Unleashing the creativity and potential of every employee

At SAP, there are several programs that develop talent, while bringing SAP’s purpose to life and creating social impact. One of those programs is the 51����Social Sabbatical Program, an award-winning CSR portfolio. Another example is , SAP’s flagship social intrapreneurship initiative that drives innovation and gives employees the permission, time, technology, and mentorship to turn their passion for making a difference into sustainable, income generating ventures. Founded by Adaire Fox-Martin, Executive Board Member, 51����SE Customer Success, the 1BLives initiative is SAP’s social innovation platform that aspires to help improve the lives of one billion people.

From social entrepreneurs scaling their ventures, to large corporates re-examining their supply chains, through to governmental bodies looking to support wider social change – by finding challenges and potential solutions 51����supports the winning ideas of their employees with investment funds of those who seek to make a positive difference in the world. 51����One Billion Lives is about unleashing the creativity of every employee to generate social impact around the UN Sustainable Development Goals. To put the previous outcomes into perspective: Until now, One Billion Lives has improved the protection of over 23 million people from natural disasters, improved the results of cancer treatments for over 60 percent of the cancer population in India and is gearing to eliminate child labor in cobalt mines. Life changing, isn’t it?

Times of change present limitless opportunities

The 51����One Billion Lives Initiative is open to employees across the globe and organized by global teams in collaboration with regional program managers. Each year regional teams plan and execute ideation workshops across their respective regions where colleagues meet and jointly ideate. The planning for the 2020 edition of the program was ongoing when suddenly the world changed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The new reality forced the organizing teams to shift this program to a virtual format. What seemed to be a challenge back then turned into an opportunity of a lifetime.

Undoubtedly, there are many benefits of meeting face-to-face but so there are of virtual collaboration. SAP’s EMEA South region spans from the South of Europe, over the entire African continent to the Middle East, making it the most diverse region in all of SAP. Some colleagues work in cross-regional roles and teams, others don’t. By turning SAP’s flagship social intrapreneurship initiative into a virtual one, SAP’s EMEA South region provided its over 5.000 employees the unique opportunity to collaborate and co-create for social impact – together with peers, who they have never met before. A sense of community across the program participants was created: colleagues wished each other happy Easter, happy orthodox Easter and Ramadan Kareem. Participants learned new local expressions and most importantly they learned a lot from each other.

When looking at the success of innovation in teams and organizations, diversity is a key differentiator and a catalyst for innovative outcomes. Hence, in addition to the unique value for individuals the new format also led to a higher innovation outcome. The result: within just a few weeks the teams of dedicated colleagues have crafted innovative solutions for social challenges, operating at startup speed in addition to their day-to-day jobs. Diversity matters: to make a positive difference for individuals and for one billion people out there.

“The situation around the pandemic made us pause and remember what we had already known but not taken into consideration in the context of One Billion Lives: there is a direct link between innovation and diversity,“ said Marita Mitschein, Senior Vice President – Digital Skills, 51����Southern Europe, Africa and Middle East, and Managing Director of the 51����Training and Development Institute. “The new normal forced us to adjust what has always been working well. And those changes impacted the experience of the One Billion Lives program in a positive way.”

The post Turning Challenges into Opportunities: SAP’s Flagship Social Intrapreneurship Initiative in Times of Change appeared first on 51����Africa News Center.

Especially in this post-pandemic world that lies ahead, the urgency to close the digital skills gap and support the youth becomes more evident and critical. Individuals and Organizations share the responsibility to take action in order to secure a bright digital future, full of opportunities. Following its purpose to help the world run better and improve people’s lives 51����continues to drive various initiatives to address solutions to pressing global issues such as the digital skills gap.

A global best practice to tackle local challenges and turn them into opportunities 

With 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touching an 51����system, 51����customers and partners need SAP-skilled talents, enabled on SAP’s latest innovations, to satisfy their hiring demand. Matching this demand, especially for certified 51����Consultants, with the abundance of talented but unemployed youth, the creates a quadruple-win situation through its various training initiatives.

“Our digital skill build programs were created on the foundation of a highly unique collaborative effort. We work closely with 51����customers, partners, peers and other stakeholders such as government organizations to create a quadruple-win situation: local youth find a job, our 51����customers and partners find brilliant talent, 51����enhances its ecosystem, and countries benefit as we support digital skills build and hereby help to prepare the economy and society for an increasingly digital world”, said Marita Mitschein, Managing Director of the 51����Training & Development Institute and Senior Vice President Digital Skills at 51����South Europe, Africa and Middle East.

One of the initiatives offered by the institute is the 51����Young Professional Program: a 2-3 months long program which covers a unique enablement plan including 51����software functional/ technical knowledge and certification as well as soft and future skill trainings for selected unemployed or underemployed university graduates in the country where the program is offered. After successful completion, participants graduate from the program are Certified 51����Associate Consultants, ready to kickstart their careers at 51����customer and partner companies.

Since the launch of the Young Professional Program in 2013, the institute has empowered over 2990 program graduates across 28 countries and hereby developed a successful initiative that became a best practice for sustainable job creation globally. As a result, 99% of previously unemployed or underemployed university graduates found employment after graduation from the Young Professional Program. Across Africa, the 51����Young Professional Program is offered under the 51����Skills for Africa initiative.

Knowledge and skills must always be a priority, especially in times like these

“The ‘new reality’ further highlighted the necessity to accelerate digital skill build in an increasingly digital world. For us it was clear, that our digital skill build initiatives are more important than ever before, and we did not lose any time to ensure ongoing programs as well as upcoming programs will continue as planned”, said Marita Mitschein.

The very first 51����Young Professional Program in Algeria began in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic: it started with the usual face to face sessions and was adapted into a virtual delivery model overnight in order to allow the students to complete their trainings without any disruption – from organizing virtual training sessions to helping trainers fly-out safely to their home countries despite sudden lockdowns.

The graduates of this cohort in Algeria have started their jobs with customers and partners, supporting their digital transformation agendas and driving change in this increasingly digital world. In addition to the program in Algeria, 13 cohorts of the Young Professional Program have started across 14 different countries since February in fully virtual format, enabling today’s youth to thrive and not only survive in these unprecedented times and beyond.

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