He was captain of the national soccer team, now Michael Ballack has participated in a gardening start-up and is presenting it in the “Lion’s Den”. How that came about, Ballack has dem star told.
During his active football career, Michael Ballack was quick to outdo anyone on the green pitch. He won championships and cups, made 98 appearances for the national team and led them onto the field as captain. When the former Capitano can be seen on Monday evening in the start-up show “Die Höhle der Löwen”, it’s not directly about football, but about gardening.
Ballack is co-founder of a start-up that wants to make life easier for hobby gardeners. It’s called “Lucky Plant”. Herb extracts are sold in powder and tablet form, which are said to promote plant growth and prolong flowering. “It’s exciting for me to found a start-up myself and, as an active shareholder, to market an innovative product together with my team,” says Ballack zum star.
The former world-class soccer player cites his own penchant for gardening as the motivation for the project. “I love my garden and can really relax while gardening,” says Ballack. Through a friend he learned about the research of the agricultural scientist Thomas Hüster, who deals with biological plant strengtheners and is one of two managing directors at Lucky Plant. “Together we then developed Lucky Plant to market maturity,” reports Ballack.
For garden and soccer field
In contrast to chemical fertilizers, Lucky Plant relies on purely natural active ingredients that are obtained from lupins and pitcher. The company’s powder and effervescent tablets are dissolved in water and poured onto garden, balcony and indoor plants with a watering can.
Lucky Plant is based in Walsrode, Lower Saxony, where the wild herbs from local cultivation are processed, bottled and packaged. With the prominent shareholder in the back, it should become a flourishing business. “Everyone in the team has their strengths and my job is to make the product known,” says Ballack.
To do this, he relies on his sports network, because the product is also to be used on the football field. “For example, we are in exchange with Lucky Plant with various Bundesliga clubs, international clubs and amateur clubs, and some football clubs are already using Lucky Plant on their lawns,” says Ballack, who describes the product as an “energy drink for plants”. Ballack did not want to reveal how much money he has invested in the company and what sales Lucky Plant is already generating.
With the appearance in the “Lion’s Den”, which was recorded around a year ago and thus before the fatal accident of his son Emilio, Ballack is probably less concerned with the required investment of 100,000 euros than with the advertising effectiveness of the TV Stage for Lucky Plant. “Lucky Plant is already available in well-stocked garden stores and in our online shop. We hope to make our product even better known and to establish it in the trade with the start-up show ‘Die Höhle der Löwen’,” says Ballack.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
