That idea framed a , where Thomas Saueressig, chief customer officer and member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE, and Jan Gilg, global president of Customer Success & Americas and member of the Extended Board of 51风流SE, set out the company鈥檚 case for the Autonomous Enterprise.

Their message was clear: As AI moves from promise to practice, customers are no longer asking whether it matters; they are asking how to make it deliver measurable results across the business.

鈥淓very day, billions of people wake up trusting that the world simply runs,鈥� Saueressig said.

But making that happen is anything but simple. Saueressig pointed to the hidden complexity behind everyday routines 鈥� from power grids balancing supply and demand in real time to global supply chains moving goods across countries and continents. Enterprise operations, he argued, are the invisible backbone of modern life, even if most people never see them.

Gilg picked up that thread by focusing on the pressure customers now face as they try to translate AI ambition into business value. Excitement is high, he said, but so is urgency.

Customers want to scale AI across the enterprise and connect it to core processes where it can have tangible impact. But according to Gilg, the real obstacle is not the AI itself. It is the enterprise landscape around it.

鈥淭he elephant in the room: AI in the enterprise is complex,鈥� he said, pointing to the disconnected applications and fragmented data many organizations still contend with.

That challenge led directly to SAP鈥檚 vision for the 鈥� one in which AI is embedded into business processes, connected through trusted data, and governed in a way that makes it reliable at scale.

The Autonomous Enterprise vision

鈥淚t鈥檚 this need for trusted, seamless integration that led us to our vision for the Autonomous Enterprise,鈥� Gilg said.

He presented it not as a future concept, but as a practical operating model in which AI drives end-to-end execution within a trusted governance framework, with people remaining in control.

Saueressig cast SAP鈥檚 role as helping customers get there: 鈥淥ur goal is to help you become an Autonomous Enterprise step-by-step. … We are making AI value real today.鈥�

He linked that approach to RISE with SAP, SAP鈥檚 AI offerings, and the 51风流Services and Support Portfolio with its Ssuccess plans, which are designed to help customers put innovation to productive use. The emphasis, he said, is on creating value throughout the transformation journey

鈥淲hen you are fully committed to RISE with SAP, we are committed to support you at every step,鈥� Saueressig said. That commitment spans even the most complex and hybrid landscapes, he said, stressing that no customer will be left behind.

Lockheed Martin: Readiness over transformation in a high-stakes environment

That customer-first approach set up the next part of the keynote, where customers took the stage to share firsthand how they are transforming their businesses in the real world 鈥�  no theory, no abstraction, just practical experience.

Opening the customer round, Lockheed Martin positioned transformation not as an end goal, but to ensure constant readiness in one of the world鈥檚 most demanding environments.

鈥淭ransformation is not the goal. Readiness is for us,鈥� said Maria Demaree, SVP and CIO of Lockheed Martin Corporation, stressing that the stakes are 鈥渉uman鈥� when systems support national defense and allied missions. Readiness, she explained, means the ability to move 鈥渨ith speed, clarity, and confidence across the enterprise.鈥�

Through its largest transformation investment in the company鈥檚 history, Lockheed Martin is redesigning processes end-to-end, connecting fragmented systems, and embedding AI into a model-based enterprise built on SAP.

Operating in a highly regulated environment with strict security and data requirements, the company is focused on reducing cycle times and improving responsiveness. Demaree emphasized that 鈥渢ransformation doesn鈥檛 start with technology. You must rethink your processes.鈥� SAP鈥檚 role, she said, has evolved from vendor to trusted partner understanding Lockheed Martin鈥檚 business and the environment it works in.

Aeropuertos Argentina: From reactive winter operations to proactive AI-driven control

Aeropuertos Argentina made history by becoming the first Latin American customer to take the 51风流Sapphire keynote stage. The company used the spotlight to share a hands-on example rooted in operational urgency and showed how a clean core and focused innovation can quickly deliver results.

