Four Hamburg-based start-ups win Creative Pilots 2021 award

Yolanda von Zitzewitz and Luca Christmann, founders of Redo, aim to redesign existing products and make them more sustainable. "We envision a world in which production and the environment are balanced out," said Christmann. Redo works as an "open innovation platform" with companies and consumers to this end.

Nick Koldehoff, 21, and Jonah Schröder, 22, are among the youngest creative pilots ever to receive an award. Their Triviar platform allows users to share their skills and talents in live courses. "Our goal is to offer everyone the right course - whether it's yoga, lettering, cooking, photography or painting," said Schröder.

Diana Huth, founder of the Actitude learning platform, wishes to help people overcome everyday emotional challenges. "Breakups, job losses, death of a loved one - we all find ourselves in situations that we don't feel up to," said Huth. Actitude's first online course, "Dealing with Stress," is currently being certified as an official prevention course, she added.

Vulvani, which was founded in 2021 by Britta Wiebe and Jamin Mahmood, is the world's first digital education platform about menstruation, cycle health and sexuality. "We accompany people from their first period through contraception and childbearing to menopause," said Wiebe. Vulvani aims to give users an  opportunity to learn more about their own bodies in interactive online courses.

The Cultural and Creative Pilots awards will be presented in February 2022. The winners also receive a year's coaching to help them develop their business.  "We strengthen the entrepreneurs' awareness of their creative strengths and ideas by offering them individual screenings, workshops and a unique network - and thus an ideal opportunity to drive their own entrepreneurial goals and expand their visions," said Sylvia Hustedt, a member of the jury.

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