Spend few minutes scanning social media, watching television, or perusing neighborhood shops this past month, and you’ll see companies and communities across the globe showing up to celebrate Earth Day.
Or, more specifically, to celebrate the astonishing beauty of the planet we share and to leverage an opportunity to inspire individual action to ensure a livable, thriving world for everyone.
Earth Day 2025, themed “Our Power, Our Planet,” was a reminder of the unique role we can each play in building a more sustainable future. While not everyone may feel an immediate connection to the topic of climate action — other social issues may more deeply influence the choices we make and the actions we take to leave our mark on the world — it is clear that the health of the planet has an effect on every aspect of life, from the economy to our everyday well-being.
Employees at SAP are encouraged to bring their best, whole selves to work. One program making this possible is the Acceleration Collective. The Acceleration Collective is a virtual pro bono consulting program delivered with SAP social impact partner MovingWorlds on the TRANSFORM Support Hub. The program pairs employees with social enterprises — for example, impact-led organizations prioritizing people and planet over profit — to help solve business challenges that organizations are experiencing.
Pro bono consulting for people- and planet-first companies offers employees the chance to explore what is possible at the intersection of their professional experiences and their personal values. Not only does the Acceleration Collective allow employees to influence solutions to problems they see in the world, it also allows them to gain new expertise in a practical way, especially in areas like sustainability.
In honor of Earth Day, we are sharing stories of mutual learning and leadership development from pro bono engagements that have empowered SAP employees to partner with impact businesses focused on advancing sustainable practices and driving meaningful change for the world.
Alliance of learning and leadership
Late last year, Youssef Zekhnini, a Customer Success Manager in the Netherlands, took on a project working on a team of employees and representatives from CycleUp Textiles. A circular social enterprise that helps the environment by diverting textiles from landfill and upcycling them into luxury goods, CycleUp also empowers marginalized individuals in rural Ireland through training and skill development in the art of upcycling.
Collaborating with the CycleUp team and engaging with their mission provided Zekhnini with “valuable insights into how sustainable business models can positively affect a wide range of people within a community,” and helped him realize “that these models are often more complex than they appear.”
Their work together offered a focused opportunity for Zekhnini to strengthen his leadership skills, which “really highlighted the importance of clear communication, teamwork, and decisiveness,” challenging him “to step up, stay focused, and lead collaboratively in order to deliver a meaningful and impactful result.”
In just a few months, Zekhnini was able to gather new learnings about himself and the capacity for leadership that exists inside all of us, and more deeply understand what is possible when businesses are built and run with sustainability at their core.
Journey of insights and impact
For Sydney, Australia-based Jason Luo, an enterprise architect, and Felicity Zare, a Customer Success partner, their work with Circular Cities Asia helped them understand sustainability “as both a mindset and a practice” and reframe it as “a long-term growth opportunity, not just a compliance topic,” respectively.
In his reflection, Luo shared how the stories of specific families that have benefited from this client’s mission “crystallized the human dimension of sustainability” for him.
“I realized that ethical practices and community empowerment are not trade-offs but foundational pillars for modern enterprises,” he said. “Sustainable business models succeed when they are rooted in authentic relationships and local context. Sustainability requires balancing ambition with empathy, innovation with inclusivity, and vision with adaptability — lessons I’ll carry forward in all future endeavors.”
Circular Cities Asia helps to foster circular innovation in Asian cities by building capacity and testing eco-solutions on university campuses through community, mentorship, and hands-on projects. Their SAP pro bono team supported them with the prioritization of key customer segments, the development of value proposition canvases, and the design of targeted pitch decks. Beyond these deliverables, “the insights, knowledge, and expertise [the SAP team] brought to the table were invaluable, allowing us to refine our strategy [and gain] a fresh perspective on how to align our operations with future growth and sustainability goals.”
Zare, who felt an extra special connection to this organization, as she has family from South East Asia, also shared that participating in the Acceleration Collective “helped sharpen facilitation skills” and that for her, “translating our SAP knowledge into actionable strategies for a small, impact-driven team was a valuable stretch opportunity and reinforced the need to lead with clarity, empathy, and structure.”
Luo echoed this sentiment, articulating that a key takeaway from his experience was “the importance of adaptive communication — translating complex ideas into actionable steps for both our client and my peers.”
Their journey together enabled Circular Cities Asia to focus and amplify their impact and offered their pro bono consultant team from SAP the kinds of insights and skill development that will support them as their careers continue to grow inside of SAP and beyond.
Through their experiences working with CycleUp Textiles and Circular Cities Asia — social enterprises uniquely focused on shaping the future of sustainability — Zekhnini, Luo, and Zare have done more than just invest in their own growth. They have aligned their careers with their personal values and applied their skills in ways that can leave a lasting impact on the planet.
As environmental degradation and resource depletion continue to pose significant challenges, the world of business needs more leaders who are committed to participating in the creation of real change. These stories can show that pro bono consulting offers a stepping stone to meaningful collaboration and partnership that helps employees not only develop a growth mindset, but also a deeper understanding of what it looks like to drive sustainability from within a business.
As more SAP employees across the globe take on the opportunity to work alongside extraordinary, inspiring social entrepreneurs through pro bono consulting, these ripple effects will continue to spread, driving innovation, encouraging collaboration, and empowering future leaders to tackle the most pressing issues of our time.
Erin LaBarge is program lead of Global Employee Engagement Strategy for SAP Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP.
