SAP Social Sabbatical closing time. Goodbye Yerevan!
Last Friday we closed our SAP Social Sabbatical activities in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. One month ago, twelve SAP colleagues from all around the world put aside family and work and landed in Yerevan with the determination to contribute in making our world run better.
We spent a month in Armenia working hand in hand with local NGO’s and social entrepreneurs, experiencing the culture and working with some truly amazing people.
Now is time to come back to our respective homes, being proud of participating in this amazing SAP program.
Why Corporate Social Responsibility?
The Social Sabbatical for Global Engagement program is part of a broad portfolio of activities and commitments under SAP Social Corporate Responsibility. After my involvement in this Social Sabbatical, I now understand that SAP Social Responsibility culture is not only about giving back; is also about empowering SAP employees to become agents of change.
But it is important to note that the SAP values and the talent and commitment of its employees are only half of the equation. The true magic of the Social Sabbatical program happens when we meet, engage and work together with local people, institutions and NGO’s. People passionate to make a change, and committed to make a difference in their communities
Armenia’s rising technology scene
It was an eye-opening experience to spend some time in Armenia, where many things are happening. Besides the vibrant start-up tech community in Yerevan, we experienced outstanding events like XVIII Francophonie Summit and Yerevan 2800th. anniversary.
It is clear that for Armenians, technology is key to their future development. An example of this is a recently published article that refers to Yerevan as the #4th city for technology career opportunities. There are many initiative going on in here to boost technology start-ups and education. All of this provided the perfect setting to our Social Sabbatical collaboration, as it aligns well to the UN sustainability goals of quality of education, decent work and economic growth, and industry innovation.
During my four weeks in Armenia, I worked together with two fabulous colleagues: Dan Close and Ivana Tomasic Martinic. We collaborated closely with the Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF), which was our assigned organisation. The EIF is one of the largest technology business incubators and IT development agencies in the region. Our work focused on two techno-parks outside Yerevan: Gyumri Technology Center (Shirak Region) and Vandzor Technology Center (Lori Region).
Together with the leadership from both techno-parks, we explored ways to improve its internal technology ecosystem, specially for start-ups. We also analysed ways to ensure a sustainable growth.
Team Camaraderie
One of the highlights of participating in this program was the great people that I had the privilege to work with on this assignment. We named our team the “Mighty Pomegranates”.
We all arrived here as strangers from different countries, different lines of business and expertise. We worked together, we laughed together, we helped each other and in the end, we left Yerevan as a very close group.
To Danny, Felix, Carlos N., Denise, Dan, Leah, Nikol, Sailaja, Unmesh, Ivana and Jessie, it was an immense pleasure to work with all of you!
Takeaways
We certainly learned a lot from our stay in Armenia. Volunteering is, after all, an opportunity for self-growth. This program was a life-changing experience.
Having the opportunity to learn from all my SAP colleagues is definitively a top highlight. The amazing diversity of our group, their different perspectives in addition to their particular talents and strengths made our collaboration truly enlightening.
Our time in Yerevan was also a tremendous exercise in team-building, collaboration, and teamwork. We all worked together so well, that is hard to remember four weeks ago none of us knew each other. This not only refers to our SAP team, but to all the phenomenal people from our host organizations.
But the biggest takeaway from our participation in this Social Sabbatic is knowing that we made a difference. We left our desks and our comfort zones to come here, collaborate with sensational people and have a real direct impact on our world. This is the one thing that in my mind is going to matter at the end.
