This year’s SAP Social Sabbatical for Regional Engagement will be a big win for social enterprises in Christchurch – and for SAP as well – combining the skills and experience of 12 top performing employees of SAP Australia and New Zealand with the passion and enthusiasm of the social enterprises.
The 2017 social sabbatical program is being hosted in New Zealand to coincide with the global 2017 Social Enterprise World Forum, taking place in Christchurch in September.
The program provides a forum for SAP employees to use their private sector expertise to solve strategic challenges for non-profits and social enterprises with a focus on bridging the digital divide.
“Although this injection of talent (some of our organisation’s top performers) sounds like a boon for these social enterprises, it’s as much, if not more so, for SAP,” said Graeme Riley, managing director, SAP New Zealand. “The passion with which these social enterprises presented their mission and vision is something most corporations could only dream of.”
The program’s launch event in Christchurch brought together SAP employees, SAP’s implementing partner PYXERA Global, sector intermediary Akina Foundation and the participating social enterprises: science and learning technology education centre Science Alive; urban farms network Cultivate Christchurch; personal care product manufacturer and retailer Ethique; and Kilmarnock Enterprises, which provides a diverse range of employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
The SAP social sabbatical programs are designed to both help solve the business challenges facing non-profits/social enterprises and to challenge and develop SAP leaders through a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see first-hand the global effects of digitisation and to make a real difference in accordance with their world vision.
