SAP Pro Bono for Economic Equity
Over the course of the past years, the world has witnessed an incredibly volatile and uncertain global crisis unfold with the COVID-19 pandemic, a situation that has been further complicated by unaddressed social and systemic racial injustices in the United States and around the world. Acknowledging both this current circumstance and the historical precedents that have made operating a business more difficult for Black business owners, SAP, a global leader in business application software, has made several commitments meant to support the racial and social justice movements across the U.S. and other countries.
In an effort to provide additional support specifically to Black-owned small businesses, the company has expanded its skills-based volunteer programming to include the Pro Bono for Economic Equity program in partnership with Pyxera Global.
What the Program Entails
Through this initiative, SAP will offer the skills, talent, and expertise of its employees at no cost, virtually, over the course of six weeks to support the operations of Black-owned businesses at a time when substantive recommendations and business guidance from seasoned professionals can make a large impact on the future of those businesses and the communities they serve.
This opportunity is for Black-owned businesses that are looking for guidance and recommendations on how to:
- Streamline and improve the efficiency of their operations
- Transition operations or services virtually
- Meet the needs of customers during the current reality
- Grow or expand their business
- Build resiliency in the face of difficult circumstances
Support Team Skillsets
Each selected business will receive a team of 2-3 SAP employees, each of whom will dedicate up to 80 hours over the course of the 6-week program to their assigned project.
SAP support teams will be built from various disciplines and backgrounds to provide a multilayered perspective to those businesses selected for participation in the program. Potential skill sets include:
- Strategy & Planning
- Business Development
- Operations & Process Management
- Marketing & Public Relations
- Data Analytics & Management
- Human Resources
- Finance & Accounting
- Project Management
- Design Thinking
SAP will select employees to participate in this program through a competitive application process to ensure that businesses benefit from some of the company’s best and most passionate talent in each region.
Benefits of Pro Bono
SAP has offered pro bono business consulting services since 2012 to private and social organizations in an effort to live by its mantra of “helping the world run better and improving people’s lives.” Over 460 organizations have benefitted from having the company’s talent provide recommendations and guidance on specific business challenges or opportunities.
Over that period, SAP has found that the engagement of its top talent in this skills-based service activity has provided creative outlets for employees to explore new ways of ensuring customer success, which has led to positive business benefits. SAP, well known for its business process expertise and its ability to leverage technology to enable business success, has worked hard to create a corporate culture that gives back to the communities in which its employees live and work.
In the Pro Bono for Economic Equity program, SAP is recruiting employees that are passionate about racial and social justice to assist Black-owned businesses in building resiliency into their operations, create new wealth in communities of color, and help decrease racial disparities in the United States.
Program Requirements & Eligibility
Your business must be:
- A Black-owned small business or social enterprise (as defined by 50% or more Black ownership of the business)
- Your business should not have more than 50 employees (including yourself, all full or part-time employees, and independent (1099) contractors)
- The business must also NOT be part of a large franchise brand. The business may have multiple locations, but the parent company should be the one to apply for this program.
- The business must have been founded within the United States and have a majority of its operations within the United States.
Selected businesses will also need to:
- Work with PYXERA Global to identify the challenge that will be assessed by the SAP employees and create a detailed project brief to guide their initial work.
- Establish a project coordinator that will be able to dedicate at least 5 hours per week to meeting with the SAP employees or providing the necessary materials to inform their work.
- Ensure periodic access to the business’ decision-makers to confirm the validity and sustainability of recommendations.
Businesses that are not eligible for participation in the Pro Bono for Economic Equity program:
- Any government agency, public administration, political organization, or non-profit of any type;
- Businesses engaged in any illegal activity;
- Entities listed on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Sanctions List.
- Businesses which derive directly or indirectly more than de minimis gross revenue through the sale of products or services, or the presentation of any depictions or displays, of a sexual nature;
- Businesses principally engaged in teaching, instructing, counseling, or indoctrinating religion or religious beliefs, whether in a religious or secular setting;
- Any business that is primarily in the business of manufacturing, promoting, or selling diet aids, cannabis, gambling, tobacco (including tobacco-related equipment, such as e-cigarettes), firearms or other weapons;
- Direct sellers (i.e. multi-level marketing businesses);
- Businesses owned by employees, officers, and directors of SAP, PYXERA Global, or any referring partner for the Pro Bono for Economic Equity program, and any affiliated entities, and their respective immediate families (parents, spouse, children, siblings) or individuals residing in their household (whether or not related).
Applications Now Open for the 2024 Fall Program!
Please contact economicequity@pyxeraglobal.org with any questions about the program or application.
Pipeline Partners
SAP & PYXERA Global are extremely grateful to the following Pipeline Partners for working to make this opportunity available to the businesses in their support networks:
Alumni Businesses of the Program
In the News
Applications now open for the Fall 2024 program!
Please contact economicequity@pyxeraglobal.org with any questions about the program or application.