BNP Paribas to match startups with corporates

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Ritah Ayebare Nyakato

08.12.2017
Wai Boost Panel

A new initiative fostering startup-corporate collaboration has been officially launched. WAI Boost Switzerland, an initiative of BNP Paribas aims at bringing together startups who have an idea with corporates who have a target problem to solve. Selected startups will have the opportunity to work closely with corporates whilst benefit from the support of BNP Paribas. The project organisers are now ready to receive applications.

Digital transformation is affecting several fields of a business and thus requires organizations to constantly look for the right connections in order to conjointly develop digital solutions that meet today’s market needs. In this context, startups have been identified to be a best fit for corporations bringing solutions that have been developed using some of the latest technologies.

In effort bring together corporates with startups, the international banking group, BNP Paribas, inaugurated the WAI (We Are Innovation) Boost program in 2014. First run at its headquarters in France, the program brought together 30 startups with corporates over the past years.

WAI Boost has now set foot in Switzerland and aims to build bridges between BNP Paribas' corporate clients and promising startups. BNP Paribas’ clients are mainly global Swiss companies who are successful in the competition and are looking for the best ideas for financing, growth and efficiency issues, as well as innovation issues.

Successful pilot project
In their pilot phase in March 2017, two startups, Mishipay from the United Kingdom and Gowento from France were selected to develop digital solutions for Dufry, a Swiss based retailer operating 2,200 duty-free and duty-paid shops located at airports. The two startup founders of acknowledged the significance of collaborating with a large organisation. “As a startup you need the right timing and the right champion. This helped us to accelerate faster”, said Mustafa Khanwala, Co-founder and CEO of MishiPay. Raye Marouene, Co-founder of Gowento complemented Mustafa through lessons learned: “We were not only agile but we learnt to be committed, to be able to deliver results and to work with a large organisation.”

First Swiss edition now open for applications
Thanks to the fruitful results in the pilot project, the first season of the WAI Boost program Switzerland is now officially launched. Every year between 5 to 10 startups will be selected to join the 4-month program. During that period, they will develop solutions for the needs of the corporate client. The program will also help both clients and startups to collaborate for the realization of a digital solution that meets market requirement. Besides having the opportunity to collaborate with large organizations, WAI Boost offers a wide range of benefits including, free working space, access to BNP Paribas' network, mentors among others.

The selection jury of WAI Boost will assess startups based on the quality of their startup, openness, and readiness for growth and on their ability to adapt solutions to customer needs. Eligible to apply are startup from any field of business.

The first batch will begin the acceleration program in January 2018.

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