Zebra Impact Academy, the new acceleration program aimed at creating better opportunities for companies and entrepreneurs with societal change as the strongest driving force, has now been underway since early spring. Now, we would like to take this opportunity to introduce the companies participating in the first round of the program.
Savebl (Foody Impact AB)
Saveabl is the only vegetarian food box that includes a professional chef, and we primarily do this using rescued groceries to help our farms and food producers make the most of everything to reduce the enormous food waste society faces today.
In the summer of 2021, students Jeroen, Alexander, and Jesper, together with the experienced chef Emil, decided to do something about the enormous food waste that exists today.
Recreatio AB
Recreatio AB supports businesses in creating a sustainable work environment and helps people grow using nature as a tool. For a sustainable society, sustainable organizations and institutions are required, and they are built by people who reflect and think long-term – or sustainably, if you will. That is Recreatio's vision.
Many businesses today experience a friction in expectations. Boundaries between work and personal life are blurred, and leadership is replaced by self-leadership. Digitization and hybrid workplaces offer opportunities but also place new demands on management and governance, organization, and collaboration.
Recreatio AB provides customized programs and training, lectures, leadership team development, and individual coaching and counseling to decision-makers. With nature as the learning platform. The guiding stars of freedom, trust, and joy are present in every mission and form the basis for development together with Recreatio.
Johan Norrfjärd has been running Recreatio for the past 5 years. He has a background in HR and several roles as a manager and leader. The seed of passion for leadership, nature, and sustainable work was planted once upon a time when Johan worked in the Swedish mountain world. Today, 20 years later, Johan is alone in Recreatio, but he actively collaborates on the theme of sustainable work life through the Floda-based innovation hub CoCreate, and with the platform InNature, he works in Sweden's national parks on the development of individuals and groups.
Orixe AB
Orixe gives companies control over their supply chain, ensures product authenticity, and supports the UN's sustainable development goals. Through ethical supply chain management, critical issues such as unfavorable working conditions, environmental damage, and corruption can be addressed. Orixe strengthens company supply chains by creating transparency and traceability, enabling environmentally friendly and ethical operations.
Orixe AB's mission is to combat counterfeit goods, reduce uncertainty in purchasing and audits, and increase trust between business partners. The Orixe platform documents and proves that products are delivered according to the highest quality standards, in accordance with laws, regulations, and the UN's sustainable development goals.
Orixe.tech offers a SaaS platform that ensures traceability and accountability by giving companies control over their supply chain. By combining database and blockchain technology, our platform automates and simplifies supplier audits and enables secure and efficient tracking of components throughout the supply chain.
The company's user-friendly and cost-effective platform supports existing internal procedures and guarantees 100% data integrity. Orixe was founded by Gunilla Grimsgaard in response to an incident where a manufacturing company was affected by counterfeit products from a supplier. Gunilla Grimsgaard holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Gothenburg and has a background in software innovations and cybersecurity. Before starting Orixe, she worked as a cybersecurity manager at NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation).
Ekonomiska föreningen Sustainable World Collaboration Sweden
We are a group of international impact companies, proving an infrastructure for developing business opportunities for African and Swedish enterprises. We apply an integrated approach of training, partnerships, and business development.
We facilitate business partnerships between African and Swedish enterprises. We act as facilitating agents and business partners for risk management in new markets.
We initiate business acceleration, incubation, and business growth.
We offer partnerships for sustainable change and thriving communities.
In 2014, a group of Swedish entrepreneurs and individuals got this “crazy” idea to invite African business leaders to Sweden for a business event in January, the coldest month in Sweden, the Swedish Winter Challenge was born.
Soon after we recognized the need and demand for creating something bigger, reaching beyond this yearly business event. So, in 2015 the Sustainable World Corporation (SWCorp), a professional business network that allows for all our partners from Sweden and Africa alike to come together and collaborate, was founded.
The year 2024 will be the 10th year of this annual event and we’ve decided to move it to Africa. Our first host country is South Africa, and of course January is at the hight of summer down south, so therefore the name change to Sustainabe World Challenge 2024.
“Thriving Communities”
Transformed sustainable African Communities.
Stadskupan Sverige AB
Initiated by Sam in 2014 as a passionate hobby project, Stadskupan has evolved over the years into a powerful catalyst for biodiversity in urban environments. Originally aimed at expanding its event and restaurant business, Sam's plans took an unexpected turn in 2020, the year when Malin, with her background in the public sector and 16 years of experience in working with social sustainability, came on board. At this time, Malin faced a major life decision, ready to move with her family to Sydney for a year. But when the pandemic disrupted the world's plans, they both found an unexpected opportunity to wholeheartedly invest in Stadskupan.
Together, Sam and Malin transformed Stadskupan into more than just a hobby project; they created a dynamic company that contributes to transforming cities into flourishing ecosystems. Malin's extensive experience in social sustainability has become an integral part of Stadskupan's operations, further deepening the commitment to sustainable development and biodiversity. By offering a range of services, from beekeeping to diversity cultivation with meadows, sand beds, and insect hotels, they have enriched the urban environment with vital habitats for pollinators and other insects. Since 2020, Stadskupan has grown and expanded significantly, reflecting Sam and Malin's shared vision and hard work. Their collaboration marks a significant expansion of the business and demonstrates how a combination of biodiversity and social sustainability can create positive changes in urban environments.
