PepsiCo10 Intent on Attracting Brazilian Startups

By Ella Riley-Adams 

Though big brands and startups sometimes have trouble understanding one another, PepsiCo is reaching across the aisle to support fledgling businesses. In 2010, they launched PepsiCo10, a digital startup incubator program. Already a successful experiment in the US and UK, today it expands to Brazil.

To start their program, PepsiCo10 is calling for submissions from startups and university students across Brazil. They’ll be hosting a reception and panel at Social Media Week Sao Paolo (fingers crossed for rum and Pepsi), then accepting applications on Facebook through Oct. 27. Winners get an all-expense paid trip to NYC to work with PepsiCo brand marketers and “U.S. based digital influencers,” which is worryingly vague. However, in 2013, winners also get to partner with various PepsiCo brands, which seems to be a win-win. Startups/students get experience, visibility, and the chance to prove themselves to investors, while PepsiCo harnesses fresh creativity.

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Cristiana Gomes, director of HR at PepsiCo Brazil, says in a statement, “Along with the search for new ideas, PepsiCo10 supports our strategy of attracting and retaining top talent by giving us a chance to communicate with some of the brightest and most creative young Brazilian minds.” You can check out a PepsiCo infographic here that talks innovating beyond Silicon Valley and emerging tech in emerging markets ala Brazil.

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