German innovation consultancy Seedlab GmbH will open an office in SA to help local corporates navigate digital disruption.
This will be the firm's first international office. Seedlab has been operating for seven years. Previous clients include Swiss Federal Railways and Volkswagen Financial Services.
The company aims to embed innovation into clients' DNA and ultimately help them take new, disruptive business models to market, Seedlab said in a statement.
It does this by introducing corporates to entrepreneurial ways of working to help identify new business models.
Seedlab South Africa was founded by digital strategist Elli Gorgievska and technology journalist Vanessa Clark. German founder Regine Haschka-Helmer will also play an active role with local clients.
Estate agency RE/MAX Living is one of its first South African clients.
"I'm excited about applying our proven innovation techniques and methodologies in the South African market," says Haschka-Helmer.
"But it's definitely not about parachuting in our ways of working. What we learn in a South African context will be applied during our work with clients in Europe too."
Part of the work Seedlab does with corporates includes introducing them to local and international start-ups. This is done with the aim of each learning from each other, collaborating, and even acquisitions.
"South African companies have a lot to learn from nimble, hungry start-ups," says Clark.
"Likewise, start-ups can learn from companies that have weathered the ups and downs of the market. Unfortunately, they currently seem to be speaking different languages to each other, with a lot being lost in translation.
"Seedlab's matchmaking of start-ups and established businesses is a double-edged sword, allowing start-ups to leapfrog to the next level of their growth plan, and companies to tap into start-up mindset and gain new capabilities and technology without building them from scratch."
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