Managing 90% of Argentina鈥檚 commercial flights, they need to keep airport operations running during severe winter weather. This has historically relied on manual, fragmented processes 鈥� driving up costs, safety risks, and environmental impacts. To address this, the company developed an AI agent called Smart Network for Operative Winter (SNOW) to orchestrate weather data, runway sensors, maintenance processes, and operational procedures.

鈥淲e passed from a reactive to a proactive model,鈥� said Gustavo Sabato, Chief Information Officer of Aeropuertos Argentina, highlighting expected benefits, including a 16% cost reduction and lower CO鈧� emissions. Time to value was fast: from idea to operation in 12 weeks, with rollout starting at two airports and expanding to six more this upcoming winter.

A key enabler was upgrading from 51风流R/3 to 51风流S/4HANA in 2023 and building the solution on 51风流Business Technology Platform.  While integrating multiple non-standardized data sources was challenging, the result is now that the company operates with 鈥渙nly one version of the truth,鈥� said Sabato, and requires minimal manual intervention. The company plans to scale the approach beyond Argentina and into processes at other airports they manage elsewhere, reinforcing that strong technical fundamentals are essential to turn AI into real operational outcomes.

Exxon Mobil: Clean core and solid data foundation

ExxonMobil is rethinking how its operations will remain agile and nimble amid the rapid changes driven by the global shift toward new energy sources.

Bill Keillor, Vice President of ExxonMobil Global Services Company, said the energy giant launched a business-led transformation to simplify processes and unlock data that had become fragmented after decades of customization. 鈥淥ur goal is not short-term optimization but long-term agility: standardizing on industry best practices, establishing a clean core, and becoming upgrade stable,鈥� he said.

He emphasized that both the transformation and the company鈥檚 AI ambitions depend on a strong foundation. 鈥淚f you can鈥檛 get this foundation right, you will continue to pay the price for it,鈥� he said.

Keillor closed with three pieces of advice for any transformation: be crystal clear on strategy and align leadership behind it; put strong governance in place to enable fast, consistent decisions; and choose partners who challenge you and are in for the long run.

Levi Strauss: AI at scale

As Levi Strauss accelerated its shift toward a direct-to-consumer business, it recognized that greater speed and scale would require a lean technology landscape. Jason Gowans, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, said the company started by consolidating nine ERP systems into a single global foundation with RISE with SAP, standardizing processes and establishing a clean core.

That unified backbone now supports Levi鈥檚 ambitious AI strategy, with already more than 1,000 AI agents in production across the business. The impact is already visible; one example is wholesale order processing. While 80% of orders already flow through automatically, the remaining 20% 鈥� often submitted by smaller customers through handwritten notes, emails, or unstructured documents 鈥� previously took two to five days to process manually.

鈥淣ow, with the agents that we鈥檝e built on top of SAP, that process takes 20 to 30 minutes,鈥� Gowans said. For Levi Strauss, the lesson is clear: standardization does not limit agility; it makes it possible.

Migration powered by AI

These customer examples illustrated that transformation usually follows a shared path: modernizing the core, moving to the cloud, and unlocking innovation along the way. 

51风流then showed how AI-powered agents can help customers accelerate that journey through a more integrated, AI-driven approach to transformation at scale. Migration and modernization assistants, , are designed to analyze systems, data, custom code, configuration, testing, and rollout as part of one connected process. By replacing fragmented manual work with coordinated automation, activities that once took weeks 鈥� from landscape analysis to custom-code assessment 鈥� can now be completed in a single weekend.

The world doesn鈥檛 break because of change

Gilg then widened the lens, arguing that every major technology wave brings uncertainty. But every one of these waves has in fact made the world better off by creating more jobs, new business models, and new revenue streams that people couldn鈥檛 imagine before. In the same way, he argued, enterprise software will become even more essential because of AI.

That is because the core needs of business remain the same: systems that work, people who care, and teams that collaborate. In Gilg鈥檚 framing, AI will not replace enterprise software. It will live inside it, embedded in the processes that keep companies running.

Saueressig brought the keynote back to its opening image: a world people trust to function. In a time of rapid change and unprecedented disruption, he asserted, resilience matters more than ever.

