Pfennigparade Foundation as cooperation partner of HypoVereinsbank

The Pfennigparade Foundation was founded in the early 1950s as a citizens’ movement to fight the polio pandemic.
It is committed to supporting people with disabilities in their professional and personal lives, ensuring that everyone is afforded equal opportunities and rights. Behind their dedication to helping disabled people is the ambition of creating a colorful and diverse society where each member of the community is viewed as an equal.

In acknowledgement of the Pfennigparade Foundation’s admirable goal of creating an undiscriminating and inclusive society, UniCredit HypoVereinsbank ran their second “Entrepreneurship Inclusive” programme with the Foundation. The programme, which forms part of HVB’s Social Impact Banking initiative, aims to help disabled and non-disabled students within an inclusive context to kick start their professional careers by helping them to realise and develop their business ideas.

Following an intensive workshop and a four-month long mentoring phase, the school teams worked with volunteers from UniCredit HypoVereinsbank’s to further their business models. The students then had the opportunity to present their projects to a jury of experts at a final “Entrepreneurship Inclusive” event. Through the initiative, the pupils gained practical business skills as well as key entrepreneurial knowledge, including how to approach current social issues with an entrepreneurial mindset. Most importantly, they also had the opportunity to unlock, develop, and refine their personal potential.

The positive impact the programme has had on the lives of young people within the community, as well as wider society, is demonstrated by a team which has continued to develop its app. The app measures a user’s daily CO2 consumption and provides them with incentives for a more sustainable life.

Praising UniCredit’s support, Head of Corporate Development at Pfennigparade Foundation Thomas Heymel said: