Procter & Gamble (P&G) India said that it has set-up a multi-million-dollar ‘Innovation Sourcing Fund,’ to collaborate with external partners on disruptive and innovative business solutions for the company. With this investment announcement, P&G launched ‘vGROW,’ it’s first program in India to focus on identifying and collaborating with start-ups, small businesses, individuals or large organizations offering innovative industry-leading solutions.
To mark the launch of the program, P&G is hosting the vGROW External Business Partner Summit in Mumbai on October 10-11. This will provide a platform for suppliers to pitch their solutions to P&G’s leadership team. The vGROW Summit will focus on innovative business ideas across various areas like agile supply chain solutions, raw material innovations, superior brand and marketing solutions for consumers, innovation on packaging, productivity ideas etc.
Madhusudan Gopalan, MD & CEO, P&G India Sub-Continent said, “Innovation is deeply embedded in everything that we do at P&G. We believe that collaboration accelerates Innovation and the biggest wins come when all the stakeholders in the ecosystem work together. This is an exciting time to be in India with the way consumer behavior is evolving in a dynamic market. The Indian market that has been at the forefront of innovation in recent years continues to be a priority for the company globally. We are confident that through our initiative ‘vGROW’ and our ‘Innovation Sourcing Fund’, we will be able to identify and implement cutting-edge solutions that are a strategic fit for us on our journey to grow sustainably. We will continue to provide consumers with superior value propositions and continue to positively impact the communities’ we operate in.”
To come up with innovative solutions via external business partnerships, P&G will also launch its online platform ‘P&G Hackathon’. This platform will connect external business partners to the company’s needs, thereby creating a collaborative ecosystem. The online platform P&G Hackathon will enable start-ups, small businesses and large organizations to pitch their innovative solutions to P&G’s leadership and secure business opportunities with the company.
