To be considered for a beVisioneers fellowship, you must apply with a sustainability project or an idea for one. While it doesn’t have to be fully-formed, your project or idea should demonstrate a solid understanding of the environmental challenge you want to tackle. To help us assess its feasibility, try to define the scope and goals of your project or idea as well as your plan for implementing it. During the fellowship journey, your project may change or evolve as you learn new things, and that’s to be expected. Your passion and determination, together with the ongoing support of the beVisioneers community, will help you make it stronger and improve its chances of success.

Fellows are selected on an individual basis. For this reason, every member of a project team who wishes to participate must apply individually, and the acceptance of one team member does not guarantee the acceptance of others. The fellowship experience is designed to help you grow personally as a leader, and significant emphasis is placed on individual development and reflection. We therefore recommend that project founders or leaders apply.

beVisioneers is a 12-month hybrid intensive with a blend of weekly on-demand and live classes where fellows build knowledge and learn by DOing around 3 labs:

• Personal Sustainability Lab
• Project Sustainability Lab
• Environmental Sustainability Lab

Key elements of the program include:

• Weekly online live sessions
• On-demand content (e.g. a content library micro-videos, downloadable toolkits & templates)
• Mentoring
• Masterclasses & co-working missions
• Peer coaching
• Access to experts in relevant fields
• Access to earned project funding and needs-based access to a financial stipend
• In-person gatherings: annual Regional Summits, quarterly local chapter meetups, annual Global Summit as “earned” opportunity

There are no costs to individual fellows. Participation in the program is fully funded by a donation from Mercedes-Benz. All fellows benefit, free of charge, from the beVisioneers training curriculum and from access to the beVisioneers online community. All expenses associated with travel to summits are covered.

beVisioneers begins with a 12-month hybrid intensive program, a blend of weekly on-demand and live classes in which fellows build knowledge and learn by DOing. The program is structured around three labs. Grants will be awarded to the projects that demonstrate the highest potential for environmental impact. Whether or not you receive a grant, you will learn the DO Method for taking your idea from project phase to launch and beyond.

beVisioneers is committed to ensuring an accessible and financially inclusive fellowship experience. Active engagement in the fellowship program requires reliable and consistent access to a computer and the internet, as well as sufficient time for learning and project development. For this reason, beVisioneers offers two types of stipend (see below) to help fellows with specific needs overcome logistical and/or financial barriers that may prevent their full participation. Both stipends are available only for the initial, 12-month intensive learning program, and every candidate invited for a fellowship interview is welcome to apply for these stipends on a needs-blind basis.

1. Stipend I: Monthly income replacement  For fellows whose current income would be compromised by the fellowship’s required time commitment, beVisioneers offers a basic monthly stipend to help replace lost earnings. 
2. Stipend II: Technology and infrastructure  For fellows lacking an adequate technology set-up, beVisoneers offers one-time funds to purchase a laptop designated for fellowship purposes and/or  a stipend to cover the monthly costs of home-based internet.

The fellowship is a hybrid experience, with most content and training over the initial 12-month learning period delivered in live online sessions and through access to on-demand content. During this period, fellows also attend quarterly local meet-ups (in person whenever possible) and a regional in-person summit. Based on their engagement and project achievements over the fellowship period, fellows may also be invited to participate in an in-person global summit.

Eligible fellows:

• are between the ages of 16 and 28 at the time of applying 
• reside in Denmark, Germany, Hungary, India, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden or the United Kingdom
• show a strong dedication to positive environmental change 
• demonstrate entrepreneurial spirit, including persistence, resilience and determination
• show leadership in their communities
• have an early-stage project or project idea for positive environmental impact in one or more of the target countries
• may not work for, or have a parent or guardian who works for, Mercedes-Benz

You may apply for a beVisioneers fellowship here until March 5, 2023. The application process consists of questions on topics such as your project or project idea, its impact, and your dedication to creating environmental change. The application should take about one hour to complete. You can save your application at any time and come back to it at a later point. Please note that you will need to upload an official proof of identity and record a motivation video of 90 seconds or less.

The key upcoming deadlines and time periods for beVisioneers are:

Application period: Jan. 10 – Mar. 5, 2023 
Selection period: March – May, 2023
Launch of the fellowship’s 12-month intensive program, year one: June, 2023