Procter & Gamble (P&G) India said that it has set-up a Rs. 200 crore ‘Environmental Sustainability Fund,’ to collaborate with external partners offering environmentally sustainable business solutions.
With this announcement, P&G also launched the second edition of ‘P&G vGROW External Business Partner Summit.’ vGROW is P&G’s first-of-its-kind platform to identify and collaborate with businesses and individuals offering industry-leading solutions.
The two-day summit offers a platform to potential partners like start-ups, small businesses, individuals and large organizations offering innovative industry-leading solutions to pitch to P&G’s leadership team.
This year, the summit is focused on identifying and implementing step-changing environmentally sustainable solutions like packaging innovations, renewable sources of energy and reducing carbon footprint. The ‘Environmental Sustainability Fund’ comes in addition to the ongoing ‘Innovation Sourcing Fund’ launched last year.
Madhusudan Gopalan, MD & CEO, P&G Indian Subcontinent, said, “Environmental sustainability is a key pillar of our citizenship efforts, and embedded in our business strategy. We know that solving the biggest challenges requires collaboration that enables people, planet and businesses to thrive. We are delighted to set-up the ‘Environmental Sustainability Fund’ to collaborate with external partners in India, that are offering cutting-edge environmentally sustainable solutions in line with our strategy.”
Madhusudan further added, “India is a priority market for the company and continues to be at the forefront of innovation. Last year we announced the ‘Innovation Sourcing Fund’ through which we have already invested more than Rs. 200 crore on implementing innovative solutions in collaboration with external partners from across India. Building on this, we are confident that this year, through ‘vGROW’ we will be able to identify and implement transformational sustainable solutions from partners across India that will lead to a positive impact on the environment while creating value for the company, partners and consumers.”
Last year, P&G set-up the ‘Innovation Sourcing fund’ to collaborate with external partners offering cutting-edge innovative solutions. Over the last year, P&G received 1000 applications from start-ups, small businesses, university incubation centers and large organizations.
The company has already invested more than Rs. 200 crore in collaborating with organizations offering innovative solutions like agile supply chain solutions, raw material innovations, superior brand and marketing solutions for consumers, innovation on packaging, productivity ideas etc. P&G will continue to invest in innovative solutions via this fund in line with the business strategy.
