This is Hamamoto from TIMEWELL.
The Era of Co-Creation Between Corporate Talent and Regional Business
On January 13, 2021, NPO G-net hosted a "Furusato Kengyo Study Session" on side and concurrent employment. ONE X is a regional partner of the Furusato Kengyo initiative, and we presented at the session. Other large companies shared case studies as well. This article covers our own cases.
What is Furusato Kengyo?
Furusato Kengyo matches regional businesses facing short-term or seasonal labor shortages with professionals from outside the region who want to work while experiencing a new place—essentially combining work with meaningful travel. It's a system that allows employed professionals to work on projects outside their main employer on a structured, approved basis.
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Case Study 1: Otetsutabi
Otetsutabi is a web platform connecting regional businesses with temporary seasonal labor shortages to people from outside the area who want to travel while working.
Otetsutabi needed support developing a corporate-facing service. They brought in employees from a major airline and a major IT company as concurrent workers under the Furusato Kengyo structure. Their starting challenges:
- COVID had consumed most bandwidth managing existing services
- Corporate side-job policies were easing, but Otetsutabi had little experience working with large companies and didn't fully understand what large-company professionals needed
- Marketing research and design research capabilities were lacking
With the large-company employees on board, they were able to progress from business development all the way to identifying prospective corporate clients—all within less than three months. Client companies expressed genuine appreciation.
Case Study 2: Futaba Shoji / CULPLAND
Futaba Shoji traces its roots to Shinki Mouri, one of the world's leading certified cashmere factories. After 74 years, the company decided to launch a new brand and turned to Furusato Kengyo for support.
Large-company employees from a major electronics manufacturer and a staffing company joined as concurrent workers. Here is an excerpt from the session Q&A:
On the receiving company side (Mr. Fukai):
"We worked alongside genuinely skilled professionals. Regional companies have a hard time attracting high-skill talent through regular hiring. By bringing them in on a project basis, we achieved results far beyond our expectations. Getting a product page launched in just three months was remarkable. We're deeply grateful to the concurrent workers and the Furusato Kengyo team."
On the corporate employee side (Ms. Kuroda):
Why did you want to take on a side project while working at a large company?
"Large companies have a lot of division of labor. It's rare to work across an entire chain from product conception through communication. I wanted to do that—and to apply my skills in a different industry."
How did you think you could contribute?
"My background is in communicating to end users, D2C business model research and analysis, and SNS operations. I thought I could help with organizing and expressing how to communicate the CULPLAND brand."
Did the side project have a positive effect on your main job?
"I was struck by the speed and agility of the launch process, and it made me more proactive—less passive—in my main job. There were also genuine synergies: things I was researching for my main job helped with the side project, and things I learned from the side project fed back into my main work."
A researcher from the Recruit Works Institute, attending the session, commented:
"This is an arrangement with excellent cost-performance for both sides."
The Shift from Jobs to Projects
The direction of work is increasingly moving from "getting a job at a company" toward "joining a project." Furusato Kengyo is one embodiment of this shift—connecting motivated professionals from large organizations with regional businesses that have concrete problems to solve, on the basis of shared purpose.
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