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Energy efficiency

How to save energy

Germany can drastically reduce its energy consumption, using environmentally-friendly methods to produce both electricity and heat. A change of direction that is necessary to successfully facilitate the energy transition and put the brakes on climate change. This film shows how this works.

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Health

Global health care

Around 1.5 billion people are affected by neglected tropical diseases such as river blindness and rabies. Together with its partners, KfW ensures that sick people are helped. To learn more about this, please watch our animated film.

Nature conservation

How to get the seas clean again

How does plastic waste actually get into the sea? And what can we do to get the oceans clean again? KfW has an idea – and acts! To learn more about this, watch our animated film.

Video

Renewable energy

Solar power from the desert

Morocco is harnessing this potential to free itself from fossil fuels with concentrated solar power plants. This is exemplary from an emerging country, and a bold step that is supported by international donors like KfW.

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Nature conservation

An ecological treasure

The Caucasus is home to an enormous environmental treasure. To ensure that it stays this way, KfW has been actively working in Georgia for ten years. The protected areas located here are growing and the country is attracting tourists – a success story.

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School children doing their homework, illuminated by a Little Sun solar lamp

Renewable energy

Light for everyone

Little Sun brings light to developing countries. Little Sun Managing Director Felix Hallwachs on the small lamp that is changing the world.

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a cable is being connected to the battery

Mobile power pack

Electricity to go

Jürgen Zinecker has developed a mobile power pack: ARVEY supplies and stores electricity on the go – with the power of the sun.

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Renewable energy

From bunker to power plant

In the Hamburg district of Wilhelmsburg, a World War II bunker is being used as a renewable energy power plant to generate decentralised heat for the surrounding area, as well as electricity.

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A man looks out of his rooftop window onto his photovoltaic modules.

Renewable energy

Solar energy on demand

Sonnen GmbH has developed a storage system so that solar power can be used even after sunset. Homeowners can use an app to control when and to where the electricity should flow from their photovoltaic systems.

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Renewable energy

Power from the own harvest

Municipalities and companies all across Germany are using renewable energy. They are almost completely independent of traditional energy suppliers. Learn more about three inspiring projects, including the municipality of Büsingen, which is relying on a local heating network.

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Renewable energy

Kenya becomes a pioneer in green energy

To expand its power supply, Kenya intensifies investments in renewable energy. We spoke to Michael Andres, an energy expert at KfW, about Kenya's quantum leap from emergency power diesel generators to geothermal power plants.

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To the interview about the Clean Ocean Initiative

Nature conservation

Sustainable forest management

KfW supports the world's largest conservation area program for tropical forests in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The forest area plays a key role in climate protection. A video.

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Nature conservation

”A major task”

Overfishing, coral bleaching, plastic waste: the condition of the oceans is deteriorating dramatically. How KfW wants to protect the oceans joining forces on a European level with the Clean Oceans Initiative and through promoting the closed-loop economy.

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Nature conservation

The wild

In southern Africa, five countries maintain the largest cross-border nature conservation area in the world – in spite of all their political differences. One of the triggers for this cooperation was elephants. Too many elephants.

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Nature conservation

An ecological treasure

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Nature conservation

“iSimangaliso means miracle”

Andrew Zaloumis is the founder and CEO of the national park with the largest coastline in Africa, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in South Africa. KfW Stiftung awarded Zaloumis the KfW Bernhard-Grzimek-Preis 2017.

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Nature conservation

More than just rangers

The Southern African Wildlife College is one of the best schools in Africa for nature conservation. Fighting poaching is also a part of the programme.

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To the article on invasive species in the Galapagos Islands

Nature conservation

Millions against rubbish

How can the plastic pollution of our oceans be stopped? A multi-million dollar waste project financed by KfW in Indonesia shows that the battle against marine litter must also be fought on land.

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Nature conservation

Invasion in paradise

The Galapagos Islands are known throughout the world for their unspoilt nature and unique wildlife. But unwanted intruders are threatening the native species. A fund to control invasive species is intended to save them.

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Nature conservation

Endangered rhinoceroses

Over the past few years rhino poaching became a national issue in South Africa. Can this imposing animal be saved?

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To the video about Georgia's national parks

Nature conservation

Unique nature

Georgia is small, about the size of Bavaria. But the biodiversity is bigger than in any other European country. In our video, we present how this biodiversity is being preserved in the national parks Vazhlovani, Kazbegi and Kintrishi.