Spacerpad AB
We provide a solution to global menstrual poverty!
A majority of the world's girls, women, and menstruators lack access to optimized menstrual protection. This becomes a barrier to both equality and health. We have developed a reusable and safe menstrual protection that is easy to wash and quick-drying, to be hygienic for reuse - even in environments with a lack of water and private space.
Our business idea is to license out the production technology and deliver flat packs of materials to local entrepreneurs. In this way, we create both jobs, local empowerment, and capacity to provide a product that is needed and in demand.
Karin Högberg, a nurse, PhD in nursing science at the University of Borås, has founded Spacerpad AB. The development of the product, production, and market has taken place at the University of Borås with funding from Vinnova.
Hållbar Odling i Sverige AB
As a mother, a member of society, and a consumer, I am genuinely concerned about the food we eat today. I wish for healthy food that is grown within the planetary boundaries and have decided to contribute to the solution.
Traditional fruit cultivation methods are not only environmentally damaging but also fail to produce the healthiest and most flavorful fruits. As climate change exacerbates these challenges, it's clear that a new approach is needed.
Hållbar Odling have a solution to develop fruit cultivation by bringing cultivation of Mediterranean fruit trees to Sweden to cultivate in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. By utilizing heated greenhouses, we can ripen fruits in Sweden's frosty climate, ensuring longer cultivation periods on the tree and resulting in healthier, more flavorful fruits.
I am educated in the development of sustainable societies with a focus on informatics and business administration. By profession, I have always worked in sales and am a reliable relationship builder.
In the middle of my life, I have seen the value of and acquired the courage to build for the future I want to face. We become what we eat and live in a vulnerable ecosystem of which we ourselves are included. I am wholeheartedly committed to increased social resilience through our food.
Shima Services & Solutions AB
A product life-cycle manager that fuses hardware and software to provide an intuitive way of designing and understanding the complete product and how the entire system fits together. Review of the some specific features of the ShimaPLM: Allows individual teams to understand how they fit into the rest of the product. Allows non engineers to have a better overview and understanding. Allows easier on boarding of new employees. Allows testers to easily find and understand if the product behaves as intended. Due to the complexity of systems in certain manufacturing companies, such as automotive manufacturers, they often employ various types of systems, leading to data redundancy. Through the centralization of data and the streamlining of processes, our system not only enhances operational efficiency but also contributes to environmental sustainability by reducing energy consumption associated with extensive data usage.
Koopus Hedemora AB
Koopus was founded in Hedemora entirely on private initiative in May 2014.
The purpose from the start has been to create job opportunities in a secure and adapted environment for individuals at risk of social exclusion and/or those already marginalized.
All forms of social exclusion have a place in our operations; no person with special needs is excluded by us. We chose to operate the company in the form of an Economic Association as it is the most common form for labor-integrating social enterprises so far. To be recognized as an SEI (Social Enterprise Integrating Employment), certain criteria must be met.
Koopus' activities today consist of assembly work from various companies in the municipality, with the main product being earmuffs that are completed and delivered directly to external customers.
Since its inception in 2014, at least 40 individuals have been lifted out of long-term dependency on social assistance, with 16 individuals employed by Koopus and the remaining 26 moving on to other employers or education. If these figures are converted according to Ingvar Nilsson's or Pay Off's calculation models, Koopus has already, approximately three years after its inception, saved the municipality significant amounts in social assistance and other costs related to social exclusion.
So far, the municipality has invested approximately 25,000 SEK through the labor market unit, primarily funding training for two individuals at Långholmen Folk High School, the course "Education for Supervisors and Operations Managers in Labor-Integrating Social Enterprises," and office space during the first year until June 2015.
Koopus has covered its own costs since the start of production in January 2015 without subsidies or project funding! Subsequently, Koopus has been financed through our own production since production began in January 2015 and today has a relatively good economy, albeit a small one with slim margins, based on our production.
Unlike other more conventional companies, Koopus does not have loans or overdraft facilities, as the banking world views our type of company with skepticism; we are not profitable enough, as all surplus is reinvested in the company. The requirement for profitability and surplus, just like for any other company, applies to us and our continued existence!
Happymaker AB
More about Zebra Impact Academy
Zebra Impact Academy is an initiative by Founders Loft, Coompanion Gothenburg, and Mikrofonden Sweden with the goal of increasing the investment readiness and societal impact of social enterprises and impact companies.
The Zebra Impact Academy accelerator responds to the need for companies that aim for more than just growth and financial return. A Zebra company is defined by its commitment to societal benefit while also being economically sustainable. The accelerator aims to create a space where more such companies can develop and access both public and private investments. The initiators want to see an increased presence of socially oriented companies, and therefore, Zebra Impact Academy was created – an accelerator for companies striving to make a real difference.is an initiative by Founders Loft, Coompanion Gothenburg, and Mikrofonden Sweden with the goal of increasing the investment readiness and societal impact of social enterprises and impact companies.
The Zebra Impact Academy accelerator responds to the need for companies that aim for more than just growth and financial return. A Zebra company is defined by its commitment to societal benefit while also being economically sustainable. The accelerator aims to create a space where more such companies can develop and access both public and private investments. The initiators want to see an increased presence of socially oriented companies, and therefore, Zebra Impact Academy was created – an accelerator for companies striving to make a real difference.