- beVisioneers: The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship in its third successful year: From June, around 1,500 fellows are expected to work on their sustainability projects.
- As the scale of the fellowship program, run by the non-profit The DO School Fellowships, is growing, Mercedes-Benz is expanding its financial commitments with planned donation.
- Promising projects are presented at a global summit in Stuttgart.
Up to 1,000 new environmental innovators will start in the third year of the fellowship program beVisioneers: The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship in June. Fellows are currently sharing promising projects and ideas at a global summit organized by the non-profit The Do School Fellowships in Stuttgart. Under the motto “Shared Agency”, this year’s global summit will focus on the strength of shared leadership in tackling the greatest climate and sustainability challenges.
Mercedes-Benz has been financing the global fellowship program with donations since 2023. As the program grows, Mercedes-Benz is expanding its commitment as planned and increasing the amount donated. In 2023, the founding year of the fellowship program, the company donated 3.4 million euros to the non-profit organization; by 2024, this figure had risen to 7.6 million euros. Support is set to grow further this year. Mercedes-Benz plans to increase the donation amount to around 10 million euros in 2025.
“We are proud of the success of beVisioneers. The program complements our commitment to corporate citizenship in a unique way and strengthens a new and diverse generation of environmental innovators. I am delighted that following the successful launch of the program we are able to expand our support this year as planned. This will give even more young talents the chance to realize their ideas and drive sustainable change. We wish all the fellows every success in realizing their visions.”
Renata Jungo Brüngger, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG for Integrity, Governance & Sustainability
Meanwhile, the current year fellows are on the home stretch. Almost 450 young people from 35 countries are currently taking part in the program and will complete the first year of the program in May.
Fellows present innovative projects from around the world
The second global summit, which is currently taking place in Stuttgart and is organized by the non-profit The DO School Fellowships, will be attended by fellows, sustainability experts and representatives from business and science. Fellows such as Josephine Katumba from South Africa will also be attending the summit. The young entrepreneur co-developed “Gcwalisa”, a social grocery store that avoids waste and strengthens the community. In creating the store as a model for her community, she integrated users and creates a positive contribution to her local community through collaboration and trust.
Background information on Mercedes-Benz’s commitment
beVisioneers: The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship is organized, designed and implemented by the non-profit The DO School Fellowships based in Germany. The program is financed by donations from Mercedes-Benz. The company is also underlining its commitment with a title sponsorship. Proceeds from the auction of the most expensive car in history, a 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, form the seed capital for the independent fellowship program.
The fellowship is aimed at people aged 16 to 28 who have promising ideas for sustainable, innovative projects. The non-profit organization The DO School Fellowships selects fellows from different countries and backgrounds based on their creative, viable project ideas. These should aim to have a measurable positive impact on the environment and local communities.
The fellows receive access to project funding and, if necessary, further financial support. The fellowship program offers participants a broad-based learning and coaching program with a special focus on leadership, entrepreneurship and sustainability. During a twelve-month hybrid learning phase, the fellows are each assigned a personal mentor, as well as being given numerous opportunities to discuss their ideas in regular meetings.
But even after the first twelve months, the fellows receive further project support and mentoring and remain part of the community. The long-term goal of beVisioneers is to build an inclusive, energetic community of fellows, mentors and experts from around the world who work together in partnership for greater sustainability. The aim is to build a community of people who make a positive contribution to sustainability and the environment in the medium and long term. The community is to grow to up to 10,000 fellows and their supporters by 2030. The participants in the third beVisioneers year, which starts in June, come from more than 55 countries. In addition to the existing countries, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Panama, Costa Rica, Chile, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are joining the ranks.
Special mentoring program for Mercedes-Benz team
With a specially designed qualification measure, the Impact Mentor Training, Mercedes-Benz employees are given the opportunity to develop their own skills as mentors and gain valuable perspectives that they can apply in their professional environment. However, the training also qualifies them to take on a mentoring role in their private environment, for example for scholarship recipients in the beVisioneers or similar programs. In this way, Mercedes-Benz employees can support a young person outside the company in driving sustainable change and contribute to their own development in the process. The training offers employees valuable perspectives that they can apply in their professional environment as part of their own continuing education. As an employer, Mercedes-Benz benefits when employees advance their personal development through such training or special mentoring experiences. The more colleagues gain this experience over the years, the deeper and more comprehensive their understanding of the company’s sustainable transformation becomes.
The corporate citizenship strategy of Mercedes-Benz
As part of its corporate citizenship commitment, Mercedes-Benz supports projects that promote ecological sustainability and/or work to empower communities. The beVisioneers program promotes these two focal points and thus reflects important elements of Mercedes-Benz’s corporate citizenship strategy.
Seed capital from the auction of the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé
The seed capital for the global fellowship program comes from the auction of the most valuable car in the world: In May 2022, Mercedes-Benz auctioned off one of only two existing Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupés from 1955 to a private collector – at a record price of 135 million euros. The decision to sell this icon of automotive history was a well-considered one: to benefit a good cause. Named after its creator and chief engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut, the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé is regarded by automotive experts and enthusiasts worldwide as one of the most outstanding examples of automotive engineering and design.
