It has become a common phenomenon to see large corporate groups looking at helping startups that can come up with solutions, which ultimately help their business grow. These could be developing better processes to cut down costs or new innovative products that can be marketed by the large organization with its strengths already in place.
The latest to join this category is one of India’s leading FMCG firms, Proctor & Gamble India (P&G). The company has just made an announcement of the launch of a fund named Innovation Sourcing Fund. The objective of this fund is to catalyze startups that can come up with innovative ideas in areas relevant to P&G giving them the scope to sell their products to the company.
An Inc42 report quotes Madhusudan Gopalan, MD & CEO of P&G India Sub-Continent as saying that P&G’s belief is that collaboration will accelerate Innovation and the biggest wins come when all the stakeholders in the ecosystem work together.
Along with the setting up of this fund, the size of which has not been disclosed, P&G has launched another related programme called vGROW. This, according to the company, is aimed at promoting collaborative efforts at innovating and finding new solutions. This my go beyond just funding and can include any setup, small, medium or large, startup or established, to join hands with P&G in creating things.
A roadshow, vGROW External Business Partner Summit, has also been conducted by the company allowing those interested in signing up for the vGROW programme, a platform to present their cases.
P&G also plans to launch a hackathon, an online platform called ‘P&G Hackathon’ to come up with solutions and support startups by connecting external business partners.
A multinational company with its headquarters in the US, Proctor & Gamble has three identities in India; Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Limited, Gillette India Limited and Procter & Gamble Home Products and owns several popular FMCG brands. This is another multinational which has woken up to the reality of the scope that the Indian consumer market offers and is now ready to build on the opportunities available here.