The projects of the season 2018 of the People’sLab4Good are flying the nest!

07.12.2018

A round of applause for the first promotion of #Intrapreneurs4Good at BNP Paribas! For four months, fifteen employees were taking part in the BNP Paribas intrapreneurship program, the People’sLab4Good. Their challenge: turning the seed of an idea into a concrete project, combining business interest for the Group with a positive impact on society and/or the environment. This engagement is in line with the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, just like the entire Group.

Let’s Start Accelerating the Positive Impact Projects of the People'sLab4Good Intrapreneurs!

Working in different business lines, entities, and coming from several regions of France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Côte d’Ivoire, the People’sLab4Good intrapreneurs are carrying out projects which respond to issues that concern society as a whole:

Handicap, with Emmanuelle Fenard’s Tàngata project: a place to accelerate the development of companies offering services to people living with disabilities, as well as an online platform to encourage exchanges with the general public.
Responsible Consumption, with Catherine Wurth’s Finance4Good project: a savings account that gives the clients the possibility to support companies with a social and/or environmental impact, thanks to a part of their interests. This service comes with the creation of a community of clients acting for change, who can follow the impact of their investment and meet at events.
Occupational integration, which Frédéric Auregan is helping thanks to alternating work/study programs, with Altermotive: speed-meeting events between students from disadvantaged areas and the heads of SME or very small businesses looking for young people on work-study training contracts.
Ecology, with the 10GS’Impact project, conducted by Franck-Michel Amon, that consists in making biogas out of organic waste so as to offer an ecological alternative to charcoal in the rural areas of Côte d’Ivoire; and also with Sl’immo, Samy Dries’ project, who’s developing the caretaking service dedicated to corporate building eco-renovations.

On November 8, 2018, the intrapreneurs who had already obtained a GO for a first prototype or deployment at the end of the program went on stage to introduce their projects to new internal investors or sponsors. They had one objective in mind: accelerating and strengthening their positive impact.

A Unifying Engagement

Several members of the BNP Paribas Executive Committee and Corporate Directors went on stage alongside the intrapreneurs, to demonstrate their engagement.

“We all need to have an entrepreneur mindset, to find innovative solutions. Here, we can clearly see that these are business subjects,” said Marie-Claire Capobianco, Head of the French Retail Banking, in order to encourage an audience composed of about one hundred decision makers from all BNP Paribas to get involved.

This call has often reached receptive ears, due to the fact that the intrapreneurs’ ideas could be applied to many different business lines in BNP Paribas, or could be used to bring several entities together, exemplifying the cross-functional dynamics of Engagement within the Group.

For Antoine Sire, Director of the Company Engagement department and member of the Executive Committee, “these initiatives are paving the way to the business models of tomorrow, by matching enthusiasm and high skills with one incredible thing: altruism.”

these initiatives are paving the way to the business models of tomorrow, by matching enthusiasm and high skills with one incredible thing: altruism.

Fast-forward to the 2019 Season!

People'sLab4Good is BNP Paribas' intrapreneurship program, which aims to develop new solutions with a 100% positive impact.

With 20 days of training over four months, employees are coached into acquiring startups’ key skills, receiving dedicated guidance and a deep-dive into the culture of the Social Business.

In 2018, the first promotion brought together 15 intrapreneurs from nine Group entities and four countries.

Next step to boost intrapreneurship with a 100% positive impact at BNP Paribas: applications opening soon for the People’sLab4Good 2019 promotion!

#Intrapreneurs4Good, an Inter-Company Movement!

Last March, to further boost the impact of the “4 Good” initiatives, BNP Paribas also launched the #Intrapreneurs4Good movement. The hashtag helps enhance the value of the Group's projects, while harnessing the external goodwill of civil society on social networks. This is based on sharing best practices and information, and holding events bringing together stakeholders involved in high-impact intrapreneurship. At the beginning of October, the first event gathered more than fifteen companies on this topic.

To learn more, join us on Twitter and Instagram. And to find out more about the #Intrapreneurs4Good who act daily to change the world, go to Soundcloud and discover Change Makers (in French), our podcast profiling these pioneers!