Partner With a Start-up to Solve Your Most Intractable Problems.
For corporates, growth means solving problems. What growth-inhibiting problem is your company grappling with? Perhaps your customers are complaining about the user experience on your website or platform. Maybe you need to carry out market research but you do not have the expertise in-house. Maybe you need a technical solution to improve a part of your business processes. Specialist start-up companies are able to provide custom-made solutions to these problems and more. However, corporates and start-up companies swim in such different pools that they cannot always find their way to each other. Qhala, in partnership with UK Kenya Tech Hub, has created the iHelix Linkages Programme to bring together corporates who have a specific need and start-up companies that have the expertise to meet that need.
The iHelix programme is in its pilot phase. The participating corporates are in FMCG, energy, banking, insurance, telecommunication, retail and manufacturing. They will sign a partnership agreement with carefully-selected start-ups that are up to the task of solving a specific problem they each face.
How does the iHelix Linkages Programme work?
The four-step programme begins with an in-depth assessment to arrive at a clear understanding of the problem each corporate is seeking to solve. This is key to determining whether or not a linkage with a start-up would address the problem effectively. Step two involves providing the corporates with profiles of the start-ups that match the needs of the corporate. In the third stage, iHelix matches the right specialist start-up to corporates participating in the iHelix programme. The final stage, the corporate and the start-up enter into a legal agreement to work together. The whole process takes three months, at the end of which a partnership between the corporate and the start-up will be born.
Why should you join the iHelix Linkages Programme?
First, as a corporate participant, you will not have to do any of the hard work. iHelix carries out the due diligence investigations, research and selection of the start-ups on your behalf. Secondly, it’s free! Corporate participants in the iHelix programme do not pay the start-ups for their expertise. Instead, they offer business mentorship, skills sharing and other non-monetary benefits to the start-ups in exchange for their support. Finally, you have the opportunity to discover new talent and enter into a mutually beneficial partnership.
The programme will recruit new corporate participants in March 2022.