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Nature conservation

Less diesel, more solar

Diesel generators have been used to meet almost all electricity demand on Isabela Island. Until now, that is. The aim is for a new power plant to add renewable energy to the island’s supply, helping to protect the Galapagos archipelago’s fragile ecosystems.

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Nature conservation

Blossoming landscapes

Christina Grätz and her ten-strong team are supporting renaturisation in the region of Lusatia with their innovative culture technique, Nagola Re. The entrepreneur writes about her work for nature.

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Nature conservation

”It's not a job, it's a mission“

Angelique Songco is committed to protecting 10,000 hectares of coral reefs in the Philippines' Sulu Sea. KfW Stiftung presented her with the KfW-Bernhard-Grzimek Prize 2019 for Biodiversity in recognition of her work.

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Nature conservation

A paradise in need

The Galapagos Islands are famous for their unique wildlife. Yet its habitat is at risk due to the increasing number of tourists and inhabitants on the archipelago. Decentralised wastewater treatment plants are now helping to protect the fragile ecosystem of the archipelago.

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Woman walking in the streets in Potsdam-Drewitz

Energy efficiency

An international role model

After starting life as prefabricated high rise blocks in the final days of East Germany, this neighbourhood soon fell into drab disrepair. Thanks to a brave project developer, it has now found a new lease of life as a low-emission garden village: Potsdam-Drewitz.

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Green IT

Twice the benefits

The Cloud & Heat company uses the exhaust heat from server racks to heat buildings. Professor Dr Christof Fetzer on the development of a green energy solution.

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Contact plant at Aurubis in Hamburg, in which the extracted heat is generated

Exhaust heat

Steamy liaison

The metal company Aurubis and the energy supplier enercity are making industrial history in Hamburg. HafenCity Ost ("HarbourCity East") is the first city district to be supplied almost completely with waste heat that is virtually carbon-free.

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Energy efficiency

Climate protection on the production line

Flensburger Brauerei, a brewery in northern Germany, is investing in energy-efficient technology. With the help of KfW loans, it has once again updated its production facilities. And this is paying off – for the environment and for the company.

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Digitalisation

Hotels of the future

It all started with intelligent heating control systems. Today, Betterspace offers an extensive portfolio for the digitalisation of hotels. The portrait of a start-up that continues to be in demand, even in times of corona crisis.

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Energy efficiency

The red house in Beuel

Peter Küpper has reached top efficiency values for the new construction of the Josef Küpper Söhne GmbH headquarters in Bonn-Beuel. The environmentally conscious entrepreneur hopes to inspire other business owners.

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A little boy is crossing flooded grounds in Bangladesh

Climate change

Protected by schools and roads

In Bangladesh, it is possible to see how development cooperation and flood control can be perfectly combined. KfW financed the construction of protective structures along the coast and a bridge, amongst other things.

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to the article about terrace irrigation in India

Jan Ritter regularly documents growth in real conditions

Climate change

SeedForward makes plants more adaptable

To ensure a good harvest even under extreme weather conditions, plants have to be especially adaptable. SeedForward relies on a sophisticated, chemical-free seed coating. The company won the KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award 2019 for the state of Lower Saxony.

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Natural resources

Terraces bear fruit

When there is no harvest, many families flee to the city. But the residents of the village of Buchkewadi in India have banded together to stop the leaching of their arable land. One of the village elders explains how they have done it.

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Health

An empowering network

The Activate! Network brings together people who are pushing ahead with projects in their communities in order to reduce the risk of an infection with HIV. People like Karabo, who is a street worker and distributes bandages to schoolgirls. In our video you can find out why.

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Health

Hope at the Cape

More than seven million people in South Africa are infected with HIV. Young people in particular are affected by the epidemic. This is why they are the focus of Activate!, a programme supported by KfW. We present the project to you in our video.

Diagnostics

Using light to faster detect skin cancer

When moles change shape or colour, dermatologists often take tissue samples to rule out the possibility of skin cancer. But is it always necessary? Magnosco GmbH has developed a device that uses a combination of laser light and artificial intelligence to make diagnosis easier.

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Dementia

A ball to evoke memories

It is common to feel helpless when dealing with dementia patients. A start-up in Duisburg has a promising idea: a ball filled with electronics that gives people a piece of their life back.

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Health

Protection against hospital germs

Patients become infected with pathogens as many as 700,000 times a year during a stay in hospital. In order to optimise hand hygiene in hospitals, the start-up GWA Hygiene relies on artificial intelligence.