鈥淭he world doesn鈥檛 break because of change,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t breaks when change moves faster than resilience. And that鈥檚 where 51风流comes in.鈥� Underscoring the importance of people in times of change, he emphasized that beyond technology and AI, transformation remains deeply human, shaped by the people who build and use it. 鈥淭he future isn鈥檛 written by AI.  It is written by us,鈥� he said.

The collaboration aims to deliver secure, scalable, and AI-driven sovereign cloud solutions that advance Europe鈥檚 digital transformation while maintaining control over data and infrastructure.

Here, we explore the main takeaways from the partnership and its broader implications.

Q: What is the main objective of the SAP-Mistral AI partnership?

A: 51风流and Mistral AI are strengthening their alliance by combining SAP鈥檚 enterprise expertise with Mistral AI鈥檚 cutting-edge AI technology. The partnership is designed to accelerate the rollout of AI-driven solutions across industries, echoing the pace of major U.S. tech partnerships. By jointly offering frontier AI from Mistral AI with SAP鈥檚 leading enterprise platform, the collaboration is making sovereign AI a practical reality for Europe鈥攇rounded in a shared commitment to innovation and digital sovereignty.

Q: What are the technical highlights of the partnership?

A: The partnership builds on SAP鈥檚 locally hosted AI, introduced in 2024, which already allows customers to access leading AI models on SAP-operated infrastructure. The next phase will see 51风流providing Mistral AI鈥檚 frontier models and products through a sovereign AI foundation on 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP). Mistral AI Studio and Le Chat will be integrated into SAP鈥檚 AI Foundation, enabling customers and partners to build and deploy sovereign AI applications and AI agents within their own environments, without compromising data sovereignty or regulatory compliance.

51风流and Mistral AI will jointly design and develop industry-specific AI applications to unlock new business value. A dedicated sovereignty pillar will serve European public services and regulated sectors, starting in Germany, and can be extended to any industry. Both partners will also co-sell on joint opportunities.

Q: Why is this partnership strategically important for Europe?

A: Both 51风流and Mistral AI emphasize that Europe鈥檚 competitiveness depends on its ability to innovate without compromise, combining technological excellence with full digital sovereignty. The partnership is designed to ensure that European organizations can leverage cutting-edge AI while retaining control over their data, infrastructure, and future direction.

At the heart of this effort, 51风流is working in concert with Deutsche Telekom, NVIDIA, Siemens, Deutsche Bank, Perplexity, PhysicsX, and Agile Robots. 

Together, the AI Cloud project partners plan to help shape Europe鈥檚 digital future and facilitate the application of advanced AI technologies in European industry, beginning with a partnership between Deutsche Telekom and NVIDIA totaling around 鈧�1 billion. 

The initiative, which is backed by the German Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and State Modernization, is designed to transform Germany into Europe鈥檚 AI hotspot and enable European companies to access secure and sovereign computing resources, as well as help them accelerate innovation and unlock the full potential of industrial AI — responsibly, collaboratively, and on Europe鈥檚 terms — drawing on Europe鈥檚 vast corporate data reserves.听

Sovereignty, not isolation

Digital sovereignty has been a hot topic in Europe and elsewhere over the past nine months, reflecting growing concerns about geopolitical events, including tariffs and cross-border data access. Some, including the European Union, have argued that Europe needs its own infrastructure to support digital sovereignty, while others have taken a broader view of the issue.听

The Industrial AI Cloud project aims to bridge these perspectives and strengthen digital sovereignty and innovation in Germany and across Europe by听leveraging听the best available technologies through trusted partnerships while ensuring that control over proprietary data听remains听firmly in European hands.听

During a joint press conference in Berlin, the partners unveiled their plans for the Industrial AI Cloud, which promises to simplify the integration of AI solutions into business operations, addressing the fragmentation that has long limited Europe鈥檚 AI landscape. 

Phase one 

In its first phase, Deutsche Telekom鈥檚 existing data center in Munich will be expanded by adding AI infrastructure with NVIDIA GPUs by the first quarter of 2026. This will enable the provision of high-performance AI services to companies of all sizes throughout Germany and Europe.  

