14. onHand

Exceptional Founder Award Winner

For the entrepreneurs who have turned their own personal struggles or challenges into a force-for-good, leading the way for industry change and innovation.

Startups 100: Exceptional Founder Awards

Founder: Sanjay Lobo MBE
Founded: 2020
Website: beonhand.co.uk

“It’s my dad’s fault.” Sanjay Lobo says as he begins his founders’ story.

“He’s 77, has Parkinsons, dodgy hearing and lives alone. He’s in London, I’m in Brighton. Getting shopping, cleaning and other help has been difficult.”

Recent events including the COVID-19 pandemic have been stifling and traumatising all of us. But of course, this hit (and continues to impact) our most vulnerable the hardest – groups including but not limited to the elderly, disabled and neurodiverse.

So, when we can’t be there for the people we love when they most need it, what can we do? Who can we call on when it’s not necessarily an emergency, but could still be crucial enough to save or significantly improve a life?

OnHand is being set up to help millions of other people across the UK who have been struggling with similar problems to what Sanjay and his father encountered.

That’s how OnHand was born. From a deeply personal issue came an idea that Lobo soon realised he could expand upon. OnHand is being set up to help millions of other people across the UK who have been struggling with similar problems to what Sanjay and his father encountered.

OnHand is an online platform and app that offers on-demand volunteering. Anyone can sign up who wants to volunteer and help out someone less fortunate.

Lobo explains: “At this time onHand managed to help so many who were isolating and unable to leave their homes with food and medication drops plus companionship and befriending phone calls.”

OnHand’s vision is to become the world's leading impact platform, delivering over one billion impact actions across the globe

The business began by connecting help and support volunteers with the elderly in the midst of the pandemic. The impact has been so impressive that Lobo has been awarded an MBE for his business’s services to older adults during COVID-19.

It’s since expanded to cover issues including homelessness support, food poverty, youth mentoring, sustainability and the climate crisis. This widens the scope of who can be supported, of course, but it also increases the types of volunteers willing to participate. With such a wealth of choice of what you can get involved in, everyone can help with the causes they care the most about.

It is also the only volunteering platform that facilitates and encourages entire businesses to engage their teams in helping out with the biggest and most pressing issues facing society right now. Employees can use the platform, network and app to find opportunities to help in their local areas. This is just one of the features that makes OnHand so unique.

When it comes to partnering with businesses, OnHand is certainly making a mark. The business currently has 150 partners including Trainline, Kazoo, Domestic & General, Skipton Building Society and many more. These businesses are using OnHand to engage their employees and fuel positive social impact. OnHand has plans to triple the number of partnerships in 2023.

OnHand’s vision is to become the world’s leading impact platform, delivering over one billion impact actions across the globe – and what a powerhouse business this will be if they manage to make this vision a reality.