We contribute to the shift from goods to services, which has a friendlier environmental footprint. More than 4/5 of the companies are within service, food or entertainment.
We develop digitally enabled concepts located near our customers. This results in shorter travel distance for our customers - if they have to travel at all.
We push the companies to focus on sustainability in operations and sourcing. Some examples are green electricity, recycling waste and re-using when building new locations. For the food companies, we push for things like biodegradable food packaging and giving leftovers to companies such as ToGoodToGo.
Social
We create jobs and pay well. So far, we’ve created hundreds of jobs, and we always strive to pay at or above industry average.
We clean up dirty industries. Many of the industries we’re entering struggle with poor working conditions and illicit work.
We create great experiences for our customers. The average NPS (Net Promoter Score) for the companies ranges 70-90, which is best in class for their industries.
We drive innovation by helping entrepreneurs succeed. 20%+ of the population want to become entrepreneurs, but few actually do. With us, more people dare to try.
We invite all employees in A&CO and the companies' management to invest, with an employee share program for A&CO full time employees and access to all other transactions for everyone. We also push the companies to invite all employees to invest in their company.
We strive for a meaningful gender and age diversity. Currently, ~40% of CEOs, 0% of non-CEO cofounders, ~60% of companies’ management&support, ~33% of A&CO interns, ~40% of A&CO core team and ~11% of A&CO partners are female. Our colleagues’ span from age 18 to 60, although the majority falls between 25 and 40.
We have a family friendly parental leave policy. We pay the gap between your salary and what you get from the government, and your vesting runs during leave.
We push the companies to do good, e.g. working with organizations to provide free medical or dental care to people in need who would otherwise lack access to proper care.
Governance
We build strong ownership from core management in the companies. Our CEO's own 1/7 of the company’s shares as a starting point.
We are deeply committed to the companies through share ownership. A&CO employees and partners own as a starting point ~70% of the companies we start.
We have a transparent culture where everyone gets heard. One tool is our quarterly anonymous satisfaction survey where everyone at the HQs can raise any concerns and score A&CO on a set of criteria we want to deliver on.
We pay our taxes. We’re organized in a way where Askeladden & Co AS functions as a consultancy, with profits and associated taxes.