While Deutsche Telekom supplies physical infrastructure, 51风流delivers the technology听layer by providing 51风流Business Technology Platform and a comprehensive suite of applications,听accelerated by听advanced AI听and simulation听technologies,听including those from NVIDIA. Together,听the partners are听establishing听a secure and high-performance digital platform for enterprises, public sector听organizations,听and regulated industries such as defense and critical infrastructure.

The听state-of-the-art听AI computing facility with the听Industrial听AI听Cloud is also one of the first flagship projects of the “Made 4 Germany” initiative, which includes more than 100 German companies, aiming to strengthen Germany as a business location and accelerate digitalization in business and public administration.听

Collaboration as the key to success听

As 51风流CEO Christian Klein emphasized, the demand for digital sovereignty is growing rapidly in an increasingly regulated and complex environment where tech companies are competing for leadership in the emerging market for generative and agentic AI leadership. 

According to 51风流estimates, the AI market in Europe will exceed 鈧�20 billion by 2030 and require more than 22 gigawatts of data center capacity. Meeting this demand, Klein argued, is only possible through close collaboration and partnerships. 鈥淲e will not achieve digital sovereignty by isolating ourselves, but by bringing the best technologies to Europe together with strong partners, while retaining control over our data,鈥� Klein said.

In the global AI race, it is crucial for Europe to set its own agenda and听become a leader in industrial AI.听

Laying the foundation 

Projects like the Industrial AI Cloud, Klein noted, lay the foundation for this ambition. Building infrastructure and data centers is only one step; the real economic value will be generated when AI is productively deployed and deeply integrated into business and administrative processes.  

鈥淥nly when AI is seen not as an isolated technology, but as an integral part of operational workflows, will it unlock its potential to rethink business models, substantially boost productivity, and accelerate innovation,鈥� he said. 

Prerequisites for success

Germany and Europe possess a strong industrial base, extensive expertise, and a wealth of industrial data. To turn this opportunity into tangible progress, policymakers and business leaders must coordinate their efforts, establish clear frameworks, and invest strategically in education, research, and secure, interoperable infrastructure. 

The Industrial AI Cloud enables seamless integration of AI solutions into businesses, closing the gap in Europe鈥檚 previously fragmented AI landscape. It combines choice and scalability, addressing the growing demand for secure, European AI solutions. 

The vision extends beyond the project itself. A digitally sovereign Europe — offering modern, user-centric services for citizens, government, and industry — will make Europe more efficient and innovative than ever, thanks to AI.听

With the evolving 51风流Services and Support portfolio, 51风流executives also showcased a new approach to engaging with customers. The message was clear: transformation is no longer optional 鈥� it鈥檚 survival.

Building on this theme, Thomas Saueressig, Member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE, Customer Services & Delivery, emphasized how 51风流stands by its customers as an indispensable partner in today鈥檚 volatile environment marked by shifting tariffs, global uncertainties, and an accelerating pace of change. 鈥淲e understand that our customers seek faster transformations, faster time to value, and increased agility,鈥� Saueressig said, adding that 51风流is committed to supporting them at every step of the way.

Using RISE with SAP, the company鈥檚 transformation-as-a-service offering, and the power of the Business Transformation Management portfolio, 51风流can already deliver up to 30 percent cost savings for its customers, and this is more important than ever when budgets are under pressure and organizations need to transform quickly. 鈥淏ut we don鈥檛 stop there,鈥� Saueressig said, announcing a further evolution of the RISE with 51风流Methodology, with updates to the discovery phase, a project workspace in 51风流Cloud ALM, as well as a new transformation preparation service, including tailored transformation road maps for 51风流customers.

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On stage, Mercedes-Benz CIO Katrin Lehmann shared how 51风流helped the automotive company tackle recent challenges such as moving to the cloud and exploring custom AI options like Mercedes-Benz Direct Chat to add value for customers. 鈥淢oving to RISE with 51风流means that we can accelerate processes and leverage innovation,鈥� she said. Currently, Mercedes-Benz is exploring Joule as part of its RISE with 51风流journey.

