“My time at RC showed me that individual and collective empowerment go hand in hand.”
As Coordinator of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Eczacıbaşı Holding and Eczacıbaşı Group, alongside his active roles across various NGOs, Emre Eczacıbaşı stands as a prominent champion of intrapreneurship in Türkiye.
What is corporate entrepreneurship (intrapreneurship)?
Intrapreneurship is an organizational capability to continuously cultivate future opportunities for meaningful impact. It begins when individuals at all levels identify what they genuinely care about and where they can make a distinctive contribution.
How do you foster intrapreneurship in your own company? We focus on building conditions where initiatives can continuously emerge, evolve, and connect. We cultivate a culture where people are trusted and encouraged to take the initiative in defining their contributions.
What were your criteria in your recent investments?
Our approach is shaped the longterm: Is this connected to the future we want to help build, and can we contribute distinctively? When we established our corporate venture capital fund, Momentum, we focused on startups likely to disrupt our current sectors, such as healthcare and building products. Since then, we have shifted toward spaces where technology, sustainability, health, and quality of life intersect. These areas are also the focus of our intrapreneurial activity.
How did RC contribute to how you operate in business?
Having a multitude of voices was a core strength at RC. The journey inward was deeply valued, and teachers encouraged us to find our unique voices. In literature classes, personal meaning mattered; I learned to treasure and boldly go after mine, much like an entrepreneur.
