1st place: Flip book for sign language by Talking Hands
The textbooks that Maria Möller and her friend Laura Mohn developed together with her friend Laura Mohn are square, colorful and as thin as a brochure.
If you leaf through it, you will see, for example, how two hands shape the gesture for Ball.
“We want to appeal to all children, not just those with disabilities,” says Maria Möller. With their short books, they want to promote inclusion from an early age. "Children with Down syndrome often learn to speak later, so it is important for them to learn sign language," says Möller. “But often the materials are just some index cards with stick figures. Nobody wants to learn that, of course. ”The founders want to change that with their products - explicitly without relying on digital media, but with printed works that are also intended to promote the feel of the children. There are now books for more than 100 different signs. A single one costs 3.50 euros, a set of 100 books 250 euros.
The first talks with potential donors did not go well, remembers Möller - the market was too small, that was the argument at the time. However, that is the completely wrong starting point: “With the books, all children should be able to learn sign language. The target group is huge. ”They tested the prototypes several times in day-care centers: What is the perfect material so that the children can turn the pages easily? How do the colors have to be so that the children can recognize them perfectly? "It was a long process to achieve the perfect flip book."
The founders actually studied communication design in Frankfurt and then worked in an advertising agency - initially they had nothing to do with early childhood support. Mohn came up with the idea of developing products for inclusion through her sister, who has Down syndrome. Mohn and Möller quit their jobs, emptied their savings accounts and put everything into their start-up “Talking Hands”. Sales started in December 2020: “We started off really well, and in two weeks the production costs were down again. But then came the daycare and school lockdown, ”says Möller. This meant that their main customers fell away. Since then, they have been trying to attract private buyers. But overall they would have been lucky, say the two of them. “We could never complain about the sales. We now hope to start again in September.“The third edition of flip books is due to come soon, always with new gestures. "We are constantly told which words are still missing," says Möller.
But other products are also planned, for example toys.
The learning media should be fun for the children.
An app should also come out soon.
And there are initial discussions with investors who are interested in the start-up.
“The dream is to become a whole inclusion company.
"We want to create awareness for the topic," says Möller.
They have now secured them with the award as Frankfurt Founder of the Year and 12,500 euros in prize money.
2nd place: Frankfurter Brauunion with its own delivery service
Beer actually goes through the intestines and liver, but for him, says Sven Weisbrich, it is “a project close to his heart”.
The 43-year-old marketing manager helped develop a beer and is now managing director of the start-up Frankfurter Brauunion, which hopes that his brew will become the most popular in town.