Scottish Smoothies inspired German Students – Now they won important prize for innovation
001e/00/07-2009
Bonn, 2 July, 2009
Five years ago they returned from Robert-Gordon-University in Aberdeen with an idea which would win them Germany's most coveted prize for innovation, the Deutscher Gründerpreis / German Award for Innovation of 2009.
Three graduates of the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg received the award yesterday (30 June 2009) in Berlin of the Deutscher Gründerpreis in the Start Up category. True; this is not the first prize they have won, but this distinction, the highest recognition possible for outstanding innovators in Germany, surely represents the highpoint to date of their company history. The prize was handed over by the Federal Minister of Trade and Enterprise, Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Gutenberg.
The three innovators Marco Knauf, Inga Koster and Nicolas Lecloux come to their award as youngest ever winners of the Deutscher Gründerpreis with an already impressive track record of success. Five years ago the three business students returned to the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg from an overseas semester of six months spent at the Robert Gordon University of Aberdeen in Scotland with a little surprise. This was none other than a lucrative business idea for a product that didn't actually exist in Germany at that time: Smoothies.
Working together with students of other faculties on a cross-disciplinary research project, the trio first produced Smoothies in laboratory quantities and then developed their product to market maturity. There were many hurdles to be overcome before the company true fruits GmbH was founded in 2006 and the trio of innovators introduced the first German Smoothies to the market: "The first three months were like a ride on a roller coaster," thinks back Inga Koster, Marketing and Financial Director. "But we always believed in our idea." Success has proved the innovators correct. In the beginning the sales figures hovered around 10,000 per month for the bottles of the yummy fruits. In the meantime the company has come to sell on average half a million bottles a month of Smoothies in what are now six different flavours. However competition has grown too, for many major companies have jumped onto the Smoothies train alongside them.
The vanguard role of true fruits in Germany was one of the decisive factors in the nomination for the Deutscher Gründerpreis. We read in the judgement of the jury:
"From a pioneering position true fruits has succeeded in establishing a new product in a traditional sector in the shortest possible time, and in building up its brand with a consistent orientation to premier quality and an innovative marketing concept."
With the prize comes another inestimable benefit, and that is the consultancy services of a completely different successful company, Porsche Consulting. "If we do have a weak point, then that might be found in the organisation. It would be great if somebody were to bring in a little more structure there. We are also very happy about our sponsor. The contacts and the exchange of ideas, these are simply world class", says Inga Koster.
true fruits, through its sponsor now more or less the Porsche Among Smoothies, retains its links to its home college to this day. Last year they donated for the first time a prize for an outstanding degree thesis, to a graduate of the Faculty of Electrotechnology, Mechanical Engineering and Technical Journalism.
The Deutscher Gründerpreis is an award made jointly by the German savings banks, the magazine STERN, and the state broadcaster ZDF. The award aims at promoting a positive climate for innovation in Germany and at creating the courage to go it alone.