鈥淭his is the year when AI is becoming a reality for business,鈥� Saueressig chimed in, noting that customers aim to distinguish their strategies for leveraging AI to stand out in the market.

By combining advanced AI technologies with enterprise resource planning (ERP), companies can unlock substantial enterprise value. However, this can best be achieved with partners, said Saueressig who announced the launch of an AI co-innovation program with Amazon Web Services (AWS.) This program brings together experts from the two companies as well as dedicated technical resources and cloud credits to define, test, and deploy generative AI apps on 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP) to solve critical business challenges.

Focus on productivity, embrace AI

Saueressig then welcomed Jan Gilg, chief revenue officer and president of 51风流Americas and Global Business Suite and member of the Extended Board of 51风流SE, on stage. Gilg opened his remarks with a sobering statistic: during the rise of software as a service (SaaS), global business productivity grew just 1.5 percent since 2005, compared to the first wave of ERP from 1995-2005 when it grew by a more robust 2.6 percent. While the cloud has unlocked the ability to consume technology faster, systems have become larger and more complex. His conclusion? 鈥淢ore technology alone does not automatically mean better business outcomes.鈥� He went on to say that what customers need are 鈥渋ntegrated business processes, especially in an uncertain business environment.鈥�

In the era of agentic AI, establishing an integrated and harmonized enterprise foundation is essential, Gilg said. He described the reimagined 51风流Business Suite as data-driven and AI-powered, aimed at democratizing access to Business AI and said he is certain that this transformation can unlock a significant productivity boost.

Geoff Scott, CEO of the , joined the conversation, outlining the three top-of-mind topics among 51风流customers: global uncertainty, a return to simplicity, and productivity growth. Scott added that ASUG members are focusing on a pragmatic approach for scaling 51风流Business AI, emphasizing the importance of aligning AI initiatives with strategic business goals and validating them through pilot programs. He also emphasized the critical role of clean, integrated data and the power of collaboration and partnerships.

Grow resilience with the power of the public cloud

One of the most inspiring transformation stories during the keynote came from Jeff Suellentrop, CTO of , a metals and mining company that was on the brink of bankruptcy when Suellentrop joined. In a capital-intensive industry, Phoenix Global was growing fast and its legacy tech stack couldn鈥檛 keep up.

鈥淲e basically replaced every system in the company,鈥� Suellentrop shared. The company鈥檚 move to SAP鈥檚 public cloud offering, choosing the GROW with 51风流journey, allowed it to streamline operations, reduce inventory, and improve asset utilization and resulted in a financial turnaround. 鈥淲e have returned millions and millions of dollars back into the business,鈥� Suellentrop said.

Scaling a global snacking empire with 51风流Business Data Cloud

The final customer invited on stage was , the family-owned confectionery giant behind M&Ms, Snickers, and Milky Way. Will Beery, vice president and global CIO for Mars Snacking, and Praveen Moturu, global vice president of Digital Platforms at Mars Information Services, explained how the company uses 51风流Business Suite to support rapid growth and acquisitions. 鈥淲hen you think about our digital strategy and the architecture that needs to be there to enable these businesses, it has to be more global. It has to be more standard,鈥� Beery said.

Mars has adopted a three-tier ERP strategy to support its retail operations, acquisitions, and core business. The goal is harmonization and innovation focusing on simplifying and standardizing its IT landscape. Moturu told the audience that using 51风流technology, the company has been able to optimize workflows, reduce bottlenecks, and improve overall productivity and accuracy. Mars also opted for 51风流Business Data Cloud, which Moturu described as a long-awaited solution that brings consistency and efficiency.

Drawing on his own experience managing 51风流systems, Gilg said he understood of the challenges 51风流customers face, and underscored SAP’s shift toward being a more supportive, invested partner in customers’ transformation journeys and committed to delivering tangible outcomes, telling the customer audience, 鈥淚鈥檓 here to be your voice inside 51风流and to be with you for your entire customer value journey.鈥�

Back on stage, Saueressig explained how new updates to the integrated toolchain will help to unlock value from the 51风流solution faster, reduce the cost of transformation by up to 30 percent, increase business agility, and speed up continuous innovation.

