National, November 02, 2022: Procter & Gamble (P&G) India today announced a ₹200 Cr ‘P&G Technovate Fund’ to solve business challenges by fostering innovation and leveraging innovative technology in collaboration with existing and new external suppliers. This will include solutions that will further strengthen the Company’s capability and drive innovation across various verticals, including brand building and awareness, consumer research, go-to-market, and supply chain, as well as well as key focus areas like digital analytics, transportation and warehousing, sustainability, and the future of payments. This is in line with the government’s vision of driving digital revolution and transformation in the country, leading to this decade being termed a ‘Techade’ for India. This new fund is part of P&G India’s ‘vGrow’ program that focuses on identifying and collaborating with start-ups, small businesses, individuals, and large organizations offering innovative industry-leading business solutions. These solutions will help the Company in delivering a superior experience to its consumers and continuing to drive constructive disruption.
With this announcement, the Company also launched the fifth edition of ‘P&G vGrow External Business Partner Summit,’ to be held from November 01 to 02, 2022. The Summit offers a platform to existing and new suppliers to pitch their solutions to P&G India’s leadership team.
LV Vaidyanathan, CEO, P&G India Subcontinent said, “Driving consistent innovation and evolving constantly with time have been key strengths for us at P&G for the last 185 years. Five years ago, we launched ‘vGrow’ – with the vision to create a platform to foster collaboration and partnerships with external partners and suppliers, to solve business challenges and provide a breeding ground to emerging startups across the country. Over the years, we have committed spends of more than ₹1300 Crore in business solutions through this platform. We strongly believe that by forging partnerships with new-age, innovative and sustainable solutions, we have been able to create and deliver superior value for our consumers, customers, partners, and communities alike.”
LV Vaidyanathan further added, “At P&G, constructive disruption is one of our key integrated growth strategies, which has helped us build and sustain our business and will also be critical in our journey forward. We see technology as an important enabler in solving business problems, and innovation as the need of the hour to anticipate and delight consumers in their evolving needs. With this, we have set up the ‘P&G Technovate Fund’ to collaborate with external partners who understand and specialize in technology, are operating with a digital-first mindset, and are constantly bringing innovation in the industry. We are confident that through these partnerships, we will be able to better serve our consumers, customers, and communities.”
vGrow is P&G’s first-of-its-kind platform to identify and collaborate with businesses and individuals offering industry-leading solutions. Through this platform, P&G engages with over 2300 suppliers including start-ups, small businesses, and large organizations from a wide range of industries and services – from creative agencies to technology partners to material suppliers. To come up with innovative solutions via external business partnerships, P&G has its online platform ‘P&G Hackathon’ which connects external business partners with innovative solutions to the company’s needs, thereby creating a collaborative ecosystem.
