Ukrainians and the World Deserve ANEW Ukraine!
How can intrapreneurship help with strategic rebuilding for ANEW Ukraine?
Ukraine finds itself in a crucial moment in its history, defending not only its own sovereignty but also that of the entirety of Europe from the aggression of its neighbor, Russia. However, beyond the immediate challenge of the conflict lies a daunting task: the reconstruction of a country that has been devastated by years of war. This reconstruction effort is expected to be the biggest investment project in modern history, but it is not just a matter of attracting capital. Ukraine needs to be able to transform this investment into long-term value, both for investors and for the strategic development of the country.
To achieve this, Ukraine must develop the capabilities necessary to be innovative and competitive in a global market. It must build a strong and democratic civil society that fosters entrepreneurship and social responsibility, while also ensuring the safety and security of its citizens. At the same time, Ukraine must become a welcome member of the European family, integrating into the political, economic, and cultural structures of the continent.
To achieve this, Ukraine must develop the capabilities necessary to be innovative and competitive in a global market. It must build a strong and democratic civil society that fosters entrepreneurship and social responsibility, while also ensuring the safety and security of its citizens. At the same time, Ukraine must become a welcome member of the European family, integrating into the political, economic, and cultural structures of the continent.
Investment in rebuilding must not only be to renovate or restore what was destroyed but also give Ukraine a strategic perspective and long-term value, promoting a strong and democratic civil society, capabilities to innovate, economic growth and global competitiveness.
The challenges facing Ukraine are immense, but so too are the opportunities.
If the country can emerge from this crisis with a stronger and more resilient economy, a more vibrant civil society, and a more secure place in Europe, it will have transformed itself in ways that few thought possible. This will require vision, leadership, and commitment on the part of all stakeholders, from government officials and business leaders to ordinary citizens. But the rewards will be great: a better future for Ukraine and for Europe as a whole.
If the country can emerge from this crisis with a stronger and more resilient economy, a more vibrant civil society, and a more secure place in Europe, it will have transformed itself in ways that few thought possible. This will require vision, leadership, and commitment on the part of all stakeholders, from government officials and business leaders to ordinary citizens. But the rewards will be great: a better future for Ukraine and for Europe as a whole.
Personal agency is the ability to act independently and make choices that shape one's life. It is closely related to self-efficacy, which is the belief in one's own capabilities to achieve goals. Entrepreneurship, in its broadest sense, is the process of creating and pursuing opportunities for value creation, whether in the form of a business, a social venture, or a personal project.
Development of entrepreneurship boosts not only the economic aspect of rebuilding but also transforms ANEW Ukraine as a country.
Boosting the culture of entrepreneurship has proven to have been a successful method in reaching economic growth and building civil society. Research shows that entrepreneurship stimulates economic growth by creating new businesses and increasing job opportunities¹. Additionally, entrepreneurship drives social innovation by developing new solutions to social problems² and assist societal cohesion by creating opportunities for collaboration and networking. Entrepreneurial communities can facilitate the exchange of ideas and resources, leading to stronger civil societies that empower marginalized groups and promote social inclusion³. Entrepreneurship contributes to the development of innovation ecosystems, which bring together entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, and other stakeholders to create a supportive environment for innovation, fostering economic and social development⁴.
Entrepreneurship can be seen as a form of personal agency, as it involves identifying problems, generating ideas, taking risks, and overcoming challenges. It can provide a sense of purpose, autonomy, and achievement.
By engaging in entrepreneurial activities, individuals can develop skills such as creativity, problem-solving, resilience, and self-reliance. Entrepreneurship not only creates new businesses, products, and services but also fosters social innovation, community building, and empowerment of marginalized groups. These factors play a vital role in driving civil society development and strengthening the state subjectivity of Ukraine.
