The story of Mannaz

Today, Mannaz is an international frontrunner with a mission to support leaders and organisations in their efforts to develop the capabilities that are required to succeed in business. With a large faculty of senior facilitators, executive coaches, and learning architects from 40 countries Mannaz delivers more than 800 programmes for more than 10,000 participants from 40 plus countries annually.

Together with our partners in the U.S.A. and Asia, Mannaz is ready for the future. We are fully prepared to enable leaders and talents to obtain real achievements based on unique and innovative approaches to leadership development.

Founded as DIEU, The Danish Leadership Institute

In 1975 Mannaz was founded by the two engineering societies in Denmark as a merger of their respective technical and management training activities. They named the Institute DIEU as a Danish acronym for Danish Engineers’ Post Graduate Institute.

In the mid-1980s Mannaz shifted their focus to open-enrolment programmes within management, leadership and personal development, and became the largest of its kind in Denmark.

A long history of international experience

Twenty years ago, the first international and fully-tailored executive development programmes were successfully delivered outside Denmark – in Europe, the U.S.A. and Asia. In the 1990s Mannaz positioned themselves uniquely in the international market by becoming the first ISO–certified organisation in the industry and, thus far, the only one to be awarded The EFQM European Quality Award for business excellence in 1999.

In 2001 Mannaz celebrated being awarded the prize for the Best Place to Work in Denmark. In the years that followed, rapid international growth spread from offices in Brussels, London, Berlin, and Copenhagen. In 2007 the innovative learning approach of Mannaz received international recognition as one of the recipients of the EFMD Excellence in Practice/Innovation in Learning Award.

Mannaz means human being

In 2008, Mannaz became the new name for DIEU. Mannaz is an Old Norse word for human being. Mannaz is also the name of the rune letter that symbolises people. As such, Mannaz is among the oldest and most authentic words for human being.

The name Mannaz refers to our Scandinavian roots and our long history. The logo
was designed by hand to symbolise the focal point of our business – the unique individual. We see the learner as a whole person.

Clients of Mannaz appreciate the Mannaz spirit in terms of innovation and flexibility in a close-knit and highly client-centred collaboration. This has provided for world-class client loyalty throughout the years and will remain our primary focus in the future.

Global profile

Due to ever-increasing global commitments, Mannaz strengthened its global profile in 2010 by expanding its presence outside Europe. As a natural consequence of this, the office in Brussels was closed and, in the future, all European and international operations will be managed out of London and Copenhagen. Mannaz will concentrate on increasing its presence in Asia in particular, in order to meet the continent’s growing needs for global leadership development. Today, Mannaz is represented by 375 senior associates in more than 40 countries worldwide and has offices in Copenhagen, London and Hong Kong and representations in Berlin and Cairo.