Two Danone intrapreneurs took part in the ‘Ticket for Change Tour’, an enlightening 12-day journey in view of changing society through entrepreneurship and innovation. Their two projects involving the HR and raw materials procurement departments will be implemented within the company.

 

 

On the road for 12 days (but a far cry from Kerouac’s trips), the 58 Ticket for Change travelers kept snug and warm in their bus as they journeyed to every corner of France from August 25 to September 5, discovering how they could change the world through entrepreneurship – no less!

But what is ‘Ticket for change’? It is a program launched by a social start-up and put into motion by Matthieu Dardaillon to “stimulate talent to change society through entrepreneurship.“

“The goal is to identify young people with potential, motivation and a burning desire to contribute to solving social and environmental issues through entrepreneurship and innovation, but who don’t know how to take the first step” he says. With meetings, workshops, talks and more, throughout the journey participants were immersed in an entrepreneurial, social and environmental whirlwind designed to spark off ideas.

 

A. de Vaubernier © Rodolphe Escher/Libération

The group included 50 young potential start-uppers and eight intrapreneurs: employees enthusiastic about the idea of creating lasting solutions within their companies. Two of them came from Danone: Marisa Pedrosa, HR Supervisor for a Blédina factory, and Antoine de Vaubernier, Operations Manager for the Organic sectors. Why did they embark on this adventure? “I followed the first tour from afar, and when I saw it was open to intrapreneurs this year, I decided to go for it, with Danone’s support, as the company had previously encouraged employees to participate” says Antoine de Vaubernier, whose aim was to work on improving organic product supply chain. danone.communities is indeed a Founding Partner of the Ticket for Change Tour, along with Evian, and helped the two intrapreneurs to raise the funds needed to participate to the Tour. For Marisa Pedrosa, the goal was to launch an innovative management project called “CollaborACTEURS” encouraging employee involvement and fostering the performance of organizations. The whole project redefines management by putting employees at the heart of the company’s life and actions, and these two future solutions were able to mature during the 2,700 km journey.

 

“It’s a powerful method. Our bodies and minds were always on the move, which sparked off ideas and questions that helped us see if our project matched up to our deeply-held values” says Maria Pedrosa. “You get out of your comfort zone and face up to change alongside people from every kind of social and educational background.” Antoine de Vaubernier agrees: “The tour was a physical, emotional and intellectual shake-up. It made us think differently and drove us to look deep inside ourselves. Before the tour, I was wondering how to tackle the subject and how it could evolve. In the end, the tour helped to back up my initial idea, even though I reworked it a bit.” Now comes the hardest part: putting theory into practice. In any case, Danone has already confirmed the relevance and feasibility of these two intrapreneurs’ projects.

 

 

 

 

Article by Usbek & Rica. Published courtesy of © DownToEarth