SAP Employees from various countries address business challenges of local NGO’s & Social Entrepreneurs
Mumbai — April 24, 2015 – SAP SE (NYSE: SAP), today announced the completion of the third round of its Social Sabbatical program in India. A group of 12 SAP employees from China, USA, Ireland, Canada, Germany, Japan, Argentina and Dubai worked for one month onsite with four non-profit organizations and social ventures in Mumbai to help solve their pressing organizational challenges and set them up for sustainable growth.
The Social Sabbatical is one of the most cutting-edge initiatives for social engagement and leadership development for SAP’s top talents. As of 2014, the program has activated 304,800 pro-bono service hours by 127 employees from 31 nations, serving 40 organizations worldwide. 98% of client NGOs and Social Enterprises were satisfied or highly satisfied with the performance and results of the SAP Social Sabbatical teams; 97% would recommend SAP; and 70% implemented at least 80% of the recommendations delivered by the Social Sabbatical teams.
“SAP is committed to helping the world run better and improving peoples’ lives by making strategic social investments that have a lasting impact on society. Leveraging the talent and commitment of our employees through corporate volunteering programs is a key pillar of our corporate social responsibility programs. Through the Social Sabbatical Program, SAP focuses on helping NGOs and social entrepreneurs to unlock their potential to create sustainable economic growth and social impact, and emerge as nation’s growth engines” said Alicia Lenze, SAP Global Head of CSR.
While in Mumbai, the SAP Social Sabbatical team has been working with Edubridge Learning, Mumbai Mobile Creches, Paaduks and UnLtd India to help them solve some of their biggest business challenges in the areas of expansion, administration, sales, marketing and controlling:
- EduBridge Learning focuses on building employable skills through quality training and providing youth with jobs and a livelihood upon training completion. As a part of this initiative, SAP Social Sabbatical team will help EduBridge provide a detailed expansion strategy, defining next steps for their growth.
- Mumbai Mobile Creches, provides comprehensive day care services to migrant children living at construction sites in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, and Thane. SAP Social Sabbatical team will be guiding Mumbai Mobile Creches in the creation of an architectural framework, specifications and design of centralized administration and MIS.
- Paaduks is a social enterprise that aims to provide cobblers with a sustainable livelihood and ensures their access to healthcare and education in India. SAP Social Sabbatical team will design a holistic business plan for Paaduks including branding, sales and marketing strategy and recommend best practices on systems and processes for Paaduks .
- UnLTD India funds and support entrepreneurs who have passion and ideas to address social issues in India. To refine and strengthen UnLtd’s impact measurement system, SAP Social Sabbatical team will review their pre-engagement metrics for outputs, outcomes, impacts and recommend metrics to help them achieve its goal.
The Social Sabbatical program is part of the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy focusing on equipping the world‘s youth with tools they need to tackle society‘s problems and thrive in the 21st century workforce. The program gives top talents the opportunity to work in international, cross functional teams and leverage their expertise to support non-profit organizations and social entrepreneurs in emerging markets. During the one month assignment, employees strengthen their leadership competencies, cross industry sector know-how and intercultural sensitivity, while connecting with other emerging leaders around the world.
Building on the success of the Social Sabbatical, SAP will roll out a local pro-bono program in Bangalore in September again with the purpose to leverage the skills and expertise of local employees to solve business challenges of emerging social organizations.
About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 291,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.