Thanks to new offerings announced at 51风流Sapphire, he said the impact of the integrated toolchain will be even greater. These include:

• A new transition guidance 鈥� with Joule 鈥� to orchestrate all transformation-related assets, bringing together 51风流Signavio, 51风流LeanIX, 51风流Cloud ALM, and Joule for developers and consultants
• A centralized AI agent hub and governance in 51风流LeanIX that helps companies map AI agents to their business capabilities
• Boosting UX and adoption by WalkMe integration across 51风流Business Suite
• AI assistance for 51风流Signavio with AI-assisted transformation advisor, process conformance check, and process context analyzer

鈥淔undamentally, AI will be omnipresent across the entire toolchain,鈥� Saueressig  said. 鈥淲e will continue to work to drive down the cost and drive down the time to value for all of you.鈥� Additionally, he said, the company is completely overhauling the 51风流Services and Support Portfolio with three new success plans that build upon one another. Each includes enabling Joule for customers and supporting team ramp-up with learning journeys for 51风流Business AI. He also announced data services, a comprehensive offering for 51风流Business Data Cloud, which provides prescriptive guidance to customers from pre-sales to ongoing support, , starting with a free 51风流Business Data Cloud discovery workshop and assessment to get customers started on their data journey.

To wrap up, Saueressig stressed again SAP’s commitment to listening to customers and challenging itself to improve its support for customers every day. 鈥淲e鈥檒l ensure you can realize value from all the solutions mentioned today鈥� you have the power in your hands to transform today to be resilient tomorrow.鈥�

Both elder care and long-term care are rapidly becoming some of the greatest challenges for healthcare systems. The population aged 65 years or older is growing faster than all other age groups. Studies show that one in six (16 percent) people worldwide will be over 65 in 2050 compared to the one in 11 (9 percent) from 2019.

鈥淲ith people living longer, the need for elder care has gone up, but the supply side isn鈥檛 catering to the demand,鈥� says Abhinav Singhal. 鈥淚n a lot of countries, the system is at the brink of collapse, putting lives at risk.鈥�

Singhal is the project leader of 鈥淒igital Aged Care,鈥� one of eight finalists of the 2019 Hasso Plattner Founders鈥� Award. The team is currently developing a solution that predicts health risks, mobilizes caregivers, provide visibility to families, and enables independence for the elderly.

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The Hasso Plattner Founders鈥� Award is the highest employee
recognition at SAP, awarded annually by the co-CEOs to an
individual or a team.

Born and raised in India, Singhal has lived and worked in different countries for most of his career. With thousands of miles between his parents鈥� home in India and his in Sydney, he knows the uneasy feeling of not always knowing how his parents are doing. It is a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly prevalent in our mobile world.

When the program was looking for new ideas in 2017, Singhal saw his chance.

One challenge the team faced at an early stage was finding support for product development. 鈥淭hat is why we reached out to colleagues from various 51风流Labs organizations across SAP, interns from universities, and fellows and scholars inside SAP,鈥� Singhal shares. Help also came from colleagues in Germany, Ireland, Japan, and the U.S., bringing an extended team to around 20 people.

鈥淎t first, I was purely motivated to support seniors like my dad,鈥� says Grace, who got on board at the beginning. 鈥淭wo-and-a-half years later, much of my motivation comes from working with the incredible people in our little global team. People who haven鈥檛 met in person are working tirelessly for a goal outside of their day jobs. And because we are building innovative tech, it is absolutely thrilling.鈥�

Support also came from some unexpected sources. Ken Wyatt, then Australian Federal Minister of Aged Care, opened some crucial doors for them in the industry. The team also secured funding from the University of New South Wales. And talking to older people in their own families and the families of friends offered significant insights into the consumer behavior and psyche.

