As of Monday 26th of October, 301 ideas have been submitted or started for Ajujaht Development Programme. As many people only started submitting the idea on the weekend, the organisers decided to extend the submission deadline.

According to Peeter Raudsepp, the head of Enterprise Estonia, it can be seen that the corona crisis has not reduced the entrepreneurial spirit and the interest in the competition is high. “We want the last minute entries and ideas that still need finishing touches to be able to apply for the Ajujaht’s Development Programme. Therefore, we decided to extend the submission deadline by another week, ”said Raudsepp and asked everyone who started the submission form to finalise it by the end of the week.

This season, the total funding for Ajujaht will reach 150,000 euros, of which 75,000 euros will be an investment from EstBAN, an organisation uniting Estonian angel investors. The prize fund also includes a number of special prizes presented by supporters.

For example, SEB will give out a special prize of 5,000 euros for the idea with most positive impact. “All teams that in one way or another improve the environment, social aspects or promote an ethical business culture can apply for the positive impact award,” said Andra Altoa , SEB Baltic Division’s Head of Strategy and Customer Experience.

The scope of the ideas is really wide this year. Examples of already submitted ideas are: small motorised inflatable water skis, an online video training platform for coaches, peat mats that collect oil spills and a phone cover that opens as an airbag when dropped.

“It’s incredible to see people’s ingenuity in generating ideas,” said Janne Laik, Maxima’s marketing manager. “This year, I hope to see more ideas about improving the shopping and customer experience, whether they are virtual or about physical stores,” Laik added.

Currently, well over 200 business ideas have been submitted to Ajujaht. Ideas can be submitted to the development programme until November 1st on the website www.ajujaht.ee.

Most submissions have come from Tallinn with 130 and 46 from Harju County. 22 from Tartu County, 10 from Pärnu County, 8 from Ida-Viru County, 4 from both Võru and Rapla Counties. A large number of submission forms are still unfinished.

Ajujaht is the largest business idea competition in Estonia, offering top-level mentoring, training and funding. Ajujaht has boosted companies like Bolt, Bikeep, Click & Grow, GoWorkaBit, FoodDocs, UpSteam, Groveneer and many more.

Ajujaht has been initiated by Enterprise Estonia. The competition is funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Ajujaht is carried out by Civitta Eesti and Miltton. Major sponsors are SEB, Elisa and Maxima.