¹ - The World Bank's "Doing Business Report" and the OECD's "Entrepreneurship at a Glance"
² - Schwab Foundation's "Social Innovation" and Ashoka's "Social Entrepreneurship"
³ - The Kauffman Foundation's "Startup Communities" and the Global Entrepreneurship Network's "Startup Nations"
⁴ - World Economic Forum's "Global Innovation Index" and Nesta's "Innovation Ecosystems"
Boosting the culture of entrepreneurship has proven to have been a successful method in reaching economic growth and building civil society. Research shows that entrepreneurship stimulates economic growth by creating new businesses and increasing job opportunities¹. Additionally, entrepreneurship drives social innovation by developing new solutions to social problems² and assist societal cohesion by creating opportunities for collaboration and networking. Entrepreneurial communities can facilitate the exchange of ideas and resources, leading to stronger civil societies that empower marginalized groups and promote social inclusion³. Entrepreneurship contributes to the development of innovation ecosystems, which bring together entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, and other stakeholders to create a supportive environment for innovation, fostering economic and social development⁴.
Entrepreneurship can be seen as a form of personal agency, as it involves identifying problems, generating ideas, taking risks, and overcoming challenges. It can provide a sense of purpose, autonomy, and achievement.
By engaging in entrepreneurial activities, individuals can develop skills such as creativity, problem-solving, resilience, and self-reliance. Entrepreneurship not only creates new businesses, products, and services but also fosters social innovation, community building, and empowerment of marginalized groups. These factors play a vital role in driving civil society development and strengthening the state subjectivity of Ukraine.
¹ - The World Bank's "Doing Business Report" and the OECD's "Entrepreneurship at a Glance"
² - Schwab Foundation's "Social Innovation" and Ashoka's "Social Entrepreneurship"
³ - The Kauffman Foundation's "Startup Communities" and the Global Entrepreneurship Network's "Startup Nations"
⁴ - World Economic Forum's "Global Innovation Index" and Nesta's "Innovation Ecosystems"
Intrapreneurship is a concept that refers to the practice of developing entrepreneurial skills and attitudes within an established organization, rather than starting a new venture. It involves individuals within a company taking on an entrepreneurial mindset to create innovative solutions, develop new products, and explore new business models, with the aim of driving growth and competitive advantage for their organization.
How to scale fast positive effects of entrepreneurship in a country with 36,7 million people and less than 2 million entrepreneurs?
Intrapreneurship is the answer!
Ukraine has a population of 36.7 million people, with approximately 10 million classed as employees and only 2 million as entrepreneurs. How can we quickly utilize the benefits of civil society and economic growth given by entrepreneurship in such a situation? Intrapreneurship provides a compelling answer.
Intrapreneurship involves empowering employees to take ownership of their work and become entrepreneurs within their companies. It has been shown to have many positive impacts on organizations, including increased productivity, employee satisfaction, and competitiveness. In our case, intrapreneurship is exactly the vehicle required to deliver advantages of entrepreneurship at a rapid scale to the employed population of Ukraine . It is particularly achievable because most people in Ukraine are hired workers. Intrapreneurship is unique in that it can leverage the existing structures and resources of organizations to create a significant scale of impact.
By empowering hired workers to pursue their passions and take control of their work, intrapreneurship can unlock a vast amount of untapped potential. Many individuals may have bold ideas or solutions to pressing social challenges, but lack the resources, infrastructure, or support needed to bring them to fruition. Intrapreneurship can provide these resources, along with the opportunity for individuals to collaborate and scale up their ideas within their organizations.
This method of leveraging existing organizational structures and resources means intrapreneurship can have a wider reach and impact than traditional entrepreneurship. While entrepreneurs often need to build their own networks and infrastructure from scratch, intrapreneurship takes what is already in place to quickly create significant impact on a wider scale. And of course, successful innovations might turn into new businesses and create much-needed new jobs in Ukraine .
This scalability can be particularly impactful for the development of civil society and economic growth, as it can help to address some of the most pressing challenges faced by the country.
Intrapreneurship usually results in a range of innovative solutions. In the case of re-building Ukraine, it is crucial to innovate to ensure fast, affordable and sustainable solutions, such as constructions replacing ones that were destroyed . But not only this — an innovative problem-solving approach creates opportunities for further international scaling of any solutions. This gives added incentive for international corporations and startups to take an interest in what Ukrainian intrapreneurs have to offer.
Intrapreneurship is the answer!
Ukraine has a population of 36.7 million people, with approximately 10 million classed as employees and only 2 million as entrepreneurs. How can we quickly utilize the benefits of civil society and economic growth given by entrepreneurship in such a situation? Intrapreneurship provides a compelling answer.
