I nominate!

23 January - 31 March 2022 CET

Founder of the Year

For the first time in history large scale founders from various countries around the world will have the opportunity to be nominated to the global award Founder of the Year 2022. 

In the evening of September 22 the finalists will be awarded at the 21st Founders Awards at the Stockholm City Hall and enjoy a 3-course dinner with a valuable exchange of experiences and insights with the world’s large scale founders as we are inspired by the evening’s festivities. 

Are you a large scale founder? Or do you know one? Now, you have the opportunity to nominate yourself, or to contribute by nominating a female and a male successful founder to the global award Founder of the Year. 

Register your nomination no later than 31st of March 2022.

I nominate!

Founder of the Year

Founder of the Year aims to draw attention to and highlight global large scale founders who own and operate sustainable companies and thus stimulate more medium-sized and large internationally expanding companies.

Who can be nominated?

To pay attention to the highest performing founders in several company development phases, and to highlight female and male winners, Founder of the Year is awarded in three categories based on financial results 2021. 

  • Founders of Small Companies - active founders of a private or public limited company with a revenue of approximately 2-10 MEUR with at least 20% ownership in a profitable company.
  • Founders of Medium Companies- active founders of a private or public limited company with a revenue of approximately 10-50 MEUR with at least 20% ownership in a profitable company.
  • Founders of Large Companies - active founders of a private or public limited company with a revenue of more than 50 MEUR with at least 20% ownership in a profitable company.

What's next?

Fill in the nomination on the link below. After the nomination we will contact the nominees to check that all criteria are fulfilled. During the spring of 2022 the nominees and their companies will been ranked based on the Founders Alliance (FA) Index, which takes into account past performance, future potential and societal benefits, and the finalists will be announced.

The finalists in each category will introduce themselves and their companies to a jury of qualified large scale founders who select the winners, two women and two men in each of the three categories.

The winners receive the award Founder of the Year during the 21st Founders Awards at Stockholm City Hall in Sweden on 22nd of September, 2022.

Deadline for nominations: 31st of March, 2022

I nominate!
Founders Awards

Founders Awards is a number of awards such as Young Founder of the Year, Founder of the Year and Founder of the Year Honorary Award, presented annually by Founders Alliance in Sweden to recognize achievement amongst founders. The awards were first presented in 2001, and winners receive a gold-plated and silver-plated statuette commonly called The Growth Rings.

The purpose is to inspire the sustainable creation of companies by rewarding and spotlighting particularly successful ones. To encourage long-term, sustainable and equal ownership, Founders Alliance pays attention to women and men in every step of the entrepreneurial journey and honor winners in five categories: from the young founder, through all phases of a company’s growth cycle to the founder who through a lifetime achievement has developed one or more companies, and who embodies a true role model for other founders.

The Growth Rings

What all founders have in common is that they themselves are a seed that grows into a successful company. Just like trees in a forest, founders are the most important organism in the ecosystem that creates growth in the world. The symbol that pays tribute to these successful founders we call The Growth Rings.

“It starts as a seed in the founder’s mind. For it to grow strong, patience is required and real perseverance. During a company's development, strong years with good conditions alternate with meagre and tough years without development. The Founders Awards annual growth rings symbolize this story”