EXIST-Women is a nationwide initiative that supports women at universities and research institutions on their path to founding a business. Scholarship recipients benefit from workshops, mentoring, coaching, networking, and the opportunity to develop their own ideas from initial concepts to market-ready prototypes. The aim of the program is to encourage women to form a realistic picture of entrepreneurship as a career option and to enable them to take their first steps toward self-employment. The program structure varies at each participating university. The massive increase in interested women recorded by HNU for 2026 shows that the quality of the program, under the program management of Anna Sophia Boden in close cooperation with Carina Volk-Schor, has become visible beyond the university's boundaries: The number of applicants for the coming year has almost tripled compared to last year, which is particularly due to the positive feedback on the funding.
The start-up ideas presented
Behnaz Baghaie Nejad's project focuses on the circular economy, sustainability, and resource conservation: she presented an upcycling platform that brings households together with creative students to recycle unused items.
Trivedi Dharati Jayeshbhai's idea aims for more sustainable agriculture: she presented an AI-supported crop management system that uses drones and robotics to monitor plants and reduce pesticide use.
Mariana Martinez Ruelas' project focuses on women's health and raises awareness of the Women's Health Gap: With “Glowly,” she wants to develop an app that adapts everyday life, exercise, and self-care to the different phases of the menstrual cycle.
Elisabeth Moiseev took advantage of a special form of scholarship: with a “wild card,” she began the program with the goal of finding a thematic focus over the course of the year and thinking through the topic of entrepreneurship along different project ideas. Her results: an ERP system for restaurants that digitizes business processes, as well as a product idea in the area of craft boxes.
Lucia Isabel Probst's start-up is all about sustainable, future-proof mobility: she is part of an international project team developing the “AMVI” app for smart carpooling within organizations, and has already received several awards for her work during the project.
Improving the local and online shopping experience: That is the goal of Tatjana Wiest, who wants to design and implement “FragLoki,” a platform that makes local boutiques visible and their product ranges digitally accessible. During her EXIST Women year, she conducted extensive user surveys, created a minimum viable product (MVP), and brought a co-founder on board.
Alena Ladnykh presented a project in the field of corporate culture via video presentation: With the B2B management system “LYVRA,” she wants to translate anonymous employee feedback into concrete tasks for managers and HR teams.
Conclusion with outlook
With the conclusion of the current program, the focus is once again on the future: While the current participants remain closely connected to Founders Space and can continue to benefit from the exchange within the growing network of female founders, the next cohort of EXIST-Women scholarship holders is already in the starting blocks.
