The idea of Partico emerged not less than 7 years ago. We were organising the TEDxLausanne event and we had an astonishingly large amount of volunteers and participants who were looking for opportunities to do something meaningful, and many of them very actually highly qualified, but didn't work because – all too often – they had family or other obligations and could not find suitable parttime work that would meet their qualifications.

We launched our idea with great enthusiasm, reaching out to contacts, organising events and conducting interviews to get a better understanding of the needs and opportunities.

With COVID, we decided to take a pause to see how things would evolve. One thing is for sure, changes in social structures since have just confirmed that the idea behind Partico is right on par with the needs of today’s professionals and industries. The time is right.

What we have achieved so far

So where does Partico stand now? We have a concept. A quite detailed one. It has matured through many discussions, brainstorming sessions, interviews and life experience, and is well documented.

Will it work? Finding people who are interested in joining Partico hasn’t been a problem, and this is the key. Partico’s design is flexible in nature; it is the vacillating meeting point between member expertise and industry needs. With the right people, the projects are on the doorstep. This is by design.

Building up a core team

So what's next? The most important part is to rebuild a team. Before COVID, about half a dozen people were involved, we are now back to two. That's a good start, but not enough to get this going!

Two teams actually, because one major thing that has changed: One of the two of us is moving from the Lausanne region to Germany. Bremen to be exact. Isn't this just another challenge? Yes, definitively. But also another opportunity to build a network.

To get things moving, we are looking for:

• Community manager: Outgoing and enthusiastic person to grow the circle of people involved in Partico. Required: English and German and/or French, with good knowledge of social media and experience in event management.
• HR specialist: An important component of Partico is that we support people in their professional development, but also that the organisation takes care of the administrative and financial components of HR. We’re looking for someone with HR experience and capacity to learn about or understanding of Swiss HR requirements.
• Anyone with professional experience or industry expertise in Switzerland or elsewhere, with entrepreneurial ambition.

Once this core team is in place, we will work on three levels:

• Community building: Growing the community around Partico; this is a constant effort on our part.
• Set up the organisation: Continuous refinement of the Partico process. One venture will be the development of the IT system behind Partico.
• Start projects:: There are several project ideas in the pipeline that can be implemented as soon as the right people join. Finding new projects and clients will also be continuous endeavor.

Joining now

If you can imagine yourself joining this adventure? Please reach out and let us know!

Dena and Simon