"We want to abolish ourselves"

Madeleine von Hohenthal and Benjamin Wenke want to rid the oceans of stray fishing nets. But there is still a long way to go, they explain in an interview.

Madeleine von Hohenthal and Benjamin Wenke wanted to do more than just take some sensational pictures of the incredible amount of old fishing nets floating around in the sea off East Africa, costing numerous animals their lives. After a vacation Tanzania and Zanzibar, the two decided to turn their lives around and founded Bracenet. With their start-up, they have the ghost nets fished out of the sea and turn them into bracelets.

There are quite a few companies that want to fish plastic out of the ocean, for example. They focus on ghost nets. How did this come about?

Madeleine von Hohenthal: In 2015, we were traveling in Tanzania and Zanzibar for four weeks. There, while diving and snorkeling, we first came into contact with the never-ending fishing nets floating around in the sea. Up to this point we did not know anything about the so-called ghost nets. We found many animals in them and were deeply shocked. The local people told us that these ghost nets are a big problem because they don't have enough fish themselves. To tackle the problem themselves, the local people lack the necessary infrastructure and resources. The rest of our vacation we collected nets and one day Benjamin put a net around his wrist and from the words bracelet and net came Bracenet. That's how the idea to make bracelets out of the nets was born. For the next few weeks, we kept spinning around and thinking about what we could do about the problem, and then we flew home with two backpacks full of nets.

Benjamin Wenke: It quickly became clear to us that on-site documentation would not make a lasting difference. That's why we created Bracenet, a statement for the wrist that reminds you every day to do something for marine conservation.

What makes you special? There is now a wide range of bracelets made from ghost nets.

von Hohenthal: Our biggest unique selling point is that we don't just have beaches cleaned, but the nets are taken out of the sea on a large scale. From our revenue from the products we sell, we always donate a percentage to organizations like Healthy Seas, Sea Shepherd, Everwave, the Ocean Voyages Institute and many more. So far we have donated around €190,000. The money is used to fund the recovery missions, as well as equipment and training for the teams. Our goal is to do a lot, especially preventively, and to link many projects together.

Wenke: It all started with the Bracenet. We were the first to use the nets like that and upcycled them. In the meantime, we have many new products in our range. We also support various preventive offers and have, among other things, supported the founding of a fishing school for sustainable fishing in Greece.

Aren't you worried that the bracelets could end up back in the sea or in nature?

Wenke: Of course, we try to avoid something like that through the quality of the Bracenets. But so far we have never heard of anyone losing it while diving or swimming.

von Hohenthal: In case of doubt, it would also only be the piece and not the entire net that ends up back in the sea. We have developed our bracelets over a year to ensure the best possible quality. We replace broken bracelets free of charge and the broken ones are recycled again.

What was it like for you to start up as a couple?

von Hohenthal: We're still married, so it worked out well (grins). We've been together for almost eleven years and married for five. The year before last we had a little son. In the beginning, it was a little bumpy for each of us to find our position. We are both used to being the boss. Now we each have our own topics that interest us. Of course, we still have a prenuptial agreement about the company, so that everything is settled in case of an eventuality and the employees are covered.

What was the biggest challenge during the start-up?

von Hohenthal: Everything. We always say that it was good that we were naive and had no idea what we were actually doing. I would recommend founding to everyone.

Wenke: What was really difficult for us was to see the whole issue in economic terms. We are responsible for 33 colleagues.

What advice would you give to other founders?

von Hohenthal: Make a good contract with your lawyer. Regardless of whether you are founding with your partner, a friend or someone else, make sure you are covered. Many start-ups split up again, and it's good to have things sorted out in advance so that the employees are covered, but also everything financially. Generally we can recommend to be coached as a team. The team partner and in our case even the spouse is the most important team member. You always coach your employees, but we are the most important team for us.

Wenke: It's super helpful to have sparring partners to talk to and get support when needed. We often say "from committee rarely becomes premium", in the beginning we asked many different people for their opinion. If you are convinced yourself, you should do it. A good idea is only 20 percent, the remaining 80 percent is the implementation and only here does the work really start.

Where do you see Bracenet in three years?

Wenke: That's super hard to answer because we still haven't written a business plan and would rather sail with the wind. In three years, there will probably be new problems again that we will have to take care of then. We want to keep our flexibility. One of our goals is to bring the topic back into the political arena. In 202, we participated in the UN Ocean Conference and shared our knowledge. As a company you can achieve a lot more than a private person. Our big overarching goal is to rid the oceans of nets and abolish ourselves.

About the people:

Madeleine von Hohenthal and Benjamin Wenke both come from marketing backgrounds. With Bracenet, the couple founded their first start-up. Wenke most recently worked as Head of Marketing for Bosch, while von Hohenthal was Head of Art Buying for the BBDO agency.