GMakers – Building a Culture of Innovation

• Industry: Steel and Industrial Manufacturing
• Global presence: Operations in 10+ countries, serving the Americas, Europe, and global markets
• Employees: ~30,000+

Gerdau, one of the largest steel producers in the Americas, wanted to shift from a process-driven culture to one that enables continuous innovation and agility. Leaders recognized the need to develop new mindsets and internal capability to generate ideas, test new approaches, and accelerate cultural transformation. The goal was to empower people at all levels to drive change from within, not rely on top-down mandates.

Hyper Island partnered with Gerdau to design and launch GMakers, a strategic innovation program anchored in learning-by-doing, experimentation, and peer-to-peer culture building. The program included:

• Senior leadership alignment on innovation priorities and behaviours
• A Train-the-Trainer development journey for regional innovation champions
• Collaborative innovation labs across Brazil, U.S., and Latin America
• Coaching support to take ideas from insight → prototype → pilot

The initiative equipped employees with innovation tools, facilitation skills, and the confidence to lead change.

• 10 innovation prototypes developed, including:
• A scalable internal innovation network sustained beyond the pilot
• A cultural shift toward collaboration, creativity, and empowered decision-making
• GMakers has now expanded globally, forming a community of change agents continuing to drive strategic and cultural transformation across the organization.