‘We have benefited greatly from the network,’ explains Miriam Harter, one of the co-founders of Ranas, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary this month. The spin-off was created in 2020 from a research collaboration between Eawag and Helvetas, based on the work of Hans-Joachim Mosler. He developed the ‘RANAS approach’, a method that helps to understand the mindset of a target group and develop successful campaigns for behavioural change. For example, hand washing. An issue that the team not only dealt with professionally, but which also accompanied them when they founded the company in 2020 during the lockdown.

The Covid period has also left its mark on the company structure. There is no head office – everyone works online and meets digitally twice a week. Not much has changed in this way of working over the last few years, except that the range of projects has become broader. While the team initially focused mainly on water and wastewater projects, Ranas has now expanded its focus. These include ecological cocoa plants in Madagascar, a reforestation project in Ghana and road safety campaigns in Munich. Ranas advises various NGOs, governments and private clients on the implementation of measures and participates in the necessary research work.

All four founders are former postdocs at Eawag. The journey from the ‘science bubble’, as the team calls it, to a start-up was an exciting experience. While they benefited greatly from Eawag's network in the early days, they have now expanded their own contacts and are completely independent. It has been a path to emancipation that has allowed them to stand on their own two feet. However, the collaboration with Eawag remains close, for example in the context of the CAS WASH course offered by the Sanitation and Water for Development (SANDEC) department, in which Ranas is involved.

The anniversary event at the beginning of July not only symbolised the company's coming of age as a spin-off, but also signalled that Ranas has successfully established itself on the market.