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Housing

Terrific timber

A pastor and his wife have painstakingly converted a 250-year-old, half-timbered house in the German state of Brandenburg. Private preservation of buildings of historic value can go hand in hand with contemporary living and energy efficiency standards. The project received a First Prize for the KfW Construction Award 2019.

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Housing

Poolside living

In the city of Schwerin, 16 flats have been added to an indoor swimming pool facility from the days of the old East German regime. And people can still go for a dip.

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Housing

The thin house and its renovator

A narrow house which stands slightly askew down an alleyway in a Bavarian old town has now been refurbished. The building clearly tells a rich history while being ideally suited for contemporary use.

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Housing

Leading the charge

The special international prize was awarded to a social housing building that meets passive house energy efficiency standards in the French town of Malaunay. Le prix spécial international a été décerné à unbâtiment de logements sociaux en construction passive, situé à Malaunay.

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Housing

A conversion with many facets

The winners of the 2017 KfW Construction Award have managed to combine two aspects that once seemed completely incompatible: the protection of a historic building and the construction of new energy-efficient and barrier-free homes.

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Housing

A different world

First place in the 2018 KfW Construction Award: An old convent becomes a modern residential project in Cologne.

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Reas article

children's room in the award-winning house in Leipzig

Housing

Romance not ruins

A group of Leipzig residents took on a dilapidated complex of old buildings, uncovering some of its former qualities and adding some new ones of their own. The result? A unique residential building with industrial features – and second place in the 2017 KfW Awards for Construction.

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Housing

Living and working in a historic landmark

The redeveloped former military barracks in the Polish city of Oława were awarded the international special prize for KfW's Construction Award 2019. We are presenting the project to you first in English, then in Polish. Dawne koszary wojskowe w Oławie mają bogatą przeszłość. W miejscu, gdzie kiedyś odbywały się przemarsze żołnierzy i treningi koni, powstały biura i pomieszczenia instytucji społecznych oraz niedrogie mieszkania. Projekt został wyróżniony międzynarodową nagrodą specjalną KfW Award Bauen 2019.

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Housing

An architectural treat

Restoration of a medieval merchant's house in Erfurt, Germany, reveals traces from six centuries. Today the building and its rich history provide a space for comfortable living. Profile of the fourth-place winner in the 2017 KfW Awards for Construction.

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Housing

Bringing the farm back to life

Four dedicated and highly creative families in Bavaria’s Chiemgau region have revived a farm, fulfilling their dream of living together in the countryside. With this project, they won first prize for the KfW Construction Award 2019 in the category of New Construction.

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Housing

Mexican Efficiency House

The EcoCasa programme from Mexico received an international special award at the 2017 KfW Construction Award. You can read this article in English and Spanish. Con motivo de la entrega del Premio KfW de Construcción se concedió, por primera vez, un Premio especial internacional. Presentamos aquí el proyecto galardonado «EcoCasa» de México en inglés y en español.

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People

The photographer Sebastião Salgado

The well-known Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado died on 23 May 2025 at the age of 81 in his adopted home of Paris. Salgado was honoured with the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 2019 for his photographs and his commitment to nature and climate protection. Together with KfW, Salgado campaigned for the preservation of biodiversity and the reforestation of the endangered Atlantic rainforest in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, among other things.

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Digital education

Germany learns from Armenia

The TUMO Centre for Creative Technologies in Armenia is an educational centre, specialised on technology and design, where teenagers can learn free of charge. TUMO’s managing directors Marie-Lou and Pegor Papazian talk about their project and its expansion to Berlin.

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Education

Playing and learning in a refugee camp

Most of the 80,000 inhabitants of the Zaatari refugee camp are children. Alongside with 29 schools, there are 13 Makani centres, in which children and teenagers can spend the afternoon. KfW also supports the Makanis.

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Ackerdemia is growing vegetables together with school children

Education

Crops in the schoolyard

Ackerdemia is bringing the veggie patch into the school and convinced the jury of the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award 2018. The project won the Social Entrepreneurship special prize 2018.

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Social cohesion

Pure joy on stage

The European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) is unique for many reasons. Not least because it brings together young musicians from all 28 EU member states. We present the EUYO in our video and let Malin, Inis, Josefien, Mateusz and Pedro tell us what it's like to be part of it.

