From Germany to the world: after a first very successful crowdfunding, the german (Munich-based) startup RAHATNOOK is starting its second round.
Munich, 29 August 2022 - The three Muslims from Munich, Germany Ismar Nesiren, Nadina Memagic and Anesa Ganic are passionate for sustainability. While they try to integrate sustainability into their daily lives, they quickly reached their limits when it came to religious practice. That's how they came up with the idea for the startup RAHATNOOK. "As Muslims, we commit to ritual prayer five times a day. In the process, we noticed that most prayer rugs are made of really bad material and produced somewhere under inhumane conditions," founder and CEO Ismar Nesiren explains. "For us, that doesn't go along with the spiritual act of prayer. That's why we decided to create an offering for fair prayer rugs, and in doing so, take the sustainability idea further into our community."
In order to finance their idea, the three muslims started a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter last year - which became a great success and the startup collected far more than the desired target amount. In the meantime, all supporters have also received their fairly produced prayer rug. "We have supporters from all over the world and have even shipped to Australia," Nadina Memagic enthuses. "Of course, we also pay attention to climate-neutral shipping. It's nice to see that our idea is catching on." Now the three want to expand their portfolio and are currently working on prayer beads.
"Chanting or reciting the Divine Names and attributes, phrases such as la illahe illalah, prayers or salawat on the Prophet (saw) is leading us to God. By remembering God and who we truly are beyond reality and ego, we are returning to God, which is the ultimate goal of every believer”, Nesiren says. “Using prayer beads is recommended for tasbih to keep count. Besides the practical side of a prayer bead - to keep count, having a haptic tool is relaxing and soothing and supports our focus and concentration. We want to support Muslims worldwide in their dhikr - and to do it fairly, sustainably and with respect for what He has given us.”
In order to go into the first production of the prayer beads fair made out of olive wood from Palestine, the three are again relying on the power of the many: the crowdfunding campaign runs until August 31st.