Open innovation with large companies with abundant financial and human resources is one of the keys for startups to have a major impact on society.
The marketing and sales team of JAFCO's Business Development (hereinafter referred to as "BD") Division has created opportunities to promote open innovation between business firms and investee companies through matching conferences and other measures. Based on this idea, JAFCO provides daily support and events for both business firms and investees as shown in the diagram below.
Among them, this time, we would like to introduce the "Large Networking Event for New Business Managers" aimed at strengthening contact points with people from business firms.
The "Laege Networking Event for New Business Managers" (hereinafter referred to as "Networking Event") is a real networking event for 100 people held for the first time on October 19, 2022 (Wednesday). We called on people in charge of new businesses at major companies, and with the cooperation of Co-nnect Inc. and WeWork Japan LLC, we made it happen.
A large-scale networking event that has never been held before, where people in charge of new businesses from major companies gather across industry boundaries. Atsushi Yamamoto of the BD Division and Hisao Tokuhara of Fund Management Division will talk about the key points of the event and its background.
【Profile】
・ Atsushi Yamamoto Business Development Division JAFCO Group Co., Ltd.
Joined JAFCO Co., Ltd. (now JAFCO Group Co., Ltd.) as a new graduate. Worked at the Kyushu branch office and experienced investment in startups in the region. Currently engaged in investment support and collaboration support between large companies and startups in Business Development Division.
・Hisao Tokuhara Fund Management Division JAFCO Group Co., Ltd.
In 1986, he joined Japan Godo Finance (currently JAFCO Group) as a new graduate. Engaged in discovering and investing in domestic start-up companies for about 17 years in Tokyo, Osaka, and Sendai. Of the 33 companies he invested in, 16 have gone IPO. After working in the investment planning and fund administration departments, he has been in charge of IR activities for LP investors and fundraising at Fund Management Division since 2011. Currently, in order to create risk money in Japan, he is promoting cooperation with CVCs of operating companies and people in charge of new businesses, while making fundraising his main mission.
[Overview of the Networking Event]
Date and time: October 19, 2022 (Wednesday) 17: 00-19: 00
Location: WeWork Marunouchi
Participation fee: Free
<Part 1> Casual discussion on new business issues
<Part 2> Information exchange between participants with the same "participation purpose"
<Part 3> Social gathering (buffet style)
<Examples of participating companies (in no particular order)>
Amano Corporation, Orix Bank, Gunze Corporation, Kokuyo Corporation, Sun Frontier Fudousan Co., Ltd., Seino Holdings Co., Ltd., Digital Advertising Consortium Co., Ltd., Paramount Bed Co., Ltd., Yamashin Filter Co., Ltd., Ube Exsimo Co., Ltd. Company JALUX, LIFULL Co., Ltd., INTEC Co., Ltd., Village Vanguard Corporation, Auto Technique Japan Co., Ltd., Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd., Scroll Co., Ltd., Nac Co., Ltd., Neo Japan Co., Ltd., Ricoh Co., Ltd., Relo Club Co., Ltd. , Itoen Co., Ltd., Nikkei Inc., Kansai Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd., Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc., Hanwa Kogyo Co., Ltd., Sanki Shoji Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Estate Real Estate Service Co., Ltd., Sumitomo Corporation, Soken Chemical Co., Ltd. Company, Sohgo Security & Security Co., Ltd., Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics Co., Ltd., Tokai Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd., Central Japan Railway Company, Nankai Electric Railway Co., Ltd., Nissan Group Holdings Co., Ltd., Japan Securities Finance Co., Ltd., Ryoden Corporation, FUJIFILM Business Innovation Co., Ltd., FUJITSU FRONTECH LIMITED, FUJITSU LIMITED, ENEOS HOLDINGS INC., Moon Creative Lab Inc.
Aiming to create "meaningful encounters" with reference to matchmaking parties
─Could you tell us about the process leading up to the holding of the Networking Event?
Yamamoto One of JAFCO's strengths is our extensive network with investee companies, major companies, investors, etc. That's why we wanted to utilize this resource to create a place where startups and major companies can share their successes and failures beyond their framework. With that in mind, we planned this big Networking Event.
Tokuhara Looking back on past events aimed at strengthening contact points, there is a tendency for participants to interact more easily among themselves than in the case of JAFCO speakers' presentations. People with similar backgrounds often feel the same sense of challenges, so information sharing and opinion exchange proceed smoothly. Therefore, at the Networking Event, we were conscious of intentionally creating a situation where people with similar backgrounds could connect with each other.
Yamamoto The significance of networking events changes greatly depending on whether or not you have had good encounters and learned something. However, in the case of a general networking event, it depends on luck whether there are good encounters and learning.
Is it possible to provide participants with "new encounters and new findings" with the intention of the organizer?
Is it possible to create a place where all participants can exchange thought-provoking discussions simply by jumping into the space?
With that in mind, we set up a matchmaking party as a benchmark and put together a program for the day as a place to create meaningful encounters.
Tokuhara The program was devised to implement the following measures.
- Assign a facilitator for each table
- Play a drum every 5 minutes to create an opportunity to greet different people
- Prepare the following question cards to make it easier for participants to ask deep questions suddenly
The event was so lively that some of the measures did not work well on the day. However, according to the participant questionnaire, 88% answered that it was easier to interact than other events, and 98% answered that they were able to exchange business cards with more than 10 people. I think it was a success in terms of creating horizontal connections.
98% of the participants were able to exchange business cards with 10 or more people on the day of the Networking Event
Tokuhara It was generally well received by the participants, saying, "There is no other place where people in charge of new businesses at large companies in various industries gather on such a large scale." Some of the voices of those who gave their permissions are introduced below.
■ Comments received in the questionnaire (partial excerpt)
"I felt that it was very meaningful to interact with each participant with a common point of view. I think that it is a very valuable project gathering so many people that only JAFCO can hold."
"By sharing the issues faced by each company, I found many things that I could sympathize with, and also received many concrete solutions. Above all, it has greatly increased my motivation for new business."
"I attended for the purpose of cross-industrial collaboration, and I was able to fulfill that purpose very well. It was also great to be able to interact with people in charge of new businesses from companies that I normally don't have contact with. I think the program was perfect."
"What kind of new business are you working on and what kind of problems are you facing? We exchanged business cards after knowing each other's information, so I met people who I could contact when I really needed advice."
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Yamamoto Since this event was held in person, I thought that the reaction would be slower than online, but the reaction was far better than I expected. We individually invited about 300 people on a trial basis, mainly those who we had contacts through new business conferences and other events, but the application rate exceeded 40%. There were also applications from Hokkaido and Kyushu.
Looking back on the Networking Event, future goals and future prospects
Yamamoto Since it was the first event, we to limited the number of people we invited, but from the next time onwards, I would like to invite even more people to the event. In the future, we plan to increase the frequency while expanding the scale. In addition, we would like to prepare various workshops and programs in the future and create a relationship with everyone that leads to co-createion of new businesses.
As a future goal, we would like to make various efforts to connect dots to make lines so that we can develop encounters to collaboration, rather than ending the event with people saying "It was good to meet more people."
Tokuhara By providing knowledge and opportunities that we have accumulated over many years, JAFCO will continue to commit to creating new businesses, not only with startups, but also with those who are committed to creating new businesses.
We plan to regularly send out information on various events, such as the Networking Event, introduced at the beginning through our e-mail magazine, so if you are interested, please register using the form below.