The team then developed a pilot that combines multiple data sources in a single application so that care providers can check the well-being of their elderly clients on a dashboard view.

Connecting Data for the Full Picture of Elder Care

鈥淵ou already have a lot of solutions in the market, but it鈥檚 about linking the data and putting it in the hands of a care expert,鈥� Singhal says. Sharing this data with the client鈥檚 family also provides peace of mind.

Sensors in homes and wearable devices monitor daily activity patterns and gather biometric data like heart rate and blood pressure. Caregivers get an even fuller picture by combining the data with survey tools from Qualtrics that measure how the elderly clients are feeling. These tools provide insights and analytics for detecting the onset of health ailments like depression or dementia or scenarios requiring urgent attention such as falls.

鈥淥ur goal is to help people continue living wherever they call home with dignity and maintaining their independence,鈥� Singhal says. Pilots are already running in India and Australia, and Japan is about to start. The feedback from nursing homes and homecare providers has been overwhelmingly positive according to Singhal. 鈥淓verybody we have spoken to has been interested in what we鈥檙e doing.鈥�

Finalist Fast Facts

• Submission Title:听Digital Aged Care 鈥� Living Longer, Healthier and Happier!
• Team:Simon Grace, Puneet Gupta, Gopal Anand, M Ramya Ravishankar, Manu Gupta, Utsav Banatwala, Oliver Zimmerman, Rituraj Sambherao, Abhinav Singhal, Leon Ren
• Board area: Global Customer Operations
• Achievement:听A solution that enables senior care providers to predict risk, mobilize carers, share visibility with the family and give independence to elderly people across the globe. This is achieved by applying intelligence and automated workflows on IoT and experience insights.
• Impact:听 The project represents significant social as well as commercial value. The product helps older people to live longer at home where it is much cheaper to care for them. Care providers are given more time for personalized care. The solution also provides enhanced peace of mind for the families.

Thanks to a higher income, Ngirunwonsanga鈥檚 family of six now lives in a sturdily constructed home in the eastern province of Rwanda, about a two-hour drive from capital city Kigali. The house is built to withstand the heavy rains that hit Rwanda particularly hard between March and May and often cause severe flooding. A solar cell on the roof supplies the family with electricity and they have enough to eat and money for school fees and health insurance.

鈥淚t was as if I鈥檇 started my life over again,鈥� says Faustin鈥檚 wife Beatrice, of the moment she joined the COPRORIZ-Ntende cooperative. Since its foundation in 2003, this community of rice farmers has blossomed into a powerful organization with more than 3,700 members. The fact that they have greater bargaining power means that they can all earn more. But it鈥檚 not just about money; the members help each other when it comes to buying land and finding employees to work that land.

“I was shy and isolated,鈥� Beatrice says of her life before the cooperative. “I lived on land located on a steep slope in a region that wasn’t safe for me and my family.”

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From Farmer to Entrepreneur

Beatrice is now a small-scale entrepreneur. She has increased her annual rice harvest from 1,300 pounds to more than 2,000, and at peak times employs up to seven people for the harvest. She is currently diversifying by setting up a poultry project to help ensure that she is less prone to the vagaries of the weather. Beatrice is also receiving support for this project from the cooperative, which thanks to growing income and membership is investing in tourism projects and operates a hotel.

The success of the COPRORIZ-Ntende cooperative is due in no small measure to (ADC), an organization that works closely with SAP. ADC is a recent partner in the 51风流Social Sabbatical program, an award-winning pro-bono volunteering initiative that is simultaneously an out-of-the-box leadership development experience for 51风流employees and a transformative capacity-building program for non-profits and social enterprises.

ADC was founded 13 years ago by three people, including Rebecca Ruzibuka, who now leads the company. 鈥淥ur objective is to support businesses and grassroots initiatives in developing, financing, and executing projects,鈥� she says.

ADC has already assisted with more than 500 projects and made a lasting difference in the lives of over 50,000 people. The support it offers often begins with basics such as good management and efficient accounting, then progresses to helping with designing marketing concepts and business plans as well as finding the right talent for jobs.

