Unique Nokia: Hands over 30,800 USD/person to ex-employees to start a business, takes care of it from A-Z but generously does not take shares of any company

Tram Ho

During the 2011 recession, Nokia had to cut a large number of staff. However, instead of laying off “massively” outright, the company launched a Bridge program to help employees who lost their jobs.

Within the framework of the program, Nokia will deduct an amount of USD 185,000 (more than VND 4.3 billion at that time) to support laid-off employees the opportunity to “start up” their own business before they look to venture capitalists (VCs) and angel investors (people with large investment assets).

This means that through this program, employees who used to work with Nokia after separating and setting up their own companies will be supported by the phone company in terms of raising capital, training as well as creating cooperation opportunities.

At the time, Nokia struggled to compete with the giants Apple and Android. The brand’s mobile phone business has been very “skewed”, sales have fallen and cash resources are also increasingly depleted.

Thus, more than 100 companies in Nokia’s business incubator have been established, with the UK alone having dozens of startups from former Nokia employees. A business incubator is understood as a model to support a business and create conditions for it to be established and developed.

Although Nokia has not released the exact list, many people know about Jolla, the startup created by former Nokia executives. The company plans to launch its own line of smartphones running the MeeGo operating system.

Originally, the business incubation model is not new. For example, Microsoft also launched Bing Fund or Pearson also has a technology incubator. However, Nokia is different. The company has created conditions for development, giving new “start-up” opportunities to employees who are about to leave the company. The human thing is that thousands of them are likely to be out of work soon after leaving this phone company. But now it’s different.

On the one hand, the establishment of a separate company was built from projects that the former employees did but was stopped due to a change in company strategy like Meego. On the other hand, there are also new companies with completely different projects. David Hall, a spokesman for the Nokia Bridge program in the UK, said that one of the Nokia-backed startups is engaged in the import and export business of alcohol – an entirely different field from technology and electronics. mobile phone.

Nokia only evaluates the potentiality of the business plan. If promising, this company will best support employees who are about to be laid off. Each employee after being separated will receive a support of 30,800 USD or 20,000 in the UK. For a start-up project, a maximum of four former Nokia employees will be allowed, meaning that the company will receive a support value of around £100,000.

Andrew Cooper, director of the Bridge programme, also added that projects carried out by single individuals are more common than in groups of four, at least in the UK.

In addition, each eligible start-up can also receive additional funding of up to £50,000. Mr. David Hall also noted that Nokia has no stake in any of the startups and does not transfer the rights to use intellectual property to these companies.

The Nokia Bridge program started in April 2011. It helped 60% of the 18,000 employees laid off that day. This is considered one of the most attentive “fire storms” of the technology world.

Check out TechCrunch

Share the news now

Source : Genk