Why we need intrapreneurs
An intro to institutional changemaking from Ashoka’s courses for corporate employees
How can I contribute to a better world — one that’s more sustainable and just? For some business people, this question sparked the decision to pack up the office desk and embark on becoming a social entrepreneur.
But changemaking doesn’t only happen in the social sector. In fact, some of the most powerful change occurs within companies, when people bring an entrepreneurial mindset to their day job, asking how they can positively impact society through their work.
It’s time we talk more about social entrepreneurship’s institutional cousin: intrapreneurship.
Ashoka, the organization that pioneered the field of social entrepreneurship, has been using courses to advance to social impact from within corporations since 2015. Over the past five years, hundreds of employees from companies in industries like health, food, and textiles have taken part.
Today we’re sharing an introduction to social intrapreneurship: what it is, why it’s important, and how anyone, regardless of your experience or job title, can be a changemaker at their company.
Who are social intrapreneurs?
Like entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs are motivated to find solutions for social or environmental issues while leveraging business opportunities. Intrapreneurs apply the principles of social entrepreneurship, only inside their organizations. As you might expect, most encounter pushback at one point or another on the path to greater impact. (Some describe these individuals as two-thirds changemaker, one-third troublemaker!)
Nevertheless, successful social intrapreneurs manage to secure support, bring others on board, and demonstrate why the new idea matters. Innovations might look like products, services, processes or business models that create both commercial and social value.
From BP’s campaign encouraging drivers to cut down on petrol, to Levi’s ‘Water<Less Jeans,” (a product manufactured with reduced water consumption), intrapreneurs have been the brains behind countless contributions towards a better world.
“A social intrepreneur falls in love with a problem they really want to solve. To do that, you can’t do it alone — you have to be collaborative. You have to transmit your motivation to others. You have to be a bit courageous.”
— Valeria Santoro, Scientist at Boehringer Ingelheim and Social Intrapreneur
What are the traits of a social intrapreneur?
- They’re integrators, problem solvers and facilitators
- They’re willing to challenge the status quo
- They’re tactful, empathetic and politically savvy
- They build a wide network of contacts at all levels in their organization
- They translate social entrepreneurship into compelling business terms
- They care about social change more than personal wealth or climbing the ladder
- They scan the horizon for new ways to solve challenges (Adapted from “The Social Entrepreneur: A field guide for corporate Changemakers,” published by SustainAbility, IDEO, the Skill Foundation and Allianz)
Why we need intrapreneurs
If social intrapreneurs have an advantage over entrepreneurs, it’s that they can tap into their organizations’ infrastructure and resources to create social value on a large scale.
Bill Gates once encouraged corporations to dedicate some of their top innovators’ time to ideas that could help those who are left out of the global economy. This is a more effective contribution than to donating funds or volunteer time — common “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) activities.
Today we’re seeing business people using the power of their companies to help tackle wide-ranging issues such as climate change, poverty and disease — global problems that previous generations would not have believed businesses could, or even should, try to address.
Intrapreneur in action: Valeria Santoro
Valeria Santoro, a cancer researcher at the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim (BI), has spent her career working to develop novel cancer treatments. But she’s convinced that medications are not enough — especially when many cannot access them.
Through the Social Intrapraneurship for Innovation in Health Course, hosted by Ashoka as part of the Making More Health partnership with BI, Valeria decided to activate her longtime interest in social change by focusing on cervical cancer, a treatable form of cancer that causes 9 women to die every day in Kenya.
Launching into research, she validated the problem of access by working with BI’s teams in Kenya to better understand. Together with BI’s partner AMPATH, she started a social intrapreneurship initiative, along with a non-profit organization, in order to design cancer prevention journey for women in rural Kenya that includes sexual health education, screenings, and government health insurance.
Just a couple of months after the course, Valeria and her new core team — comprised of two experts in Kenya and several experienced colleagues at BI — presented at BI’s Innovation Day, to gather more support and raise funds across the organization. Today they’re well on their way to launching the initial stage of the initiative, Together Women Can.
Projects like Valeria’s are opening up valuable new business opportunities while creating powerful social change.
How to become an intrapreneur
- Discover where you can make an impact. Civil rights leader and author Howard Thurman offers some advice: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Take time to understand your own passions, what bothers you in the world or in your community, and how you might be able to address it.
- Learn about your company’s resources and value chain beyond your scope of your work. Educate yourself on how to unlock resources and how the decision-making processes work. You will need this knowledge to navigate bureaucracies. Frequently ask yourself: “What if we did it differently?” and “How can I do it differently?”
- Bring colleagues on board. Enthusiasm is contagious! You don’t have to (and probably shouldn’t) go at it alone. Look for those who also to bring new perspectives, and soon you will have a team.
- Seek out feedback. Listen to stakeholders. That means speaking with managers and others within your company, the people you hope will benefit from the initiative, and your team.
- Have a vision, but test early. Study the strengths and weaknesses of your project, and start envision the end result you hope to reach: the value you are bringing to your company’s business and to society.
Learn more
Looking to start your own intrapreneurship journey? Ashoka Changemakers currently offers two course opportunities for you.
For healthcare professionals, Social Intrapreneurship for Innovation in Health course is offered twice a year. (Click here to learn about the upcoming date.)
If your company is an Ashoka partner or would like to partner with us, employees are eligible to the Future of Business: An Intercompany Course for Changemakers. Stay tuned for the next edition.
