Future of Business: An Intercompany Course for Changemakers
A 6-week online course offered to Ashoka's corporate partners and network members to learn the fundamentals of social impact and use their skills to advance social innovation within their institutions.
Course dates & times:
Hosted between February 26th to April 5th, 2024.
Registrations are now closed. Stay updated on the next edition of this course by signing up to our Newsletter.
About the learning journey
This learning experience is designed for Ashoka's corporate partners and trains professionals on the foundations of social impact while offering an intelligible understanding of corporations' role in building sustainable systems.
At Ashoka, we believe that equipping your workforce with changemaker skills is key to building an enterprise that can thrive in the competing business landscape of the future. In today’s world of unprecedented change, creating space for understanding, collaboration, and social impact has become essential to a company’s survival.
Developing and fostering skills such as intrapreneurship, agility, teamwork, empathy, and collaborative leadership is increasingly important for the future of business. The course has a blended format of self-paced content (videos, reading materials, etc.) and live webinars that complement the learning including inspiration from guest speakers and peer exchange.
Learning objectives:
Enable business managers to foster socially sustainable practices with dual social and business impact within their organizations.
Equip executives with the capability to seamlessly integrate social impact into their institution's core fabric.
Empower corporate leaders interested in advancing a sustainability culture in their departments or sectors with the tools and best practices needed for effective implementation.
Facilitate early and mid-level business managers to expand their skill sets in leading positive change within their roles.
Provide professionals with diverse backgrounds who work closely with the private sector on the development of sustainable practices in their value chain with the expertise to collaborate effectively.
Who this is for
This course is offered to Ashoka’s corporate partners, current or prospective, and their employees, Ashoka Support Network members (ASN) and Africa Builders, participants in Ashoka programs and young innovators in the Ashoka network working with the business sector.
Over the years, the Future of Business course has proven to be an effective tool in transforming the way professionals in the corporate sector understand their role in building a world where everyone is a changemaker. It has also supported different teams in engaging institutions and individuals in their strategies.
Our data shows that within 6 weeks, participants go through a journey of self-awareness, understanding the role of corporations in systemic change, strategies for co-creation between social intra- and entrepreneurs, and more.
In its previous edition, the course successfully engaged over 400 professionals from 50+ companies within the Ashoka ecosystem.
Registrations are now closed. Stay updated on the next edition of this course by signing up to our Newsletter.
Practical information
Format:
6 self-paced modules with 10+ videos
3 live virtual webinars
Additional resourcesand reading for in-depth self-learning
Dates:
February 26 – April 5, 2024.
Commitment:
This course is delivered through an online platform and requires a minimum recommended time commitment of two hours per week. During the course, there will be three live webinars, in which learners will have the opportunity to engage with guest experts and ask questions.
This course is subject to a pricing model, based on the number of enrolled employees. Limited free seats are available.
Module 1: Why Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society's most pressing social, cultural, and environmental challenges. Looking at examples that have reshaped global industries, in Module 1 we connect the dots between big innovations and social entrepreneurs to learn how they have influenced new systems and modes of thinking and operating.
Module 2: Social Intrapreneurship and the Corporate World
This module explores the definition of social intrapreneurship and investigates the business case for fostering intrapreneurship within institutions. Participants are exposed to real-world examples and learn about the necessary skills to grow as an intrapreneur and create impact from within an institution.
Module 3: Systems Change and Levels of Impact
This module introduces learners to the concept of systems change and the different levels of impact. We focus on how to create change and how we can escalate our impact within systems by understanding how solutions can address the root—or a portion—of a social problem.
Module 4: Developing Changemaker Skills to Advance Social Impact
We look at the skills needed to advance social impact in a rapidly changing environment, such as empathy, new leadership, collaborative teamwork, creativity, and more. We review examples of real-life challenges to advancing social impact and learn how successful innovators employed these skills and others to overcome barriers.
Module 5: Shared Value & Co-creation
Besides serving as a tool for organizational transformation, co-creation is an opportunity for businesses to spark the next generation of sustainable solutions through cross-sector collaboration. We can inspire new business models by developing shared value, and working closely with non-traditional partners, beginning with social entrepreneurs.
Module 6: Final Review and Wrap-up
The final week is an exercise in reflection and an opportunity to review content. It also allows participants to crystallize their professional connections from the course and discuss the concepts we’ve explored together.
Testimonials
"I really appreciate the idea that social change can come from within an organization or external to an existing organization, but ultimately, systems-level involvement is required for long-term change. The modules focused on ways to understand the problem you are trying to solve trully resonated."
...
Senior Director
United States
"I've already started applying the distinction between the levels of impact [in my job] - an amazing tool for understanding what we can do and what changes to expect given the different levels we're at. We are now equipped to move with our business from scaled direct impact to systemic change.”
Communications Manager
Romania
"I really understood the mindset of changemaking. Now I feel we are on the right track, the course helped me find the right angle, the right approach, the will to try and not be afraid of failure."
