Ngozi Akinyele, Group Executive at Coronation Merchant Bank, has urged employees within organisations to adopt an intrapreneurial mindset by viewing their job as a platform for innovation, growth and experience.

She shared these insights during the first edition of The Platform Africa 2025, a national development thought-leadership initiative, where she advised attendees to drive impactful change through continuous learning, by absorbing new ideas within their organisations.

She noted that one way to achieve this is by participating in internal innovative programmes, where one can build cross-functional skills and gain legitimate visibility that can accelerate one’s career.

“If you think your passion is blocking your dreams or that your 9 to 5 is in the way, remember that sometimes the passion you’re chasing has chased you, overtaken you and is waiting for you in the future.”

“Even when you’re working in another person’s business, be impactful. So if you’re in such an organisation where there are hackathons and innovation challenges, please get in there.”

“One day, you won’t have the authority or clout for transformation. You will need to have built your credibility within this organisation,” she said.

Speaking further, she noted that intrapreneurs need a “driver’s licence” called trust, which can be built by leveraging one’s talents, adjusting attitudes and styles, and gaining the right skills.

In the same vein, Damilola Mary Babatunde, a human resource professional and author of Beyond Employment: The Corporateprenuers Blueprint for Career Mastery,

refers to intrapreneurship as “corporatepreneurship,” which empowers individuals to approach their careers as extensions of their dreams and aspirations.

Babatunde explains that it is the art of treating your career like your personal business while working for an employer.

Narrating her own career journey to intrapreneurship, Babatunde shares that in her early career yearsX she juggled multiple roles while gaining experience and certifications necessary to excel in her chosen field.

“In the early years of my career, I was working as an admin, HR, investment advisor, receptionist and customer service representative for a fintech company, earning about N30,000 a month unregrettably. But I’m grateful for that phase of my life, which gave me a platform to build a sustainable career.”

“So instead of wallowing in complaints about my salary, I decided to take a long-term view of my career and crafted a decade-long plan—envisioning where I wanted to be by the end of that period. I deliberately and intentionally worked towards my crafted plan.”

“Fast forward to today: I am earning competitively well at this phase and stage, building organisations, connecting people to career-changing experiences, networking, pursuing an MBA…” she notes.

“The key to this transformation was embracing the concept of corporatepreneurship.”

Babatunde also cites the case of Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, who adopted a growth-oriented mindset to drive Microsoft’s cultural and technological transformation. His focus on creating value for stakeholders reflects the win-win approach.

Another example is Ibukun Awosika, the first female chairman of First Bank of Nigeria, who aligned her personal goals with her organisation’s vision, treating her career as a business while focusing on innovative problem-solving.

Yet another is Mitchell Elegbe, founder of Interswitch, who started his career as an employee but treated every role as an opportunity to innovate.

In a similar vein Akinyele shares her story, saying,

“When I joined KPMG, it felt like my dreams had collided with reality, although it was not truly my first job. I was an accidental voiceover artist, TV model, commercial model and usher—just looking for N5,000 and free clothes.”

“But now, I find myself back in the arts, at the intersection of finance and visual art.”

Akinyele likened professionals to either stones or sponges.

According to her, those with a ‘stone’ mindset resist change, remain static and hinder progress, failing to adapt or contribute meaningfully to innovation within their organisation.

In contrast, those with a ‘sponge’ mindset foster adaptability, continuous learning and the ability to absorb new ideas—evolving to drive impactful change.

Within organisations, intrapreneurs who embrace the sponge approach actively engage with challenges, refine their skills and leverage their environment to create fresh solutions.

They repeatedly immerse themselves in opportunities, absorb insights and generate innovations that propel both personal and organisational growth.

The distinction between these mindsets often determines the capacity for agility and creative problem-solving in dynamic workplaces.

“Intrapreneurs are like good seeds in good soil. Don’t move to another job just for an extra N100,000 or N1 million or a car. Understand your why,” she advises.

Those with a sponge mindset say:

“My business is the business. I’m all about growth. What can I learn from this?; Let’s do some research; Let’s find out how things are done in other places; I have an idea!”.

But a stone-head mindset will say, “It’s not my father’s business. HR has not sent me.”

According to her, this is why many African countries lag when it comes to development and the global innovation index.