The Dahrendorf Responsible Capitalism Award was established in 2000 and it is given in recognition of how successful business leaders apply the principles of moral and social responsibility in the running of their business, combining social commitment with business acumen and innovation, and building a coherent philosophy in which the company’s success is judged over the long-term by criteria that include sustainability, equity, and moral justice as well as standard financial benchmarks.

Dr Jan Telenský, emigrated to the UK with just 2 pounds and no knowledge of English in 1969, He has become a highly successful entrepreneur and a passionate environmentalist. In the UK his ventures encompass many areas including affordable housing, Virtual Reality in education, job creation, property development and construction. In Central Europe he has a number of business interests including sport development, the leisure industry, tourism and property development. In the UK he is committed to providing affordable housing. The focus is not only on providing affordable housing, but also using the properties that are built and renovated to allow apprentices to become fully qualified to work in the construction industry. At each building site Jan provides places for apprentices to work alongside his highly qualified trades-people in order to carry out the on-site elements of their NVQ (National Vocational Qualification). His scheme has produced over 26,000 fully qualified people to work in the construction industry.