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Short film about water supply for Zaatari

A woman and two children sit in an accommodation for refugees in Za'atari

Social cohesion

Water for Zaatari

Zaatari is one of the largest refugee camps in the world in Jordan. KfW promotes the water supply in Zaatari. In our video report, you can see what the project means for the 80.000 inhabitants.

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To the article about the Social Cash Programme in Malawi

Social cohesion

Escaping extreme poverty

The Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) exists to help ensure that the basic needs of the poorest families in Malawi are met. KfW has now been investing in the programme for ten years. Three striking examples show how people’s lives have changed as a result.

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Social cohesion

Integration of refugees

Hundreds of thousands of refugees have arrived in Germany. German society is now tasked with helping the new arrivals to integrate. Five projects demonstrate just how this can work.

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Social cohesion

Green power for Zaatari

A solar power plant in the size of 33 football fields is securing the electricity supply of a refugee camp in the Jordan desert. This not only gives the Syrian families a feeling of normality, but also creates busy city life.

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To the article about Agalatovo

Frankziska Giffey and Jörg Zeuner in Berlin

Social cohesion

How can integration be successful?

Germany is in the process of deciding whether hundreds of thousands of refugees will have the chance to feel at home in their new country or be made to feel permanently alien. A discussion about qualifications, special provisions in school and at work – and the German constitution.

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Reunification

New old homeland

After reunification, Russia withdrew its troops from Germany. In return, the Federal Republic financed modern housing estates for the returnees. A visit to the site.

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Social cohesion

Quo vadis, Europe?

Dangerous cracks in the monetary union, waves of refugees, Western values under threat: a conversation with historian Heinrich August Winkler on how the EU can pass these hard endurance tests and reinforce the bridges between its member states.

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Bonner Verein für Pflege- und Gesundheitsberufe

Social cohesion

Good care

The ”Bonner Verein für Pflege- und Gesundheitsberufe“ (Bonn Association for Nursing and Healthcare Professions) trains female refugees for the profession of elderly care. The project received the 2017 Special Impact Award in the ”ANKOMMER Perspektive Deutschland“ category. Our video shows the prize winner.

Social cohesion

Dandelions in the cheesecake

450 people with disabilities are employed in the workshops of the Schlocker-Stiftung charitable trust in Hattersheim. The plant nursery cultivates local wild herbs in the Rhine-Main region with the support of KfW Stiftung.

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Crowd on and in front of Berlin Wall at Brandenburg Gate

Video

From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to the German Reunification

Look back with us on the epochal events that took place in 1989/90. From the first gap in the Iron Curtain on the border between Hungary and Austria to the momentous night of 9 November to the German Reunification Day on 3 October.

Companies

Africa's largest center for air freight

Ethiopia's booming export economy is delighted about Africa's largest centre for air freight – which was planned and furnished by Unitechnik, a medium-sized company from Germany.

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Article about a Nigerian woman took off with children's clothing

Companies

“I don’t think the issue of digitalisation is hype”

It is repeatedly said that Germany needs to catch up when it comes to digitalisation. What are the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation? Hartmut Jenner, Chief Executive Officer of global market leader Kärcher, talked in 2017 to Jörg Zeuner in his position as Chief Economist of KfW.

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Full interview

Companies

More security for foreign business

In an interview, Nadja Marschhausen explains how KfW IPEX-Bank uses export credit insurance to ensure that Germany will continue to be a leading export nation in the future.

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Companies

The rocky road to her own flagship store

Adenike Ogunlesi owns Nigeria’s leading children’s clothing brand. It was only when she received financial support from long-standing DEG customer Access Bank, that the entrepreneur was able to take off.

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Companies

A worldwide bridge

The German Desk helps German SMEs sell their production goods in new markets abroad. Often this support goes far beyond financing since cultural and language barriers must be removed as well.

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Companies

Green logistics

The REWE Group runs one of Germany's most cutting-edge logistics centres. A solar unit on the roof and a separate cogeneration unit are just two of the many measures that the company has applied to help the company cut its CO₂ emissions in half by 2022 as compared to 2006.

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Foundress of Gourmandise Radhia Kamoun Megdiche

Tunisia

The sweet dream of Gourmandise

AfricInvest is an investment company from Tunis that provides help to small and medium-sized enterprises. The example of Radhia Kamoun Megdiche shows how important this support is. Thanks to the financing, she was able to make her mother’s dream come true.

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e-bility

The perfect sidekick

Retro on the outside, high-tech on the inside – the e-scooters made by the start-up e-bility use portable lithium-ion batteries that can be charged from a conventional socket. Customers love the stylish design and help protect the environment at the same time.

