OREANDA-NEWS. May 21, 2015.  The PwC's Accelerator is one of a handful of private initiatives in Luxembourg to support innovative businesses, specialised in helping established start-ups take the next step and go global.

Cyrille Foillard is the Accelerator's Managing Director while Laurent Probst acts as Network Global Leader. Here they explain what the Accelerator does and why both public and private schemes are needed to boost the start-up community.

When was PwC's Accelerator founded and how has it developed since?

Back in 2012, we realised that many initiatives existed to assist innovative entrepreneurs in the early stages of their business but few were dedicated to helping entrepreneurs expand globally. This situation posed challenges as going global is often one of the key levers of value creation for companies which have an international DNA but it is also often complex and risky. So we founded PwC's Accelerator with the idea to make the most of the extensive reach and competences of the PwC network and help fast growing companies go international faster, smarter and at lower risk. Now, we are developing a worldwide network of Accelerators within the PwC network with our Luxembourg office acting as the hub and centre of excellence of a very effective smart grid for companies, wherever they have been established.

Which types of companies do you work with and what challenges do they face?

While many initiatives in Luxembourg offer "incubation" support, PwC's Accelerator focuses on innovative companies which already have clients and successfully validated their revenue model with large clients on their domestic market. They offer distinctive B2B or B2B2C technology solutions in Enterprise Software / SaaS, Fintech, Cybersecurity and Big data. A first global client is a strong positive signal for starting internationalisation strategy. When the CEOs of these companies face the complexity of international growth, which markets to address and how to access potential clients are the two key questions that usually emerge.

What role does the private sector play in supporting innovative businesses in Luxembourg?

Private initiatives are essential to help innovative companies thrive. Their support could take on different forms ranging from direct private investments via family offices or private equity structures to support and mentoring from incubators. As far as we are concerned, we are determined to help create an ecosystem that brings together high-tech companies, specialised investors, such as venture capitalists, private equity funds and family offices and service providers such as PwC to make it easy for local companies or companies coming from abroad to settle and get financed in Luxembourg. As a matter of fact, we have already attracted several innovative companies to Luxembourg.

What could the government do to offer additional support?

Public initiatives are key to finance high-risk or early stage projects which could not be financed by the private sector. Unlocking budget dedicated to the innovation and commercialisation phases of companies would be useful on top of the Research and Development subsidies and programs that already exist.

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?

The first advice would be to not go global when you are not ready. Going global is not a sprint, it is a marathon which never ends. This is a very rewarding process - creating value for shareholders, revenue growth and diversification, economies of scale, ability to attract talents etc - but it can be also a complex, expensive and risky process.

The second piece of advice would be to think global from the inception of the company, and accelerate the learning curve and the execution by working with long-term partners and internationalisation experts such as PwC's Accelerator.