Projekt Wynajmijmuzyka.pl zwycięzcą konkursu EkSoc StartUP!

Wynajmijmuzyka.pl – an internet platform, which brings together creators and performers from the music industry with people looking for their services, was recognised as the best project in the 4th edition of the EkSoc StartUp! competition. Its author – Mateusz Szerszenowicz from the University of Lodz received the main prize amounting to PLN 25,000.

The special EKOEkSoc distinction for the best pro-environmental project – PLN 5,000 – was presented to a team of four authors of the Raton start-up – an application that reduces food waste. The team included: Nikola Pluskota, Julia Gradowska, Wiktoria Olejniczak and Natalia Wołosowicz – all from the University of Lodz.  

The jury of the competition, which was organised by the Faculty of Economics and Sociology of the University of Lodz, decided to award three distinctions. They were given to: the SocialFruit project – a platform that brings together people who have an excess of fruit and vegetables from home gardens with fans of organic, "unsprayed" products (author: Jakub Rycerz from the University of Lodz), UVI – your visual independence – a navigation application for people with visual impairments (authors: Tetiana Berehova and Liliia Karaban – both from the University of Lodz, and Makar Oliinyk from the University of Social Sciences in Lodz) and REJob.me – a recruitment platform that connects migrating talents with small and medium-sized companies in Poland (author: Dziyana Tsybulskaya from the University of Lodz).      

During the final gala at the Andel's Hotel in Lodz, the authors and teams of start-up authors presented their business projects in the form of the so-called elevator speech. Two winning and three distinguished projects of the 11 final ones were selected by a jury composed of representatives of business and academia.

The unusual professionalisation of the start-ups presentation by their authors is particularly striking during this year's edition of the competition. The teams wore uniform T-shirts, there were promotional banners, and the students were very committed. It is also worth noting how much what they presented to us differs from the original ideas for their start-ups. I believe that each of the eleven final ideas has a chance for business implementation – says Łukasz Koprowski, Director of the PwC Office in Łódź, Chairman of the Jury. –The Wynamijmuzyka.pl platform, which is already in the implementation phase, won – this is one of the six criteria we used to evaluate the projects.  

The jury's verdict was also influenced by the uniqueness of the winning project on the Polish market. According to the chairman of the jury, Wynajmijmuzyka.pl has a great development potential – it can not only bring musicians and people looking for them together, but sooner or later there will also be the possibility to sell various other non-music services through it. 

wm.pl

Mateusz Szerszenowicz – the author of the winning project (the homepage of the platform in the photo above) already knows that he will spend PLN 20,000 from the award on marketing activities of the Wynajmijmuzyka.pl platform through Facebook Ads and Google Ads, and the remaining PLN 5,000 to self-development and development of the team creating it. 

Now we are verifying our business model – says the winner of the main award in the EkSoc StartUP! – We are conducting marketing and advertising activities on the market of music services in the Mazowieckie voivodship, because this market is the largest there. If the conversion rates in Mazovia are satisfactory, we will expand our business to other regions and cities – for example, Lodz and Kraków. Expanding the number of categories is the next stage of development we plan.  We currently have: musicians, bands, DJs and music teachers, and we also target music producers and hosts to conquer the music market as a whole. We also plan to create a CRM system on our platform, which will help musicians manage their talent and time, and music teachers – lessons, their schedule and hours.  

The author of the project emphasizes that Wynajmijmuzyka.pl should be the platform of first choice for people providing music services and customers who are looking for them. Leading to such a situation is his basic goal. 

The EkSoc StartUP! competition is addressed to creative students and doctoral students of all universities from the Voivodeship of Lodz, who have an idea for a business, want to independently plan their own career and are thinking about setting up a company. This year, the final of the competition was dominated by students of various fields of study at the University of Lodz, but it also includes representatives of the Lodz University of Technology and the University of Social Sciences. The final projects concerned, for example, gardening, automotive services, recruitment, event and music services, food industry, and road infrastructure. 

The projects during the gala at the Andels Hotel were assessed by the jury, composed of:

  • Łukasz Koprowski, Director of the PwC Office in Łódź and Chairman of the Business Council, Chairman of the Jury
  • Radosław Dziuba, Director, Łukasiewicz Research Network – Lodz Institute of Technology  
  • Łukasz Kluj, Head of Marketing, CERI International 
  • Michał Kołakowski, Managing Director, Shumee SA 
  • Magdalena Kubicka, Director of the Innovation Department, Acceleration Manager, Lodz Special Economic Zone  
  • Prof. Agnieszka Kurczewska, University of Lodz Vice-Rector for External Relations  
  • Bartosz Skuza, Director of the Corporate Banking Centre, ING Bank Śląski S.A.  
  • Michał Zawisza, President of the Board, Managing Partner, Long Term Management Sp. z o.o.

The full list of the 4th edition finalists.

Edit: Promotion Centre of the University of Lodz