This is a CTP of initiative: Impact Hub Belo Horizonte (Brazil)
This CTP is a greater engagement of member companies of the IH in their networking events.
In 2013, IH BH won a public call to manage a co-working space of startups for the Minas Gerais State Government. On this occasion, Hub owners started to call their member companies to networking meetings with the startups from the space that they managed, called Cid.
This exchange of experiences and knowledge between companies provided new business and partnerships. According to the interviewee, it was the first time she realized the power of networking: "In the turn of 2013 to 2014 Hub becomes the manager of this other space, the groups started to meet. There was the turning point, turning point for me to realize that it was a business generator, that Hub was not only a place to work but a place of connections".
The owners of the IH BH, according to the interviewee, had the idea of joining the two groups of companies (IH and Cid) in connection events.
These events, which are the CTP itself, had the co -production of: ( 1 ) The owners and (2) IH BH team, who organized the events and invited others; ( 3 ) Member companies of IH BH who accepted the invitation to the connections events and started attending the State Government space, called CID, where they worked in the co-working ( 4 ) technology startups. In this way, the startups were also the co- producers of this CTP.
2013 – The IH BH won the public call to manage the Minas Gerais State Government startup space called Cid. It was a space of technology companies.
2014 – 2015 – The owners of the IH BH created and ran a series of networking events between Cid’s entrepreneurs and Hub’s entrepreneurs.
2014 – 2015 - These companies started to do business with one another.
According to the interviewee there were no disagreements. Many members of the two co-working spaces became part of these events "we got to know our networks contacts better".
When the interviewee accepted the first invitation from IH BH for a connection event, she was not expecting much, she went, simply, to get to know it. But she says she was surprised with the numerous businesses opportunities that were opened for her. According to her, the contact network has expanded beyond those entrepreneurs present in the first events and was a watershed in the way she did business.
The main learning quoted by an entrepreneur member was how the interaction can help develop mutual business interests "... I realized how connections make us evolve. Not to make connections with a business goal, but with the objective of meeting people, work, methodologies, knowledge, the business comes naturally. Surely all companies learned the same. From there, it has become a challenge, we saw the other as ‘we'. Their attitudes, difficulties, challenges can be shared. The problem of one may be a lesson to others".
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