Dossier: Challenger Stories

Just 35% of children in the Netherlands eat enough vegetables, and the number of overweight and obese children has been rising for years. Reason enough for Phaedra, founder of Spoony, to take action.

When you know that the average person produces more than 250 kg of packaging waste a year, you immediately understand why Maurits and the team at SwapBox set out to find an alternative.

A third of the world's population (2.4 billion people) does not have access to hygienic, safe toilets. This is not only uncomfortable — it also causes tremendous health risks.  That's why the team at The Good Roll set out to find a solution. 

BenBits is ambitious, and that's not a secret. The brand stands for plant-based chewing gum without plastic — the first in the Netherlands. But the ambitions don't stop there.

It's time to harness the primal power of Mother Ocean to end animal suffering and offer delicious food that regenerates itself — at least, if it's up to The Dutch Weed Burger. They stand for delicious, plant-based burgers made from seaweed, and in this video, Mark Kulsdom, Co-Founder & Managing Director, tells you all about it.

On average, people buy five products before they find the right beauty product for them. That's a problem. A problem that We Are Eves wants to eliminate from the world. It's a cosmetics platform with hundreds of thousands of honest product reviews, written by real people. In this video, Esther Leloux, Founder & CEO, tells you all about the platform.

Circular economy: it's not just a matter of using shared cars and collecting batteries. There is room for sustainable initiatives in the baby market too, and Tiny Library is here to prove it. The team works every day on the mission to make the baby market more sustainable — that's better for the world and for parents' wallets. 

When Yorick Bruins lived in Tanzania, he saw a problem: there are too many unnecessary links in the coffee supply chain, preventing coffee farmers from getting a fair price for their beans. He founded Wakuli: an organisation that brings quality coffee from the farmer to the consumer — in the shortest possible chain.

Hendrik Kramer is an Amsterdam-based fisherman and entrepreneur who wants to show that sustainable fishing pays off in the Netherlands. He does this by selling his fish directly to consumers with Wild 'n Zilt.

Research shows that not many people have a positive perception of plant-based cheese. Brad Vanstone wants to change that with his brand Willicroft on Amsterdam's Spiegelgracht.

With BayaBaya, founders Dirk Taselaar and Leon Daggenvoorde aim to take the plastic bottle out of the bathroom. Founded in 2021, the brand sells powdered concentrate for body wash with natural, vegan ingredients. Combine that concentrate with tap water and pour it into the aluminium refill bottle, and you've done your part, too.

Hands Off was founded in 2013 to turn the chocolate industry upside down. For example, founder Kitty Smeeten achieved a 42% CO2 reduction by replacing cow's milk with hazelnut praline.