Why should start-ups partner with big businesses?

Published on : 3/17/22
  • Partnering with start-ups just makes sense to us. Sodexo began life as a French start-up in 1966 so we know firsthand how important support is to get a brand-new business off the ground.

    Helping start-ups to scale and succeed

    Start-ups can benefit from collaborating with large corporations because big businesses bring industry knowledge and market access on a large scale which a start-up can benefit from to deploy their solutions.

    How does partnering with start-ups help large corporations?

    Of course, these partnerships are attractive to both parties because start-ups bring innovation to large corporations, as well as the start-up mentality of introducing innovative ideas at speed. 

    The way we work with start-ups is open innovation. We create an open innovation ecosystem where we source ideas to solve our business challenges from external sources as well as internal ones. 

    These partnerships enable us to deliver the latest personalized service tech solutions to our clients and consumers.

    How do we partner with start-ups?

    One of the ways we partner with start-ups is through our Accelerators Program. The program connects us with local start-ups in the regions we operate to bring new innovative solutions to meet our business challenges. Through the program, we invite start-ups to pilot their solution while gaining insights on how to accelerate their business through mentoring from business executives, knowledge from subject matter experts and potential access to our global scale. 

    How can my start-up business participate in the Sodexo Accelerator program?

    Over the last year we’ve launched the program in China and Brazil, and most recently in the UK and Ireland. In total, we’ve launched 13 editions of the program across 6 regions, previous program locations included India, France and Sweden.

    Each edition of the program focuses on different themes to tackle challenges which are more prominent to the geographic area in question. Recent themes have included ideas to transform the workplace, service tech solutions and ideas which increase sustainability. We always have the aim to scale the solutions globally afterwards.

    If you run a start-up and would like to participate in the accelerator program, please contact your nearest program.

    Find out more about the Sodexo Accelerator Program

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