Central European Startup Awards 2022
Konsultori at the Central European Startup Awards
Petra Wolkenstein founder of Konsultori, was nominated for two prizes at this year’s Central European Startup Awards. Besides being the Ecosystem Hero of the Year also the Diversity Role Model of the Year. In the end, she won the former award in a very touching way, as a public vote partly selected the winner. The positive comments were overwhelming and Konsultori’s heart filled with pride. But what does it mean to be the Ecosystem Hero of the Year? An Ecosystem Hero known by its passion for entrepreneurship and ability as well as willingness to help startups and entrepreneurship grow – says the CESA Award category definition.
Petra Wolkenstein is Ecosystem Hero of the Year
Petra Wolkenstein has founded the Vienna-based company of business experts that supports start-ups and entrepreneurs every day. She guides her clients from investor search to negotiation and long-term strategy development. Business development is her passion, which makes her a wonderful mentor. She coaches Africa-based entrepreneurs as a general partner of the Startup Wise Guys Africa Fund, she is an expert speaker at Female Founders and the aaia Digital Investors Academy. For the past ten years, she has cooperated with accelerators and universities to train start-ups on scaling topics. Her team coached over 2,400 startups in Eastern Europe and Africa. To reach even more startups, she runs the Konsultori Academy, which offers live group workshops as well as digital self-trainings for startups.
“The future is shaped by founders”.
I am proud to win the Ecosystem Hero of the Year award at the Central European Startup Awards in CEE. To be among these finalists makes me even prouder, as I think this is a shared award to all nominees and in the end, it counts what is done for the ecosystem. The list of hard-working and strong fellow finalists is long and I wish us all further success when working with startups.
👏 Congratulations to Startup Wise Guys, winning the award for Best Accelerator in CEE for the second time in a row!
Petra Wolkenstein, LinkedIn
Next stop: The Global Startup Awards
Petra won in the CEE Regio category, but that doesn’t have to be the end of the story. The Startup Awards movement, which began in Norway, has now spread worldwide and provides an annual spotlight focusing on web/tech startups in 26 countries across the globe. The Global Startup Awards evolved from the Nordic Startup Awards, which was the first region to be launched in 2012. Later, in 2015, the umbrella brand Global Startup Awards was born, connecting all regions. The GSAs now provide a global networking platform for participants, government institutions, corporate bodies and private companies.
The aim is to create a platform through communication, friendly competition and event activities to connect, promote and showcase the ecosystem of startups and entrepreneurs in their respective regions, but also in the global scene.
Regional finalists, regional winners and global winners
The Global Startup Awards have three main stages: regional finalists, regional winners and global winners. Each season begins with nominations at the national level. A pre-jury selects the regional finalists based on the award criteria and the data provided in the application. The categories are as follows:
- Diversity Role Model of the Year
- Ecosystem Hero of the Year
- Startup of the Year
- Founder of the Year
- Best VC
- Best CoWorking Space
- Best Accelerator/Incubator Program
- Best Newcomer
- People’s Choice
Global finalists and competition will be decided by March 2022 – hold thumbs for us!
Get to know the global finalists: GLOBAL STARTUP AWARDS FINALISTS 2023
The startup ecosystem needs more connections
Why is the Global Startup Award so important? According to the founders, it’s not about making money and winning. For them, it’s the way the award drives the business community and brings creative people together is more rewarding than anything else. Confidence, trust and connection. That’s the real purpose of the prize.
We want to find the most amazing people around the world and just connect them. We believe that competition is a good way to do that.
Péter Kovács, Head of Friendship, Nordic Startup Awards 2018
When you have the shared value of creating, innovating and having an impact in the world, you can transcend anything and really connect across colours, cultures and distances.
Kim Balle, NSAwards Online Event 2020
Get involved in the movement and vote
This season, the focus is on the relevance of green innovation and how to move society in a greener direction, contributing to Denmark’s green future and the green agenda of the rest of the world.