They include Pepsico, which provides soft drinks to military commissaries, and Proctor and Gamble, which provides diapers to military stores.

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At the outset, the Pampers Proctor and Gamble client team and I thought we needed something remarkable as a first step into this App space.

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Gupta, a graduate of Harvard, was head of McKinsey and Company for a time, and has held senior leadership positions at Goldman Sachs and Proctor and Gamble.

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Companies like Proctor and Gamble had been out looking for new ways to innovate for a decade before the crisis hit, by going outside their walls to find expertise and invention wherever they could.

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The businesses making this pledge include name brands like Proctor and Gamble, Tyson Foods, Hewlett-Packard -- but also smaller companies like Prime Team Services, which is planning to hire hundreds of military spouses and veterans next year alone.

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Many of the products have already found buyers and distributors but some at the event were hoping they would catch the eye of sponsors Boots Centre for Innovation, Kodak and Proctor and Gamble who had representatives present on the day.

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