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2014's Most Valuable Employee: The Social Intrapreneur

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This year promises to be a tipping point for a growing group of corporate innovators, who are taking on initiatives that do well for their companies and also do good for society. Social intrapreneurs are quickly becoming the most valuable employees at many companies because they are good for the bottom line, good for the brand, and good for staff morale. They are being recognized as key players in tackling the world’s biggest problems like poverty, hunger, and the need for universal education.

Social intrapreneurs are making traditional CSR models look irrelevant, while also setting important examples for larger nonprofits and civic institutions that struggle with tight budgets and sustainability in their donor-driven charity and development work. By adapting entrepreneurial and start-up strategies, employees in the public and non-profit sectors stand to improve their organizations with hybrid value models, cost saving innovation, and increased efficiencies.

At the moment there are limited opportunities for social intrapreneurs in the private and public sector to mix, but in 2014 this promises to change as corporations continue to become more socially conscious and non-profits seek new avenues to financial stability. Additionally, with the the International Monetary Fund expecting growth of the global economy to accelerate in 2014 and the due date for the United Nations Millenium Development Goals only one year away, those working at the intersection of corporate innovation and social good are set to see their profiles elevated.

If it’s your first time hearing about intrapreneurship, get caught up with the phenomenon in less than 20 minutes by starting with this What is Intrapreneurship? blog post, then move onto the TedX talk Be the Change You Want to See in your Company by Accenture’s social intrapreneur Gib Bulloch, and finish with this short documentary video on mPesa. mPesa, a mobile money service in Kenya, is critical to understanding social intrapreneurship’s value because it proves the power of this internal approach. Two middle managers from Vodaphone and Safaricom launched the mobile payment product from within their established companies in 2007, and as of 2012 had over 17 million customers, many of whom previously did not have bank accounts.

The social intrapreneurship movement started to gain its momentum in 2013, when the likes of Richard Branson and Guy Kawasaki started to praise its merit and when the League of Intrapreneurs, a global movement of corporate changemakers working to transform business from the inside out, launched its network. Then in December of 2013, leading social intrapreneurs from around the world gathered in Barcelona, Spain at the Intrapreneurship Conference to share their stories, where the BMW Foundation, CSR Europe, and Ashoka announced their 2014 Social Intrapreneurship Europe Program. Going into 2014, social intrapreneurs may still be under the radar, but its time to recognize what they offer.

Social intrapreneurs are right now sitting within existing organizations at the intersection of innovation, social good, and entrepreneurship. They can be found at all levels of the organization and from any generation, working under the radar and struggling against bureaucracy to launch new programs, products, and initiatives that leverage the changemaking ability of established institutions. By acknowledging the value of social intrapreneurs, large companies will see higher employee engagement and create narratives on how their employees are making a difference in the world. For the social entrepreneurs struggling to scale their impact and lacking the resources and network for high level impact, finding or becoming the intrapreneur can change everything.

In the weeks ahead I will be publishing a social intrapreneurship series with Ashoka Changemakers and Forbes, focusing on strategies for social intrapreneurs and the obstacles they face in the workplace, as well as stories of social intrapreneurship and opportunities for further engagement on the topic. Please join me in this exciting conversation about this year’s most valuable employees.

Joseph Agoada is a resource mobilization, technology development and civic innovation specialist. Since May 2010 he has contributed to the strategic development of intrapreneurial projects for UNICEF, most recently founding an innovative mobile mapping tool called UNICEF-GIS. He is also a course facilitator for TechChange: The Institute for Technology and Social Change. 

Editor’s Note: For information on the power of intrapreneurship, check out (or sign up for) the Ashoka Changemakers and TechChange online course on Social Intrapreneurship: Innovation Within Institutions, facilitated by Joe Agoada. The course aims to train employees across all sectors to be a force for social good.