It was around this time last year that my colleague and friend Frank Kochendoerfer went to Pretoria, South Africa for a SAP Social Sabbatical Program. It was
a chance for SAP's highly educated workforce to give back to a community in need. He blogged about the experience that clearly made an impact on both his professional and private life. He told me how he really enjoyed making a difference and helping to make the lifes of those less fortunate a bit better. It was a good feeling.
But then Frank took it one step further than most people would do. Inspired by what he experienced in Pretoria, he and his lovely wife took it upon themselves to support the local businesses even more. They created an internet store called Kanyoobags and began to import beautiful handmade leather bags made of premium car seat leather. The bags are manufactured by a local Pretoria non-profit organization which employs 130 people with physical and mental disabilities, really making an impact in a country with a 40% unemployment rate. That was the mission: To continue what they had begun in Pretoria in a way that really made a difference first hand to the local people there struggling to make a living.
That's what I call paying it forward. Happy holidays! Let us know if you have similar inspirational stories to share.