Intrapreneurship involves empowering employees to take ownership of their work and become entrepreneurs within their companies. It has been shown to have many positive impacts on organizations, including increased productivity, employee satisfaction, and competitiveness. In our case, intrapreneurship is exactly the vehicle required to deliver advantages of entrepreneurship at a rapid scale to the employed population of Ukraine . It is particularly achievable because most people in Ukraine are hired workers. Intrapreneurship is unique in that it can leverage the existing structures and resources of organizations to create a significant scale of impact.
By empowering hired workers to pursue their passions and take control of their work, intrapreneurship can unlock a vast amount of untapped potential. Many individuals may have bold ideas or solutions to pressing social challenges, but lack the resources, infrastructure, or support needed to bring them to fruition. Intrapreneurship can provide these resources, along with the opportunity for individuals to collaborate and scale up their ideas within their organizations.
This method of leveraging existing organizational structures and resources means intrapreneurship can have a wider reach and impact than traditional entrepreneurship. While entrepreneurs often need to build their own networks and infrastructure from scratch, intrapreneurship takes what is already in place to quickly create significant impact on a wider scale. And of course, successful innovations might turn into new businesses and create much-needed new jobs in Ukraine .
This scalability can be particularly impactful for the development of civil society and economic growth, as it can help to address some of the most pressing challenges faced by the country.
Intrapreneurship usually results in a range of innovative solutions. In the case of re-building Ukraine, it is crucial to innovate to ensure fast, affordable and sustainable solutions, such as constructions replacing ones that were destroyed . But not only this — an innovative problem-solving approach creates opportunities for further international scaling of any solutions. This gives added incentive for international corporations and startups to take an interest in what Ukrainian intrapreneurs have to offer.
Ukraine can become a global sustainable innovation sandbox, co-innovating horizontally with international partners
International co-funding of prototyping and testing will boost the engagement of partners.
Continuous iterative prototyping and testing is one of the core processes that make up intrapreneurship. It reduces risks of failure with large-scale projects and helps with making data-driven business decisions. At the same time, it requires resources without any guarantees of success from the first attempt. That is why sharing costs for prototyping and testing can intensify the engagement of participants.
Intrapreneurship can also help individuals and organizations to collaborate more effectively with external partners, such as startups, customers, suppliers, and universities among many possible stakeholders. This is known as open innovation, which is the practice of leveraging external sources of ideas, knowledge, and resources to enhance internal innovation capabilities. Open innovation will help startups, organizations and businesses from Ukraine to co-innovate not only with each other but with international peers as well.
Ukraine can become an attractive global sandbox for innovation development, co-prototyping and testing in areas not limited to defense, energy, agro, building, medicine, and tech. Each of these sectors have been affected by war and must be explored, requiring sustainable, but at the same time affordable and scalable solutions. Ukraine can offer actual challenges for innovation , special regulations for rapid and cost-effective experimentation, together with first orders for the deployment of any solutions created within the framework of rebuilding Ukraine. This is an extraordinary opportunity for international corporations and startups who wish to co-innovate with Ukrainian intrapreneurs.
Continuous iterative prototyping and testing is one of the core processes that make up intrapreneurship. It reduces risks of failure with large-scale projects and helps with making data-driven business decisions. At the same time, it requires resources without any guarantees of success from the first attempt. That is why sharing costs for prototyping and testing can intensify the engagement of participants.
Intrapreneurship can also help individuals and organizations to collaborate more effectively with external partners, such as startups, customers, suppliers, and universities among many possible stakeholders. This is known as open innovation, which is the practice of leveraging external sources of ideas, knowledge, and resources to enhance internal innovation capabilities. Open innovation will help startups, organizations and businesses from Ukraine to co-innovate not only with each other but with international peers as well.
Ukraine can become an attractive global sandbox for innovation development, co-prototyping and testing in areas not limited to defense, energy, agro, building, medicine, and tech. Each of these sectors have been affected by war and must be explored, requiring sustainable, but at the same time affordable and scalable solutions. Ukraine can offer actual challenges for innovation , special regulations for rapid and cost-effective experimentation, together with first orders for the deployment of any solutions created within the framework of rebuilding Ukraine. This is an extraordinary opportunity for international corporations and startups who wish to co-innovate with Ukrainian intrapreneurs.
