As part of the series of short insights from faculty members of the Intrapreneur Lab, we spoke last October to Adrian Ristow, Special Projects Director at Coca-Cola and lead on Project Last Mile.
The Intrapreneur Lab: Why is intrapreneurship gaining momentum?
Adrian: An intrapreneur is someone who is trying to drive some type of change in a large organization and will typically take a very innovative approach in driving that change.
I think what’s particularly resonating at the moment is the fact that new innovative solutions have to be applied to some of the key issues the world is facing…across sectors…from [the private sector]…and government.
Increasingly, we are seeing a new generation of people who aren’t necessarily satisfied with traditional careers. They want to drive change…but from the private sector perspective…while at the same time [not wanting to] follow typical career paths.
In the past, these people might have shifted their career to focus more on development work…but now they are finding they can [make impact] from the private sector.
[I’m seeing] both the private sector and the development sector becoming more accepting of the types of skills [that each can bring.]
The Lab is a collaboration between Leadership Laboratories, Accenture and Business Fights Poverty and is held in business schools across the world – Oxford in UK, Cornell in USA, Gordon Institute of Business in S. Africa.
Companies involved include Barclays, Mars, Pearson, Philips, GSK, Novartis, Cemex, Coca-Cola, BASF and Interface – many of whom are seeing tangible results in the form of profitable, social innovations arising from within the company…led by committed and driven intrapreneurs.
The Johannesburg Lab is 17-19 November 2015.
For more information and to apply, please email Natasha Ncube.