencers, designing and producing campaigns, managing brand channels, and optimizing content for platform algorithms. In March 2021, Sarah Kübler founded the HitchOn subsidiary and production company for online-first and online-only projects, AlwaysOn Production GmbH, as a joint venture with the Studio Hamburg Production Group.
Sarah Kübler gained valuable experience as a TV-producer in the field of professional media productions. Until 2015, she worked as Manager Digital Channels at ZDF Enterprises. As a member of the Digital Council of Rhineland-Palatinate, Sarah Kübler advised the state government on data and network policy from 2015 to 2021. Since 2021, she has been advising and supporting the work of Medienförderung Rheinland-Pfalz GmbH as a member of the supervisory board in order to promote creative and innovative media professionals in Rhineland-Palatinate in the field of digital media.
FocusFrauen goes GründungsWerkstatt – Maria & Johanna Deubner vonhanni l 08. November 2022
On November 8, 2022, it was once again time for FocusFrauen goes GründungsWerkstatt and this time we were excited to present the start-up vonhanni, in cooperation with the GründungsWerkstatt at Worms University of Applied Sciences!
The name vonhanni represents a sustainable food production initiative aiming to bring regional oat drinks to market following Bioland principles, packaged in reusable glass bottles.
vonhanni was founded by the two sisters Maria and Johanna Deubner in 2020. You can read the press article here.
For more information about this event, the Founders’ Workshop, and other events, click here.
FocusFrauen goes GründungsWerkstatt – Julia Piechotta Spoontainable l 19. April 2022
On the first Founders' Tuesday of the summer semester 2022, participants had the chance to hear the exciting founding story of Spoontainable on April 19, 2022 – sustainably spooning and stirring! That evening, they got to know Julia Piechotta, who founded Spoontainable together with Amelie Vermeer in 2018. Their idea: to produce edible ice cream spoons and stirrers from 100% natural ingredients and of course, vegan.
You can find the press article here.
FocusFrauen goes GründungsWerkstatt – Female Entrepreneurship l 17. November 2021
"Female Entrepreneurship - Worms needs more female founders!"
In this event, which took place in plenary and lounge form on November 17, 2021, at Worms University, various female entrepreneurs from Worms reported on their self-employment. The goal was to inspire other women to take the leap into entrepreneurship. The event was moderated by Simone Burel, Lena Rübelmann, and Prof. Dr. Marie Luise Sessler. After the presentations, the participants had the opportunity to talk to the speakers and ask questions.
- Dr. Simone Burel, "entrepreneur, scientist, non-fiction author and above all free spirit", founder of "Diversity Company" and "Linguistic Corporate Consulting" in Mannheim, initiator of dr.fem.Fatale, and author of the newly released books "Quick Guide Female Leadership" and "Sprache denkt (fe)male"
- Lena Rübelmann, Head of Female Entrepreneurship at NEXT MANNHEIM and Managing Director of GIG7 – Mannheim’s Competence Center for FeMale Business
- Prof. Dr. Marie Luise Sessler, Professor of Digital Finance at Worms University of Applied Sciences and previously Co-Founder & Managing Director of the InnovationLab at Frankfurter Sparkasse
- Alexandra Fischer, Managing Director of Voll Versicherungsmakler GmbH in Worms
- Susanne Gremm, Managing Partner of VSK Technik Kübler in Worms
- Ulrike Knies, Managing Director of Elt – Point, a specialist store for electrical materials and lighting GmbH in Worms
An overview of the complete Start-up Week 2021 can be found here.
FokusFrauen goes GründungsWerkstatt – Claudia Lässig l 02. November 2021
FokusFrauen goes GründungsWerkstatt – Claudia Lässig l 02. November 2021
The entrepreneur Claudia Lässig convinced the participants in her appealing and very well presented lecture and her image video as founder, owner and managing director of the brand "Lässig" with a fashion that stands for sustainability, lifestyle and functionality. With tireless dedication (stumbling is part of it) and her courage and commitment, she has since developed a company with 42 million sales in 2021. Her business tips for aspiring female founders are summarized as follows:
Be brave to change things to make the world a little bit better.
Where there is an idea, ther is a way. Have the courage! Keep going!
Her leadership philosophy is based on these principles:
Together we are better! Bad teams work in the same place. Good teams work together.
A company is only as successful as its employees act as a team
The LÄSSIG brand from Babenhausen in Hesse offers high-quality, sustainable, stylish and functional fashion and lifestyle products for babies, children and parents that are created with great attention to detail and meet the demands of modern, active, environmentally conscious families. All styles feature contemporary eco-designs and offer numerous practical functions that make everyday family life easier and grow with the needs of individual family members. Founded in 2006, the LÄSSIG brand is now represented in over 50 countries and shows that profitability, humanity and sustainability in an innovative company are not mutually exclusive.FocusFrauen goes GründungsWerkstatt – Annick Gradinger l 18. June 2021
Eager to start a business - for women too! This was the motto of the joint online event hosted by GründerWerkstatt and the FocusFrauen initiative of the Equal Opportunities Office at Worms University of Applied Sciences. The event was moderated by Prof. Dr. Dorothea Jecht.
Annick Gradinger, the owner of the Gradinger Furniture and Kitchen Store in Worms and a graduate of the "International Business Administration" course at Worms University of Applied Sciences, openly described how she was faced with the mammoth task of taking over the furniture business he had run until then after the death of her husband at the end of 2015. Nothing was easy, especially with a three-year-old daughter to care for. "I could not have done it without my mother's support", admits Annick Gradinger. Click here for the press article.