When investing in the rebuilding of Ukraine, a fraction of each dollar spent could be allocated towards capacity building initiatives. These efforts would enable Ukraine to address its own needs in the future and potentially offer comparable or superior solutions and services to other nations. As a result, the return on investment could range from 3 to 5 dollars generated for every dollar invested.
Solutions created for the purposes of rebuilding Ukraine must be sustainable and internationally scalable.
A nother reason to innovate in an intrapreneurial format in Ukraine is sustainability. All rebuilding Ukraine initiatives, solutions, projects and objects must comply with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Environmental Social Governance (ESG). Restoration of what was in place before won’t adequately achieve SDGs, which is why groundbreaking solutions are required. On one hand, developments must clearly address actual challenges affecting Ukrainians, but without ignoring worldwide challenges. Globally scalable, sustainable, and affordable breakthroughs are very welcome in any industry regardless of location. This ‘beyond Ukraine’ scalability will increase attractiveness of any initiatives for international partners who are wish to participate in the rebuilding of Ukraine.
A nother reason to innovate in an intrapreneurial format in Ukraine is sustainability. All rebuilding Ukraine initiatives, solutions, projects and objects must comply with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Environmental Social Governance (ESG). Restoration of what was in place before won’t adequately achieve SDGs, which is why groundbreaking solutions are required. On one hand, developments must clearly address actual challenges affecting Ukrainians, but without ignoring worldwide challenges. Globally scalable, sustainable, and affordable breakthroughs are very welcome in any industry regardless of location. This ‘beyond Ukraine’ scalability will increase attractiveness of any initiatives for international partners who are wish to participate in the rebuilding of Ukraine.
It is possible to unlock the potential of intrapreneurship in Ukraine and stimulate organizations and businesses from the public and private sector. They will develop corporate innovation programs and accelerate corporate startups. For this purpose, a special catalyzation, coordination and development body is needed which can offer individual companies, clusters, associations and others with methodological, educational, consulting and any other support required to seed and develop a culture of intrapreneurship.
Pavlo Ryzhii
Purpusful Intrapreneurship catalyst
ANEW Ukraine foundation can enable international purposeful intrapreneurship and collaboration for rebuilding Ukraine
ANEW Ukraine foundation will
- Engage participants, including, but not limited to, corporations, startups, funds, international donors, governmental and state institutions of all levels
- Facilitate the identification and prioritization of different issues
- Catalyze innovation capabilities and entrepreneurial culture in Ukrainian companies and organizations
- Ensure the formation of cross corporate/country teams
- Accumulate and distribute funds for prototyping and testing
- Perform acceleration, coaching and mentorship support for teams in their sustainable innovation journey
- Organize the distribution of rights (IP, patents, etc.) of any innovative solutions created
- Communicate progress to all stakeholders including the media and society
- Provide organizational, administrative and project management support
- Funnel the transformational potential of Ukrainian intrapreneurs for the benefit of civil society
The concept of intrapreneurship has the potential to revolutionize the approach to rebuilding Ukraine, boosting entrepreneurial culture and behaviors at a scale as large as 10 million Ukrainian employees.
Other advantages intrepreneurship brings are
1
Economic growth
Creating new businesses and increasing job opportunities
2
Driving social innovation
Developing new solutions to social problems
3
Building communities
Creating opportunities for collaboration and networking together with innovation ecosystems which foster economic and social development
4
Stronger civil societies
Empowering marginalized groups and promoting social inclusion
It also contributes to the
Long-term strategic impact with the capacity to foster sustainable innovation
Ability of individuals and small groups of developers to reclaim their agency, leading to the overall global positioning of Ukraine as an independent and pioneering country
Sustainable development goals (SDGs) thanks to a sustainability focus of activities undertaken by intrapreneurs
Global competitiveness of Ukraine via its integration into the global innovation ecosystem as a live multi-industrial sandbox
Building ANEW Ukraine is ambitious, yet very achievable
Ukrainian business together with the government must unite with international partners and address ongoing challenges in a groundbreaking way to reach disruptive results. Intrapreneurship is one of the tools which can contribute to the re-building and transformational journey of Ukraine, generating shared value for all.
Text author: Pavlo Ryzhii