Werner & Mertz owner wins two awards!

Reinhard Schneider wins EY Entrepreneur of the Year and Audience Award

“Shape the Future with Confidence” was the motto for the 29th EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards ceremony at which Werner & Mertz owner Reinhard Schneider was named winner in the Sustainability category. The owner-managed, visionary company was honored for forging new ways and actively shaping the future. The award was conferred by an independent jury of experts in the categories Family Company, Innovation, Sustainability and Young Companies. Twenty companies were nominated for the finale in the 2025 competition.

This year for the fifth time, the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Audience Award was granted by the readers of manager magazine and others who cast their votes online. Here, too, the Mainz eco pioneer won the award with the most votes by far.

“For our employees and for me this is an impressive confirmation that we are headed in the right direction. The Audience Award in particular shows the broad, positive feedback of the general public,“ said Schneider after the ceremony on Thursday evening in Munich. The presenter Christina Diem-Puello, President of the Verband der Unternehmerinnen in Germany, praised the award winner’s performance on behalf of his company.

The four key criteria award were: Entrepreneurship (corporate thinking and action); Purpose (corporate purpose and vision); Growth (growth and future potential); and Impact (positive impact and corporate social responsibility). Werner & Mertz showed extraordinary performance in all four categories.

The company’s most convincing move was making sustainability a priority in all corporate decisions—consciously contrary to the then predominant trend of imitation by large corporations in the industry. Since that time, the company has pursued the goal of staying at least one development generation ahead of the previous ecological benchmark in its formulations, packaging and production conditions—with no loss of performance.The most prominent example of this attitude is the extensive achievement of several world records in high-quality recycling of plastic packaging for the mass market.

The exceptionally high level of conscientiousness in the company shows up in two ways. First, the benefit to society is realized by the company’s exemplary contribution to preserving natural resources, and second by its Open Innovation approach in which the company shares its know-how with others. Still another is the benefit to the working world in that Werner & Mertz achieves exemplary employee empowerment, motivation and retention. The medium-sized enterprise is regularly named among the Top Employers in Mainz and southern Germany.

The employees’ personal development and loyalty to the company arises from characteristics of a value-creation culture. Employees find meaning in their work through their direct participation in a variety of beacon projects aimed at increasing sustainability.

The world’s brand leader in ecological cleaning products and family company in the fifth generation strives toward a broader international rollout of European market penetration. To that end, the company continues to focus on organic growth in its trusted brands.