22/12/2021
This is Arthur Balabrega. Since the early 2000โs, he has been an entrepreneur starting businesses one after the other. Currently, he is the owner and principal operator of Brand New Sales, a company that helps to find the right sales employees for businesses.
However, this is the story of how he was an intrapreneur before starting the path he is on now. When Arthur was 22 years old, he decided to move to Australia. In Sydney, he began to work for a telephone service provider selling business telephone systems. He slowly worked himself through the ranks within this multicultural company to become responsible for Key Accounts.
His intrapreneurial story starts a long time ago when files werenโt saved on computers yet. The company predominately focused on aquiering new customers while existing customers were left forgotten. The company never considered that these customers would be in need of new equipment at some point in time.
Arthur came up with the idea of a renewal services. The company would offer customers brand new telephone equipment at same monthly rate customer where already paying. It was a win-win.
The company sold new telephone equipment with an increased margin because the technology had become cheaper and interest rates lower.
He searched for clients though the files and tested his idea to see if it would work; within a few weeks he was selling a lot of telephone systems which management started to notice. This is the point where Arthur wants you to be careful as an intrapreneur.
What happened to him is what happened many times with different companies in the current business culture. As soon as management knew what his newly found tactic was, they took it over, banned him from doing this again and management acted like it was their idea. In the end, as usual, management had no idea how to properly use this strategy and destroyed the potential the idea has.
To be an intrapreneur is completely bound to the company you work for, if they donโt appreciate it, you will not get the appreciation you deserve for innovating. Make sure to pick a company where you can develop yourself and the company at the same time.