Intrapreneurship and Innovation: Driving Growth in Modern Organisations

Intrapreneurship within companies allows for innovation and the achievement of new results. This vision of identifying opportunities and developing new solutions for the benefit of the organisation is what we call intrapreneurship. Google, for instance, encourages intrapreneurship as one of its core principles. As an internal practice, the company allows its employees to dedicate 20% of their time to personal projects. One of the outcomes of such projects is Gmail. It offers precise search functionality and was the first email service to provide 1 GB of storage. Paul Buchheit, its creator, launched the service through invitations. Today, having a Gmail account is considered almost indispensable.

Source: https://bit.ly/3xidaQn. Accessed on: 10 Apr 2022.

Intrapreneurship is accessible to all of us as employees and can be a positive way to grow within a company and develop one's career. Even when working in the public sector, it is possible to develop methods to optimise the functioning of the organisation. Within this context, in our MAPA activity, you will practice intrapreneurship. Follow the guidelines below:

1. Explain whether there are opportunities to be an intrapreneur in your company and your area of work. Describe the business sector in which the company operates (it is not mandatory to disclose the company's name). If you are not currently employed, you can base your MAPA on your last job or research a company where someone you know works.

The company I work for is called IGT Solutions. It provides outsourcing services for processes, technology, and integrated digital solutions to clients across various industries, with a primary focus on the travel and aviation sectors, managing call centre operations. The goal is to simplify complex interactions with end customers of other large companies, delivering a seamless experience. The company describes itself as a next-generation customer experience (CX) provider, defining and delivering transformative experiences for global and innovative brands using digital technologies combined with human and digital intelligence.

Founded in 1998, IGT employs over 20,000 professionals who serve more than 75 global clients. It operates on every continent with 23 operational offices in China, the Philippines, Malaysia, India, the United Arab Emirates, Romania, Indonesia, Spain, Colombia, and the USA.

I work at the Dubai office, where there are five major projects. I manage three of these projects: KLM Airlines, Lufthansa Airlines, and Oyo Vacation Homes. Compared to other locations, the Dubai office is relatively small, with approximately 300 employees. Despite this, there are ample opportunities for intrapreneurship, and the company actively promotes this culture. We have employee training programmes at all levels, particularly in Six Sigma, where, at the end of the course, participants must develop and implement projects within their areas of expertise. These programmes aim to improve processes, and we have full autonomy to lead these projects, with support from senior management for implementing solutions that deliver results.

2. Describe whether your leadership promotes an environment of autonomy for decision-making and bringing new ideas to the company. Explain through practical actions how the company fosters an innovative environment or lacks practices to encourage innovation.

Yes. The leadership at my company encourages decision-making and creative solutions to everyday problems. We have internal training programmes with various courses that employees can enrol in or be nominated for by their supervisors. At the end of these courses, participants must develop practical application projects to improve processes within their areas of responsibility.

Additionally, when we encounter problems requiring specialised team solutions, managers organise brainstorming sessions and hackathons where new ideas are shared, and a consensus is reached on which solution to implement. Furthermore, we hold a monthly internal Business Review Meeting (iMBR), where senior managers present the results of their projects and share best practices that yielded positive or negative outcomes in the previous month.

3. Within your department, present three ideas that could bring improvements to your company. These could include ideas you have already implemented. If you are not currently working, you can present ideas for a company you previously worked for or have access to information about.

When I was responsible for the training department, I noticed that several projects providing chat, email, and social media support were suffering due to a lack of standardisation in developing employees' soft skills. Some projects were excellent, while others were poor. Trainers used different materials and teaching methods—some were highly effective, while others focused solely on technical aspects of the job, neglecting soft skills entirely. I developed training modules and implemented them across all projects and locations within the company.

Additionally, the selection process for these employees was standardised. I created grammar, writing, and reading comprehension tests for all candidates applying for these roles, focusing on written proficiency. These actions significantly improved struggling projects, with visible results in quality assessments and the CSAT metrics sent to end clients. During the development and implementation of this project, I received support from senior management, which increased my visibility and led to several promotions within the organisation.

A third idea was in my current area of work, operations management. In one of the projects I oversee, we provide customer service via social media. Under the current workflow, agents respond to a passenger's message, change the case status, and move on to the next passenger. This causes delays in service, as during high-volume periods, end customers may wait days for each response. I approached the client and proposed a new workflow called live-reply. In this new approach, agents handle the same case from start to finish, waiting for the customer's response. The goal is to increase end-customer satisfaction and reduce wait times for issue resolution. The project is in its final development phase and will be implemented on 11 July. The client was very pleased with the proposal, strengthening the relationship with our company.

