(Interview from 2022)

Dagmar Möbius

Zeno Kakuschke has always been interested in business models and entrepreneurship. From phone apps to novel soft drinks, he came up with plenty of ideas back in school. During his studies, the business economist joined forces with his peers to found a social start-up. With just 60 euros in start-up capital and no outside funding. The company has been growing for four years now, as has its mission to remain “resolutely plastic-free.”

There was no sudden inspirational moment that initially sparked Zeno Kakusche’s interest in economics. “But I continually came up with ideas for making the world a little better.” After completing high school, he spent a year in New Zealand with his friends on a working holiday visa. Born in Zürich and raised in Berlin, it was pure coincidence that Kakusche’s studies brought him to Dresden. Now 31, he initially accompanied a friend to Dresden who had applied to study at TUD. It was a sunny summer day when they went in search of – and found – an apartment in the Neustadt quarter, and he was impressed. Plus “the proximity to Berlin” was the clincher, he admits. He had only been to Dresden once prior – on a school field trip.

From Economics to Business Administration
From 2012 to 2017, Zeno Kakuschke pursued his Bachelor’s in Economics at TUD, including a semester abroad at Sapienza Università in Rome. He was a student tutor at the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at TU Dresden for three years. Between 2014 and 2015, he worked as a student assistant at dresden|exists, followed by a period as a working student for blockchain consulting at T-Systems MMS in 2016. His desire to see economics topics gain more attention from a critical perspective went unfulfilled in his studies. “There was a lot of theory and one-sided models. Even after the global economic crisis of 2008, there was not enough criticism,” he reports. He didn’t miss a class at the Chair of Entrepreneurship & Innovation. “From product management to legal issues, I was interested in everything.”

Solid Foundation and a Thirst for Knowledge
Initially, Zeno Kakusche had planned to get his Bachelor’s and quickly return to Berlin. He used to go back home once or twice a month. “But then everything changed.” In 2017, he decided to pursue a Master’s in Business Administration and remained in Dresden. “Studying can really give you direction,” he says. He was a real fan of Prof. Florian Siems, the Chair of Marketing. Looking back, he describes his studies as “a solid foundation.” However, what he regretted at the time was a lack of modern, up-to-date content, for instance regarding digital marketing. He also wished for a stronger real-world connection, though he concedes that he knows universities are meant to be academic. He dedicated both his Bachelor’s and Master’s thesis to entrepreneurial topics. The former was dedicated to whether first movers will survive on the market or those who follow in their footsteps, while the latter focused on how series funding works from the viewpoint of a start-up.

4 friends, 1 beeswax wrap and 60 euros
That’s the essence of what led to him founding his own company in 2018. Co-founder Luca Hillesheim had been producing her own beeswax wraps and giving them away as gifts. “That was our first product,” Zeno Kakuschke explains. After selling 200 of them at a Christmas market and via a chat group, the four friends Zeno Kakuschke, Jannis and Luca Hillesheim (all Economics alumni of TUD) and Leander Hoyer (TUD Mechanical Engineering student) founded a civil law partnership. With 60 euros in start-up capital, they bought the necessary raw materials. Revenue was then invested back into the company. “We weren’t really searching for an idea; we just sort of stumbled upon this one and didn’t have anything to lose. And we quickly realized: Plastic-free products are our thing. We have a greater mission.” The start-up seeks to raise awareness of the global plastic crisis by offering alternatives. “Plastic has its benefits,” Zeno Kakuschke would like to make clear, “but single-use packaging is irresponsible.” For each product sold, they pledge to break down 100 grams of plastic. To this end, they support a recycling initiative in southern India. As of now, their goal is to break down 9.3 metric tons of plastic. That corresponds to about 930,000 0.3-liter plastic bottles. “These are motivational figures, not economic indicators,” says Zeno Kakuschke. “Many regions of the world don’t have functional waste management systems – from trash collection to waste separation to recycling. That’s where we want to come in!”

Two years later – the first salary
The four founders have yet to make use of a single funding program. Primarily because these are devised for teams who have not yet gotten started. In the beginning, the group of friends produced their own beeswax wraps, solid shampoo and soap bars under the brand name NICAMA. The advantage of this was, “We didn’t need millions to be market-ready.” After just two years, there was enough money to start earning a small salary. At the start of 2021, all the partners quit their other part-time jobs. Today, all four of them are working full time at their own company – a limited liability company (GmbH under German law) with ten employees, six of whom are student assistants working part-time. “Now we need capital,” says Zeno Kakuschke, co-managing director with Jannis Hillesheim. “We can’t keep up with the product volume by ourselves anymore, so we’re planning to launch regional contracted production. But we need financing partners for that.”

Upcycled soaps from orange peels and coffee grinds
The company’s main focus now lies on natural cosmetics. They’re constantly fine-tuning new NICAMA products. The new big hits are upcycled cosmetics. From seemingly useless food scraps like orange peels and coffee grinds, they have manufactured exfoliating soaps and vitamins that have been met with increasing demand. However, their direct sales at markets and trade fairs have taken a serious hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the constant need to rethink how they do business. “Last year’s Christmas market was canceled just one day before it was set to open. We had bought goods valuing 100,000 euros,” Kakuschke explains. “At the same time, our goods won’t go bad – others were worse off.”

Overcoming crises and future challenges
So far, the founders haven’t run into conflict and their friendship is strong. The responsibilities within the business are divided clearly. They communicate well with one another and hold larger meetings on a quarterly basis. “I look forward to getting up in the morning,” says Zeno Kakuschke. “It feels good to have overcome small crises.” The team’s current endeavor? How to package liquid cosmetics without relying on plastic. Luckily, they have the connections they need in Dresden’s start-up scene. They are also actively involved in a seminar offered by the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, offering small-scale jobs to students as well as internships. And they have many plans for the future, including acquiring the official “Made in Dresden” certification.

Contact:
Zeno Kakuschke
Co-Founder and Managing Director
Apinima GmbH
Fritz-Hoffmann-Str. 8b
01097 Dresden

Tel: +49 351 896 722 3702

Email

Web

Updaten 2024:

More than 23,000 kilos of plastic recovered, equivalent to 2.3 million plastic bottles

• Multiple winners of the eku Future Prize of the Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture
• Nominated in 2024 for Saxony Entrepreneur of the Year 2024
• Natural cosmetics certification by COSMOS Organic completed
• Now more than 300 points of sale in Germany, with first retailers in other European countries
• Cooperation with organic wholesalers and larger organic chains, including: Biomarkt in Saxony, Bio-Mare in Leipzig and Vorwerk Podemus in Dresden
• Latest product cooperation with the well-known traditional organic cidery Voelker: Oat-based soap as a vegan alternative to sheep's milk soap
• A crowdfunding campaign is currently running on Startnext for the product development of an innovative upcycling body scrub: https://www.startnext.com/GxT

We really enjoy working with REWE on Bautzener Straße in Dresden, and are pleased that we can also gain experience in the food retail sector. The REWE on Königsbrückerstraße in Dresden has also been stocking our products for several years.