With our work, we strive to play a part in overcoming social challenges – in other words, to create a positive impact. We apply our bold, creative and entrepreneurial mindset to developing and spreading innovative ways of solving societal problems. Our mission is to identify new pathways toward collective wellbeing: not just to alleviate symptoms, but to address the root causes of social harms. To this end, all our activities are geared towards adding social value.

As a social enterprise, we examine what goes on inside our organization just as closely as the world outside. We care about dealing with suppliers respectfully, encouraging employees to reflect on and reduce their own CO2 emissions, and making a considered choice about who we bank with. Through steering and controlling mechanisms, we ensure that we put our social values into practice, both externally and internally.

Unlike conventional start-ups, we reinvest our profits to achieve these social goals. Our organizational and ownership structure reflects this goal, being based on principles of co-determination and employee participation and geared towards social justice. In contrast to many European countries, Germany has yet to formulate a definition of social entrepreneurship at the state level. That’s why we decided to seek certification with SEWF and make our data transparent.

Social procurement, i.e. purchasing from social enterprises like Sustify, represents a fundamental change in approach. It allows conventional companies to integrate corporate responsibility (CR) and ESG criteria into their own processes, thus making their core business more sustainable throughout.