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Boost je Buurt 2022

An app that lends a listening ear, a modular electric boat, crochet clubs and a neighbourhood lab. These are only four of the 30 participants of Boost je Buurt 2022, our challenge for impact entrepreneurs making Amsterdam's neighbourhoods healthier, greener and more inclusive.

Amsterdam's seven city districts and city area Weesp selected a maximum of four impact entrepreneurs to join a business development programme supervised by Impact Hub Amsterdam. Keep reading to learn more about these entrepreneurs:

From Amsterdam Centrum

De Eberhardjes – named after former Amsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan – are available at various cafes and shops. The company uses part of the proceeds to celebrate and support the 'lieve' (Dutch for 'sweet' or 'lovable') aspects of the city, collaborating with Fonds voor Centrum and Mensen Maken Amsterdam.

Water en Brood is a successful catering business. The brothers Taraq and Rachid prepare New York-style brunch dishes with a Caribbean twist in their father's former bicycle shop and help other entrepreneurs create diaspora-friendly catering businesses and increase the reach of black entrepreneurs.

According to The Swap Shop, swapping is the new shopping. Amsterdammers can hand in their clothes in the store and receive points in return, which they can use to purchase preloved items.

Nature Bar creates soap and shampoo bars with a mission: to inspire people to take better care of themselves and nature. Their all-natural products are handmade traditionally and combat waste using ingredients such as coffee grounds from local roasters.

From Amsterdam Nieuw-West

Regeneratie Coöperatie wants to work with residents on sustainability, social cohesion and food supply in the city by keeping it small: setting up urban gardens, making the neighbourhood greener or organising local activities.

Taaly is an app that pairs newcomers with only a basic knowledge of Dutch with native speakers to practice their speaking skills through video calls. Students and tutors are matched according to their interests, so you can practice the language while talking about football, your favourite series, or baking as a newcomer.

Show two people the same picture, and they both see something different. Picture Bright Foundation uses visual information to allow residents, newcomers and care providers to talk to each other and thus understand each other better during various workshops and events.

Ziggy and Ayla make new clothes from discarded textiles such as sheets, curtains and sleeping bags. They have an online platform and a studio where you can also have your clothes repaired and visit a swap store. Shortly, the two fashion designers aspire to employ people at a distance from the labour market.

From Amsterdam Noord

Buuro is an Amsterdam app under development that will soon ensure that neighbours share their requests for help. Every hour on this local marketplace, every hour of support is converted into an Uuro, a local currency that users can 'spend' to receive help from someone else.

The Lstnr lends a listening ear when needed. Together with the users, the makers are building an app that ensures you can quickly and safely share your story with someone else when needed. In this way, they try to reduce loneliness among (young) adults in the city.

De Werkplek offers affordable, flexible workplaces in residential areas in Amsterdam for self-employed workers, freelancers and home workers who cannot or do not want to work from home every day.

Since the fall of 2021, catering collective Tuindorp Deli-cious has been cooking takeaway meals on the Zonneplein in Amsterdam-Noord. Now they are ready for the next step: their own business with a large kitchen, furniture and bicycle workshop, where they would also train people with a distance to the labour market.

From Amsterdam Oost

Under the name Off-Track, composer Sophie Jurrjens makes sound walks, which are walks with different soundtracks. She writes and composes the music herself based on the environment so that the two fit together perfectly. So get ready to turn your walks into full-on cinematic experiences.

1.5 million pieces of chewing gums end up on Dutch streets every year. WeFresh makes chewing gum and ensures that less chewing gum ends on the road. That's because the packaging can also store chewed gum.

Marie Marie Amsterdam wants to connect women through crocheting and set up several successful crochet clubs. It works with organisations such as Ouderenfonds and Boost Amsterdam and involves (lonely) older adults, refugees and young people from the neighbourhood. They jointly made bags already featured in Vogue and Het Parool.

Asking for help is quite tricky. Good Registry wants to help by developing an app that links supply and demand with friends or family at the office and in the neighbourhood, friend group or family. It is easier to ask for and give help in four simple steps.

From Weesp

Turning Table offers a long table where residents can sit during the day for a cup of coffee, a newspaper, or work. In the evenings, this place transforms into a location for events, dinners and wine tastings, where people can also come on their own to make new acquaintances. 

FC Weesp is here for everyone: young and old, Weesper or newcomer, men and women, striker or couch potato. The club not only offers football for all ages but also organises other (sports) events and is working hard to create a sports and meeting park, a sports medicine centre and a healthy canteen – preferably all climate neutral.

From Amsterdam West

Broeii Maak en Recycle is a neighbourhood lab that brings residents and local makers together. Residents can collect plastic here and compost their fruit and vegetable waste, while makers can use a plastic shredder, extruder, 3D printer or CNC machine for their prototypes. In addition, lectures and workshops on sustainability, design and circularity will soon occur in the greenhouse.

Bar Bario is the favourite pub for the LGBTQIAA+ community and people of colour. A creative hub, bar and safe space on the Bilderdijkstraat to come together, exhibit and organise events. For instance, the bar has given young black artists a stage, organised vogue workshops and set up queer skate club talks.

The De Sustainable Fashion Gift Card (SFGC) can be spent at 80 different sustainable stores, carefully screened by SFGC. Founder Nanette Hogervorst wants to encourage consumers to make sustainable choices and connect sustainable entrepreneurs, fashion pioneers and experts. 

Sewing café and sustainable fabric shop De Steek in the Staatsliedenbuurt in Amsterdam is already a household name in the neighbourhood. Various workshops and courses are given here, from quilting to painting overalls, to teach Amsterdammers techniques to create and repair clothes and textiles.

From Amsterdam Zuid

DRIFTY is an electric, modular and maintenance-free boat made from recycled plastic. By 2025, Amsterdam will ban boats that run on fossil fuel from its inland waterways. DRIFTY wants to contribute to the transition and make sustainable sailing accessible. Shared Ownership ensures that people with a lower income will soon be able to enjoy silent and sustainable floating on the canals.

True Cost Label calculates how sustainable clothing is through a life cycle analysis. These insights give fashion brands the knowledge to clean up future collections, make the circular chain's impact visible, and compare it with the rest of the industry. The insights are available on the consumer platform and help you know whether your jeans are sustainable or just a good story.

Respyre  wants to green the city through circularity. The company helps create circular concrete, cultivates native moss species that grow on poor soil, and develops new sustainable solutions with minimal maintenance to make social housing greener.

From Amsterdam Zuidoost

Juice bar Juiciety makes healthy juices from fruit and vegetables. Purely natural and without added sugars or artificial fragrances and colours, with traditional South American and Caribbean superfoods. Owner Cheryl Simson hopes to inspire her guests to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

Bims Tour Guides take you to the historical, cultural and future highlights of Amsterdam Zuidoost. The guide will tell you about the architecture then and now, the history of the district and local entrepreneurs and initiatives.

Crossing Wires builds a bridge between talent from the Bijlmer and multinationals and agencies to create opportunities for underrepresented groups. Using workshops, mentorships and career advice, they help young people explore the job market and connect them with organisations eager for young talent.