Europe's largest nonprofit IT company refurbishes corporate hardware and resells it — including at reduced prices to schools and nonprofits — while employing people with disabilities at 47–49% of staff, corroborated by EU Social Innovation Match and Zero Project studies.
39.7 EUR million
Annual revenue (2020)
47-49%
Workforce share with disabilities
13,250+
Devices sold to schools/nonprofits at reduced prices (as of 2019)
AfB began in 2004 in Ettlingen, Germany and has grown into Europe's largest nonprofit IT company, operating ~20 locations across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and Slovakia. Its circular-economy model refurbishes donated corporate/institutional IT hardware for resale while structurally employing people with disabilities.
Results
Revenue rose from about EUR 80,000 to EUR 39.7 million between 2004 and 2020; AfB is recognised in Germany as an 'Inklusionsbetrieb', employing people with disabilities at roughly 47-49% of its workforce versus Germany's statutory 30% quota. More recent secondary reporting cites ~700 employees at 20 locations and, for 2025, 68,200 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions avoided.
Conclusions
Independent case studies (EU ESF+ Social Innovation Match, Zero Project/Essl Foundation) corroborate employee counts, disability-employment share and device volumes across several reporting years; the very latest 2025 figures were not independently confirmed against a primary source and should be treated as directionally consistent rather than exact.
Implementation
Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.
Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
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