Hero Award 2018: supporting startups with a social mission

Last year, Delivery Hero launched its first Hero Award for Social Entrepreneurship, an award dedicated to supporting startups and small businesses with a great idea and a passion to do good.

We’re thrilled to be opening applications once more for the second edition of the Award.

What is the Hero Award?

The Hero Award is aimed at startups with a social or environmental mission – companies that are committed to making a positive change in the world. Delivery Hero will donate EUR 15,000 to the winning business, and provide a tailored mentoring program with some of our leading business and technology experts.

The Hero Award ties into Delivery Hero’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) program, which focuses on giving back, diversity and inclusion, and the environment.

Our CEO, Niklas Östberg, explains: “We’ve come a far way as a company, and we are happy to give something back. Delivery Hero is committed to creating positive change, and we want to support entrepreneurs and startups with a similar mission. The Hero Award is one part of an ambitious CSR strategy that we are rolling out in the coming months.”

What can you expect from us?

Delivery Hero has rapidly grown from a startup to being the largest food network in the world. We’re in a great position to share our expertise and act as an accelerator for small businesses.

Florian Wagenschwanz, Director CEO Office, was at the helm of launching the Hero Award. “We wanted to do something that reflected the cultural spirit of the organization, as a young entrepreneurial company that gives its employees a lot of freedom,” he says. “We felt that we could offer good advice in the areas where we excel, and we wanted to support companies that share our values and are working in a sustainable way.”

Delivery Hero’s mentoring scheme provides advice and help for small businesses to grow and scale their operations. “Knowledge can be just as valuable as money, so aside from offering prize money for the winner of the Hero Award we also set up a mentoring program,” Florian says.

Florian Wagenschwanz, Director CEO Office

Delivery Hero will act as a point of contact for the winning company, drawing up a plan that addresses their needs. Florian adds: “We sit together, walk through the business and identify the main challenges. In a series of workshops we address these challenges and invite stakeholders to provide insight.”

“We were delighted by how willing everyone was to contribute last year. Our employees were happy to share their expertise and help find solutions. The winner can come to us with any questions they might have and we’ll do our best to assist them.”

A new addition to this year’s Award is the Employee’s Choice element, which means our employees will have a say in choosing the final winner.

“After the great success of Hero Month, a month of volunteering in our Berlin HQ, we wanted to use this passion and really involve our Heroes,” Florian says.

What are we looking for?

A jury, including Niklas Östberg and Florian Wagenschwanz, will review applications, based on the following criteria:

• Business Model: Does the company have a scalable business model? Is there a comprehensive model addressing competitors, revenue, and customer acquisition?
• Customers: Is the concept something that users want? Does the business have a deep understanding of its users’ needs?
• Social & Sustainable: Is the business working to improve the Three P’s – people, planet and profit?
• Innovation & Impact: How original or unique is the solution? What potential does it have to make an impact in our world?

“We’re looking for applications that demonstrate a commercially viable business model, that is committed to doing something good in the community or for the environment,” Florian says. “Topics of particular interest for us are food, food packaging, GHG emissions and diversity & inclusion – in line with the pillars of our sustainability program.”

Applications, which are open to European companies, will close on 15 December. Find out more on hero-award.com.