Marzena Zukowska

Featured Event: Hangout, Learn, Interact: Join Ashoka Changemakers and Accenture for the Social Intrapreneurship Google Hangout on Thursday

How can the world address some of the greatest social challenges in a way that is both sustainable and scalable?

Eli Malinsky, executive director of the new Center for Social Innovation in New York City, shared a trend for the future of social innovation: “We need to move the corporate needle closer and closer towards social change. Looking through this lens of social entrepreneurship, large corporations and multinationals can scale social impact to unprecedented levels through pragmatic, incremental changes.”

With that said, harnessing social impact does not have to be pushed to the fringes of a remote CSR strategy, but can actually offer smart returns. More and more, investing in base of the pyramid markets or developing environmentally responsible products is being woven directly into the business strategy of some of the world’s largest corporate firms.

But who are these corporate weavers, shifting the business needle towards delivering unmatched social change? They are a lost tribe of social innovators building better business from the inside out and breaking down silos between sectors in their wake: the social intrapreneurs. To find them and harness their potential, Ashoka Changemakers and Accenture, as the convening sponsor, have joined forces to run the inaugural League of Social Intrapreneurs online competition. (See a previous NextBillion post on the competition).

With the competition deadline slowly nearing, we invite you to tune into a Google Hangout conversation with the Early Entry Prize winners of the competition. The conversations is set for 10-11 a.m. EST, on Thursday, Dec. 13.

This event offers the opportunity to dig deeper into the “how” of social intrapreneurship through the direct work and experiences of two groups of entrants:

Watching the Hangout and participating in the conversation is easy:

  • Watch the Google Hangout live by tuning into our Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/user/ChangemakersNet
  • Log-in to your Twitter account a little before 10 a.m. EST.
  • Use the #SocInt hashtag to make your Hangout comments visible in the stream.
  • Introduce yourself and take a minute to get to know the other chatters when you join.
  • Send your questions to the participants to @changemakers and @SocIntLeague. Top questions will be publically featured in the last 10 minutes of the Hangout.

Be sure to invite your friends and followers to join the discussion, too; the best way is to post a tweet or facebook post like this one:

Can you work in a corporation AND be social innovator? Live convo! 12/13 10-11am EST w/ @changemakers @SocIntLeague + early comp winners #SocInt

Also mark your calendars for a Twitter-based chat next week on “The Future of Social Entrepreneurship” where thought leader organizations will convene to discuss this and other trends in social innovation. Join via the hashtag #SocEntChat on twitter from 3-4:30pm EST Dec. 19.

If you are unable to attend these live events, detailed recaps of the will be made available. Please contact me at: mzukowska@ashoka.org for more information about the Google Hangout.

See you on Thursday, corporate changemakers!

Marzena Zukowska is a media manager and strategist at Ashoka Changemakers.

Flickr image credit.

Categories
Education