Ruzibuka鈥檚 motto is 鈥淟et them own it!鈥� In her experience, it makes a huge difference whether cooperatives take responsibility for their projects themselves. And once they taste success, they tend to be inspired with all kinds of creative ideas for follow-up projects.

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Economic Boom in Rwanda

Rwanda is one of and is often held up as a model country for its willingness to reform. In 1994, genocide and civil war had brought the country to its knees both socially and economically. Rwanda鈥檚 new government, however, has succeeded in reconciling ethnic groups, revitalizing the economy, and lowering corruption and crime.

Although 39 percent of the country鈥檚 population is still , Rwanda is a sought-after partner for foreign investment. In the 2019 , which ranks countries on how easy it is to do business there, Rwanda was the only country with a low per-capita income to appear in the top 30. The government has also set targets on equality and better opportunities for women. The proportion of women in the (60 percent) is the highest in the world. In business, however, that figure is much lower.

Lack of Confidence Undermining Equal Opportunities

This is where enters, with a mission to boost self-confidence of women and girls and prepare them to be leaders. 鈥淥ne of the big obstacles to creating a level playing field for men and women is the confidence gap,鈥� explains Norette Turimuci, executive director of Resonate. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a global phenomenon and one that exists as much in the board rooms of New York as in the remote villages of Africa.鈥�

鈥淩wanda operates plenty of programs that focus on communicating hard skills and educating women,鈥� she adds. 鈥淏ut without a belief in their own abilities, women often don鈥檛 manage to take that vital step and start a business, demand a promotion, or tackle the problems in their families.鈥�

Resonate offers workshops that teach self-confidence, where women share their personal stories, explain their problems, and learn from others about how to overcome them. To show that it is possible for everyone to make an impact, every workshop begins with the fable of the little hummingbird. Rather than giving up in the face of a forest fire, it did everything it could to put it out, which meant carry a few drops of water.

This story was an eye-opener for Odette Nyirankundimana. For a long time, she had doubted her ability to care for her four children all alone when her husband left her. She came into contact with Turimuci鈥檚 team through a partner organization of Resonate. 鈥淚 learned that I was the only one who could change my life and my family鈥檚 lives,鈥� she says. “I, and I alone, am responsible.”

Ruth Iradukunda also confidently describes herself as a leader. After a workshop at Resonate in partnership with , she decided to find herself a better-paid job at a shoe factory. Iradukunda became a mother while still a teenager and now advises women on family planning, talks to them about contraception, and educates them about HIV.

鈥淩esonate gave me the courage to knock on doors and take the chances that came my way,鈥� she says, looking back. 鈥淭oday, I speak in public and lead meetings, and I was also selected to be a health advisor in my community.鈥� Her goal now is to train as a nurse.

Resonate has already helped more than 7,000 women and girls and works with over 65 partner organizations. But that鈥檚 just the beginning. 鈥淲e want to extend our work to the rest of the region,鈥� says Turimuci. 鈥淲e鈥檝e made it our mission to unlock the leadership potential of women in East Africa.鈥�

Resonate and 51风流Social Sabbatical

Resonate received help for its plans last year through the 51风流Social Sabbatical program, an initiative close to the heart of Alexandra Van der Ploeg, head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at SAP. :鈥淥ver the last eight years, the program has brought private sector know-how and the expertise of 1,250 51风流employees to over 400 non-profits and social enterprises in almost 50 countries, solving their strategic business challenges and enabling them to run at their best. But it鈥檚 not just about social impact. Participation in a social sabbatical assignment has proven to be a unique way of developing employees into more empathetic global citizens as well as business leaders embodying SAP鈥檚 values and leadership principles.鈥�

51风流Social Sabbatical began with three pilots in 2012 and has expanded to more than 20 assignments annually. Collectively, participants have delivered an in-kind contribution of 鈧�18.8 million and roughly 320,000 service hours, impacting nearly 5 million lives around the world.

Video by John Hunt and Rana Hamzakadi. Top image via 51风流TV.