On 9 and 10 November, members of the NEOMA student club, Déclic Entreprendre, organised a “Start-up Safary” in Paris. The aim of this two-day tour was to visit nine companies of all different sizes and types and learn about the French capital’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Those who participated called in “intense” and “incredible”.

Emilie Maréchal, PEA

“It was incredible. An unforgettable experience. It’s a bit nuts to send nearly forty students around Paris for two days. It was the first event that we organised for the club. We selected companies through the Déclic Entreprendre network and the Neofounders network (created by alumni) to go meet with stand-out companies”.

Nicolas Coupanec, MiM Pre-master

“Since entrepreneurship is my passion, I really wanted to learn about the Parisian ecosystem. The weekend was intense. We met with a lot of different start-ups where everyone from interns up to the CEO of Spendesk or Lyf Pay were very accessible. It was an opportunity for us to see in practical terms the offices, the organisations and the strategies of these start-ups and to better understand the details of how they operate. They took the time to explain it all to us.

“We were able to meet former NEOMA students and former members of Déclic Entreprendre. We were motivated in know we follow the same path or at least the path of entrepreneurship. They were all very passionate. Like Yohann Fernandes who open the doors of Station F or Quentin Le Gall at Raise Ventures.

“What was the most striking for me was the hour and a half I spent with Christophe Dolique, CEO of Lyf Pay. He showed us his company and strategy in detail and answered our questions about his entrepreneurial experience. His talk was captivating and his answers were thoughtful and straight forward, which is rarely the case.

“I am very grateful to Déclic Entreprendre, which I’ve just joined. Its reputation opened many doors for us that are often closed”.

Léo Giramelli, first-year MiM

“The value in such an event is in learning about the rather rigid or relaxed ways of working and in being able to walk through the companies, see their offices and envision a future like it.

 For us, the NEOMA students, spending two days together in Paris brought us closer together. It was a good time for sharing and listening.

“We met with alumni that told us about their careers since earning their degrees. Like Quentin Le Gall from Raise Ventures. It was very inspiring for me to hear about him working in venture capital, a field that I’ve thought about entering. Since then, I’ve looked for an internship in this field. We also came to understand the strength of an alumni network.

“The meeting with the CEO of Lyf Pay made a big impression on me. Of course, he has succeeded, but before making it, he had to get over three or four failures. It’s an example of perseverance.”

THE COMPANIES VISITED DURING START-UP SAFARY

Spendesk, founded by Rodolphe Ardant, is currently the 26^th French unicorn after two fund-raising campaigns of 100 million euros. Its business is to centralise and secure all the expenses, supplier invoices and expense reports of a company. It was the largest company visited.

Schoolab, founded in 2014 by Mathieu Aguesse and Jean-Claude Charlet, is a studio that offers training, consulting and assistance with responsible innovation.

Lyf Paid is a mobile payment application founded by Christophe Dolique, which simplifies all daily expenses.

RAISE, founded by Gonzague de Blignières and Clara Gaymard, is considered in France to be a committed, pioneering finance group, managing 1.5 million euros in assets.

Maria Schools, a training 2.0 organisation that responds to the transformation of the job market. It one of the key partners of Déclic Entreprendre.

STATION F has no less than 1,000 incubated start-ups.

Entrepreneur First, an innovative capital risk firm, originally started in the UK, that has raised nearly 150 million euros.

Le Village by CA Paris, a single structure of innovation accelerators for companies and start-ups. Nationally, it now has 43 villages and provides daily support to 800 start-ups.

Glady, founded by Jerome Proust, is specialised in employee benefits and rewards management.