Do you have an entrepreneurial profile? It is common for people to claim they lack an affinity for entrepreneurship and starting a business. An entrepreneur is someone who takes action, i.e., a person capable of generating new ideas with creativity and determination. This concept dates back to the 1940s when the Austrian economist Joseph A. Schumpeter coined the term "entrepreneurship." A good entrepreneur understands their role in the economic development of society and the importance of addressing people's needs. In other words, these aspects define the conception of this professional's idea and guide their spirit of action. Thus, creativity and curiosity are integral to the entrepreneurial journey. Key entrepreneurial characteristics include being visionary, determined, dynamic, dedicated, optimistic, passionate, independent, self-driven, wealthy, team leaders, well-connected, organised, planners, knowledgeable, risk-takers, value creators, decisive, and adept at seizing opportunities.

Source: https://bit.ly/3rb7rrF. Accessed on: 10 Apr 2022.

Based on this context about the entrepreneurial profile, follow the guidelines below:

1. Choose two entrepreneurs you admire, provide a brief history of their careers, and describe at least three entrepreneurial characteristics of each person.


Luiza Helena Trajano

According to Trembulack (2018), Luiza began her professional life at the age of 12, working as a shop assistant in her uncle's store to buy Christmas presents for her family. The store was founded in 1957 in Franca, a city in the interior of São Paulo. She started working at the company full-time at 18, as an apprentice in various departments, and became CEO in 1991, a role she passed on to her son Frederico in 2016.

She graduated in Law in 1972 and transformed the local retail chain, Magazine Luiza, into one of the country's leading retail networks. Today, according to Forbes (2022), Luiza Trajano's net worth is estimated at $1.4 billion, and Magazine Luiza has nearly 1,000 physical stores across Brazil and a growing online business.

She is known for her visionary leadership, closeness to employees and customers. In 1992, she created a system where customers could purchase items not available in the store they visited, called Virtual Stores. Additionally, to boost sales in January, she launched a clearance sale for sample items called the Fantastic Sale, improving results in a month traditionally considered weak for retail.

Due to her care for employees and a robust talent retention programme, Magazine Luiza has been listed among the best places to work by Exame (2020) for 19 consecutive years. She also leads the Mulheres do Brasil group, formed in 2012 with the goal of improving the country.

Entrepreneurial Characteristics of Luiza:

• Visionary – Transformed a local retail chain into one of the country's leading networks, launching incremental improvements to enhance customer experience, which competitors later copied.
• Passionate – Her interviews clearly show her passion for her business and customers.
• Makes a Difference – Impacts the lives of her employees through development programmes and prioritises customer solutions.



Oprah Winfrey

Oprah was born in 1954 in the United States. She endured physical and psychological abuse during her youth and decided to move in with a friend during her teenage years. Her talent for public speaking earned her a scholarship at the University of Tennessee, where she studied television communication. In 1984, she moved to Chicago to host the talk show AM Chicago, which later became The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1985. She hosted the show for 25 years. With the earnings from her show, Oprah built her own TV network (Oprah Winfrey Network), a website, and two magazines. Today, she ranks on Forbes with an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion and is considered one of the most influential people in the world. (AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ACHIEVEMENT, 2022)

Entrepreneurial Characteristics of Oprah:

• Independent and Self-Made – Overcame childhood trauma to build the person she is today.
• Well-Connected – Built a powerful network of relationships during her career due to her oratory skills.
• Creates Value for Society – Transformed her show from sensationalist interviews to content emphasising spiritual values, healthy living, and self-help.

2. Every individual has the ability to develop innovative proposals and solutions that will set them apart, generating incremental or disruptive innovation. Choose and describe at least one innovation developed by each of the entrepreneurs you selected. This innovation can be either incremental or disruptive.

Luiza Trajano
Incremental Innovation: Virtual Stores

Customers visiting a physical Magazine Luiza store could choose from items beyond the store's physical capacity. Using an electronic catalogue, they could select merchandise from other locations and have it delivered to the nearest store. This was created in the 1990s, when online shopping was still in its infancy.

Innovation – Fantastic Sale
Noticing weak performance in January, Luiza implemented a major clearance sale during this month, which was a success and improved results.

Oprah Winfrey
Incremental Innovation

She transformed her show from sensationalist interviews to content that improved viewers' health, spirituality, and mental well-being.