Our story

Mano, people and possibilities

Some people find their place when someone makes room for them

Some companies are built on growth. Others are built on people.

Mano began in 1998, not as an entrepreneurial dream, but as a place where people could work as themselves.

They did not necessarily fit into what is called a conventional working life. People with restless energy. People who think differently. People who feel constrained by fixed schedules but find calm in responsibility. People who are at their best when something goes wrong.

“There should be room for everyone,” says Martin Schultz. Not as a vision, but as a statement of fact.

The first office was a 14.5-square-metre garage: a table, a sofa and a computer that needed plenty of time to start.

Today, it all comes together under Mano Solutions, but the name is secondary. What matters remains the same: finding the right job for the right person and taking responsibility for making it work.

Learning to trust your instincts

At Mano, we often talk about instinct, not as something vague, but as something shaped by experience.

Our employees are not asked to push through uncertainty. They are asked to pause, call back to the team and speak up if something feels wrong, including with a client.

It is about taking responsibility. We have many stories of employees stepping aside to call a manager when an assignment suddenly changes. Many of our people work best behind the scenes. We aim to explain consequences rather than promise solutions, and choose safety over speed.

“It is better when the client can sleep soundly,” says Nikolaj Tring Christensen.

That is practice, not poetry.

Standing steady in the unpredictable

Mano has weathered both the financial crisis and COVID-19, thanks to people who could keep going when plans fell away.

When the pandemic shut down the country, assignments disappeared overnight. Events were cancelled and income stopped, but the work did not.

New assignments emerged: drive-in events, vaccination centres and temporary solutions where experience of uncertainty suddenly became a valuable skill.

“We are used to the unpredictable. That is where we work best,” says Lars Gylling Enevoldsen.

Not everyone thrives in those circumstances. Some do, and Mano has always had an eye for them.

139 concerts and many small moments

During the pandemic, a simple idea emerged: if older people could not come to concerts, the concerts could come to them.

Over 14 days, 139 concerts took place at care homes across Copenhagen. Small tents. Simple setups. Musicians playing several times a day. Older people receiving a visit filled with live music.

It was practical, and it worked.

We still feel a quiet pride in that project. It was far from Mano’s largest, but it is one we remember on a difficult day, one that makes us proud of our work.

Not because it was spectacular, but because it mattered to the residents, the musicians and the employees. When all is said and done, it comes down to people.

Sustainability or common sense?

When Mano talks about sustainability, we avoid grand words. Not because it is unimportant, but because words alone are not enough.

Event materials are kept instead of thrown away. Reuse becomes part of the work. Timber left over from construction sites finds a new purpose. Not as a strategy, but as a reflex.

“It makes no sense to throw away something that can be used,” says Martin Schultz.

Common sense often matters more than symbolism, and it is a foundation of Mano. These choices are practical as well as environmental. For us, sustainability is shown through action, and that applies to how we treat people too.

Giving people dignity through work

There is a lot of laughter when we talk about our history, even when the stories are serious: employees others have found difficult, people other companies would not hire and those who need structure without being controlled. Making room for what is not always easy is part of our DNA.

Mano has always seen its role as finding where a person works best. The aim is to shape the task around the person, with respect and patience.

Perhaps that is why the company is still here: it keeps choosing people.

As one manager puts it: “It is more enjoyable working with people who have lived and have an edge.”

That is a choice. Perhaps it is why one of our values is people first.