Where do you start if you want to change the world?

Purpose is a journey. To make it real, it needs to be something that every one of our people believe in and embody with our clients every day. That means we need to engage our people in it, demonstrate what we mean by it, and celebrate the successes of the individuals and teams who bring it to life.

In 2015 EY rolled out a global program called Better begins with you, which celebrates and recognizes the achievements of outstanding EY people who, through their work, have found inspiring and impactful ways to bring the EY purpose – building a better working world – to life.

Uniquely for a program of this sort, recognition is just the start. The four global winners each year share US$1m to invest in a project related to their winning initiative, allowing them to have an even greater purpose-led impact.

The program engages EY people in nominating individuals and teams across four award categories – strengthening our communities, pursuing innovation, exemplifying the highest performing teams and driving exceptional client service – with a global winner selected for each. It was a great privilege to meet this year’s global finalists and winners at our awards ceremony in Singapore, and to get the chance to hear first-hand about how they have each brought the EY purpose to life.

Strengthening our communities

The winning team in the ‘Strengthening our communities’ category was made up of two EY people – Adrienn and Timothy – who helped one of Kenya’s most impactful organizations turn data into actionable insight. Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) is a non-profit organization that provides a diversity of services to economically challenged communities in Nairobi. They work with people every day, aggregating residents’ data that had previously been collated using physical records or unsophisticated systems. Adrienn and Timothy used their own personal time to act as advisers to SHOFCO, providing strategic and technical expertise to help them build dashboard reporting and develop the ability to learn from the data they were gathering. Ultimately, this helped SHOFCO to better utilize their resources and focus their efforts where it’s most needed. 

Driving exceptional client service

Driving exceptional client service is about creating long-term value by taking a broad view of clients’ sectors and the business world, to help them address opportunities they might not otherwise identify. The winners in this category were Cedric and Reuben, a two-person EY team that utilized expertise in serving clients to help entrepreneurs in Belgium launch, grow and scale their businesses. Cedric and Reuben used their free time to meet with founders and help them answer their most pressing questions about funding, commercial strategy, legal requirements and even which term-sheet clauses to watch out for. In the last two years, Ruben and Cedric have conducted more than 100 sessions helping dozens of start-ups secure vital funding.

Pursuing innovation

Technology and data are changing everything, from how we create and deliver value to how we relate to each other and our clients. The ‘Pursuing innovation’ winners used the power of blockchain to connect blood donors, service operations and recipients to drive better patient results. Blood service operations are often complex and critical, especially as blood moves through the supply chain, and the EY Innovation team in Canada collaborated with Canadian Blood Services to examine its services and find new opportunities to better serve donors and partners. The team developed a solution using blockchain technology to track each bag of blood, improving transparency and driving the potential for improvements in efficiency as well as better results for patients.

Exemplifying the highest performing teams

The winners in the ’Exemplifying highest performing teams’ category was made up of a multidisciplinary team of EY professionals who worked through various challenges to create a brighter future for Puerto Rico. The EY team worked in lockstep with their client to evaluate and improve the Puerto Rican government’s US$28bn annual budgeting process, which involved collaborating with dozens of organizations. With the assistance of the integrated EY team operating across many geographies and time zones, the client successfully transformed the government’s annual budget process to instil greater transparency and controls than ever before.

I’d like to say a huge congratulations to this year’s global winners and finalists, who all displayed great leadership qualities to bring the EY purpose to life. It was great to meet you in person in Singapore and see you get the recognition you truly deserve.

Read more about our Better begins with you winners here.