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Scholarships for talent from small towns

  • Active
  • Since 2025
  • CSR

GrowMania. Talent Zone is the Łódź Special Economic Zone's scholarship programme for secondary school pupils from towns of up to 20,000 residents who want to grow their talent faster than their surroundings allow. Every scholarship holder receives PLN 10,000 and a mentor who helps plan the next step for a year.

The gala of the first edition of the GrowMania scholarship programme at Fabryka Grohmana

How GrowMania works

The most gifted pupils in small towns are no less talented than their peers in big cities, but they have a far shorter bench of support. We run GrowMania so that this difference does not decide how far someone gets.

The name joins the English “grow” and the figure of Henryk Grohman, a Łódź industrialist and patron whose name our Automation and Robotics Technical School also carries. A pupil of a secondary school from a town of up to 20,000 residents within the Zone's area can apply, with a grade average of at least 4.75, or 4.00 and documented achievements in science, the arts, sport or technology. Applications are assessed by a committee and the scholarships are presented at a gala at Fabryka Grohmana.

In the first edition, in the autumn of 2025, we awarded 20 scholarships of PLN 10,000 each to pupils from across the region; nearly 70 applications came from 62 towns and villages, the smallest of them, Cesarka in the Stryków municipality, with around 40 residents. The scholarship holders include musicians and athletes, but also young people in astronomy, IT, gastronomy, finance and law. Money is one thing: the scholars also receive mentoring, training and expert support in planning their careers. The call reopens every September.

Presentation of a scholarship on stage, three people with turquoise bags in front of the programme's red backdrop

GrowMania in numbers

first edition, 2025

  • 20scholarships
  • PLN 10,000for each scholarship holder
  • PLN 200,000total pool
  • nearly 70applications from pupils
  • 62towns and villages the applications came from

Gallery

See the gala of the first edition and the meetings with our scholarship holders.

  • A conversation on stage during the gala, two participants in armchairs in front of a screen describing a scholarship holder
  • A scholarship holder speaks into the microphone on stage, next to the host
  • The gala stage with armchairs and a screen, a row of flags beside it
  • The gala audience seated in rows, a pupil with her parents in the first row
  • Five participants pose in front of a branded backdrop during a meeting of scholarship holders

Have a question about the scholarship? Write to us

The programme is run by the Zone's Marketing and Promotion Department. Write to us if you want to nominate a pupil, become a mentor or a partner of the programme.

Not sure who to call?

Call the helpline and we will connect you with the programme team.

Zone helpline+48 42 208 06 00

Go to the programme page

Other Zone projects

GrowMania is one of the Zone's social initiatives. See the others.

  • Strefa Edukacji

    A company of the Zone and its investors: its own technical school, training for companies and education projects.

    • Active
    • Companies and their workforce

  • Technikum Automatyki i Robotyki

    The only technical school in Poland run by a Zone; it trains technicians for companies in a dual system.

    • Active
    • Students and companies

  • Kongres AGD

    An annual congress that brings the whole household appliances (AGD) industry to Łódź.

    • Active
    • Household appliances

See all projects