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Automated Guided Vehicles

As if by magic

Long Beach, California has one of the largest ports in the world. Several dozen automated guided vehicles from Germany are used to transport containers. They are battery-powered and run without a driver.

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E-mobility

Electricity is everywhere

Recharging at the nearest street lamp. The Berlin-based company Ubitricity offers an efficient solution for charging electric vehicles.

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To the article about Wildling Shoes

Mobiltiy

Software for the traffic of tomorrow

Wunder Mobility is driving the issue of shared mobility worldwide with a broad range of technologies. The smart software of the Hamburg start-up is the backbone of many providers of car sharing, car rental or shuttle services.

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Wildling shoes founders Anna and Ran Yona sit on top of a shelf filled with shoe boxes.

Start-ups

Freedom for the feet

Anna and Ran Yona have discovered a market niche with their barefoot shoes. Their successful company Wildling Shoes won the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award 2019 for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

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Start-ups

The clever shoe retailer

Small owner-managed specialist retailers can sell their shoes on the online platform Schuhe24 and thus continue to survive alongside large mail-order companies. We would like to introduce the company that was crowned the national winner of the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award 2018.

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Start-ups

A future for bees and beekeepers

Companies can lease bee colonies tended to by professional beekeepers from start-up Bee-Rent. Entrepreneur Dieter Schimanski won the special Social Entrepreneurship prize of the KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award 2019 for this.

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Start-ups

Online lost-and-found office

Three entrepreneurs want to revolutionise the lost-and-found industry with their start-up "Have it Back". They operate a meta search engine that tracks privately reported lost-and-found items. "Have it Back" was recently awarded the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award for this technology.

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Start-ups

Coffee capsules without aluminium and plastic

UniCaps has developed a capsule made from renewable raw materials and fills it with organically grown coffee and tea. The Brandenburg-based company was presented with the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award 2019 for this sustainable idea.

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Start-ups

The power of cinema

The two apps "Greta" and "Starks" make a trip to the movies a matter of course for the blind and deaf. Seneit Debese won not only the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award for these apps, but also captured the hearts of the audience.

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Start-ups

Boss in cake paradise

In Limlingerode in the southern Harz mountains in Germany, Marie-Theres Mund serves up the best cakes in the area in a former farmhouse. Set up as part of a succession project, “Ländliche Kaffeestuben” was the state champion for Thuringia in the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award 2018.

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Start-ups

Papa Türk: a refreshing solution

Roman Will and Jan Plewinski from Bremen in Germany have developed a drink that helps your breath stay fresh. Their innovative soft drink garnered them the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award in 2017.

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Resource protection

Better paper

Uwe D'Agnone has developed an alternative procedure to manufacture paper which helps protect resources in the sense of a circular economy: his company Creapaper makes paper and cardboard from grass. Large companies already use it as packaging material for online trade.

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Start-ups

Drinking water for all

Boreal Light developed a system that has the ability to provide the population with an affordable drinking water supply. The Berlin-based company was crowned the national winner of the KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award 2019 for this achievement as well as winner of the KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award 2019 in the “people’s choice”.

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Start-ups

Cellulose film against plastic waste

While the world is being littered with plastics and microplastics that do not decompose, the start-up Superseven, winner of the KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award 2018 in the “people’s choice”, is offering an environmentally-friendly alternative. And the interest in it is tremendous.

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Start-ups

From a fishing net to a shopping bag

What was once used to pull fish out of the water is now used to carry groceries. The student start-up Meehr produces bags made from used fishing nets in order to offer an alternative to plastic bags and combat plastic waste in the sea.

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Start-ups

Smart local transport

They call themselves the "visionaries of public transport": start-up firm door2door from Berlin is working on the digital transformation of mobility. The goal: local transport that adapts to people – not the other way round.

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Start-ups

Breaking taboos. Loudly.

From a taboo subject to centre stage in the event arena: the Hamburg-based company Goldeimer raises awareness about compost toilets in Germany to give more people around the world access to sanitation. For its work, Goldeimer was honoured with the KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award 2018 as the state winner for Hamburg.

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Employees do not meet when changing shifts

Coronavirus aid

Action taken at the right time

With carbon-neutral coffee capsules, UniCaps makes an important contribution to preventing packaging waste. A total of 35 employees make sure that production runs smoothly even during the coronavirus crisis thanks to early restructuring and appropriate financing.

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