Johannesburg, 28 Oct 2013
Following a successful pilot launch in 2012, a group of 12 SAP employees from around the world - including a software engineer from India, a marketing manager from the US and a quality controller from China - have once again travelled to Johannesburg to spend a month working with four local non-profit organisations that support local entrepreneurs.
The 12 are part of a 72-employee-strong SAP programme, the Social Sabbatical, which matches talented high-potential employees with entrepreneurs and small businesses in emerging markets. A relatively new area for international corporate volunteering, the SAP Social Sabbatical initiative was launched in 2012, with 30 employees in Brazil, India and South Africa, and the company believes last year's project played a role in the company being awarded the Top Employer in Africa award earlier this year.
"Most of the world's most pressing problems require more than a few hours' volunteering," said Pfungwa Serima, CEO of SAP Africa. "A group of talented employees working together to solve a problem in a foreign setting can not only strengthen communities, but help mould these individuals as future leaders. SAP's Africa Social Sabbatical programme allows us to provide our people with innovative development opportunities while strengthening entrepreneurship in emerging economies."
The Social Sabbatical team will be in Johannesburg until 8 November, and will be working with Awethu, Endeavor, enke and the University of Johannesburg's Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Social Economy (CSESE) to help solve some of their most pressing business needs. Their tasks will be similar to those thousands of SAP employees face daily: they will have to learn about the needs of the customer, work in cross-functional teams and complete a set of deliverables within a tight timeframe.
The Awethu Project invests in under-resourced entrepreneurs to develop economic leaders. The SAP team will help Awethu provide a detailed expansion strategy as part of their Governmental Jobs Fund application, defining next steps for growth and the roll-out thereof. SAP Sabbatical participants Jennifer Larson (marketing director), Vivek Vadiraj (principal software engineer) and Soichiro Murata (senior manager/principal consultant) will be guiding Awethu in the creation of a detailed expansion strategy for the next three years with a specific focus on new target markets, a cost/revenue model and external marketing strategy.
Endeavor SA aims to catalyse long-term economic growth by selecting, mentoring and accelerating the best high impact entrepreneurs in South Africa. Endeavor is struggling to establish a growing network of mentors and potential investors in South Africa and in the larger Africa/Middle East region due to the nature of the dispersed market. Julie Karni (senior information developer), Adel Tan (vice-president, total rewards APJ) and Hemang Desai (marketing manager) will help the company design an implementation strategy for a South Africa Investor Network to include a cost/revenue analysis, research on prospective markets and investors, and internal and external marketing recommendations.
enke is dedicated to building the capacity of young people, firing their desire to shape the future of their world and giving them the skills and opportunities needed to make positive change inSouth Africa. The company's Trailblazer and Ignition Programs work with young adults in efforts to address social issues and inspire entrepreneurial thinking.
Currently, however, the company does not have robust, centralised, accessible data management to monitor its stakeholder information, which has resulted in ineffective impact method tracking, lost opportunities and a weak alumni network. Marcelo Teixeira (engagement architect), Rohit Singh (software developer) and Shahzia Banth (senior marketing manager) will be designing an efficient management tool and tracking system to ensure better monitoring of stakeholder and impact data, and immediate implementation plan and recommendations for data collection and tracking.
The University of Johannesburg's Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Social Economy was established as a non-profit centre that aims to promote social entrepreneurship and the social economy through its research and various program offerings, partnerships and initiatives. The NPO aligns with the "new growth path" envisaged by South African government, and thus aims to adopt and adapt the tools and knowledge from the business, government and non-profit sectors to improve performance, develop new approaches and attract more resources to the social economy.
Esteban Samartin (mobility sales director), Laura King (senior information developer) and Gang Zhu (quality engineer) will conduct analysis and testing of the incubator Web site, will redesign the Web site to better provide programs, features and resources to both current and potential entrepreneurs as well as to University of Johannesburg faculty and students and will provide recommendations for sustainability and funding models for the incubator Web site in the medium- to long-term.
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