Kersia, a global leader in food safety, observed the challenges that changing weather patterns and new climate-related food safety risks would bring to its industry. To prepare its business for the changing future, the company approached Ashoka’s Changemaker Companies to equip its team members with the ‘soft’ skills and mindsets needed to navigate uncertainty, drive innovation and lead transformation. They tasked us with upskilling a critical mass of employees, recognizing that the business of change could not be left to a few individuals but needed to be embedded throughout the organization.
Five years into our partnership, Kersia is home to an active group of over 100 employee 'ambassadors' who drive innovation across regions and functions. These ambassadors have spearheaded a 'sandbox' process for any employee to pitch an idea for a new business initiative with a social or environmental benefit. Initiatives implemented to date include improving water safety and container optimization. The ambassadors bring their perspectives to major strategic initiatives by sitting on steering committees, and they have even taken over the organization of the program to train new ambassadors. Kersia is on track to activate over 15% of its team members as internal changemakers by 2027.
"Test-and-learn' is a concept that already existed inside the company, but we didn't officially encourage it. That - and creating safe spaces for learning and collaboration - are now favored as tools to accompany Kersia's transformation."
Isabelle Demoment
Head of CSR and Regulatory Affairs, Kersia
Key Programatic Elements
To enable this cultural transformation, we co-created and deliver the following:
Leadership development: An eight-month ambassador program that equips cross-functional cohorts of Kersia employees from all levels of the organization with the soft skills they need to drive positive action.
Trainings: Quarterly webinars open to all Kersia employees and hosted by social entrepreneurs from Ashoka’s network to demonstrate innovative problem-solving around a variety of social and environmental challenges.
Social entrepreneur matchmaking: Introductions to social entrepreneurs working on solutions relevant to Kersia's business, which have led to pilot projects addressing topics like water safety and biodiversity.
A win-win-win Alliance: Farm Alert & Kersia
In this short video, you’ll discover how Farm Alert and Kersia are working together to make farming smarter, safer, and more sustainable. You’ll see how Farm Alert’s data-driven insights, combined with Kersia’s hygiene protocols, empower farmers to maintain better animal health while meeting compliance standards. Ultimately, it positions the partnership as a triple-benefit solution—benefiting producers, consumers, and the environment.
Changemaker Profile
Meet Jesús, a Kersia plant manager in Spain. He noticed a missed opportunity: the factory was wasting process water that could be recycled and reused in its operations. When he first shared an idea to address this waste, it didn’t gain much traction. But after participating in Kersia’s ambassador program, Jesús learned how to better present and implement his proposal. Armed with these new changemaker skills, Jesús reintroduced the idea and built the momentum needed to bring it to life.
The result was a practical water recycling program that improved efficiency at his plant. With help from the ambassador community, the initiative has now expanded to sites in Argentina and Brazil.
Transformation Compass
Our CMC Transformation Compass outlines seven key elements we see in successful changemaker companies. So far our partnership has supported Kersia in its journey towards four of the seven:
