Despite the Covid, the 2020 laureates of Réseau Entreprendre Côte d’Azur have created 126 jobs – Le Journal des Entreprises

They were 14 at the start. But this 2020 promotion of Réseau Entreprendre Côte d’Azur is obviously not a promotion like the others, some entrepreneurs having been winners in March, when the pandemic and its confinement arrived. Among them, and despite uninterrupted support, two had to cease their activity: Odabaïa and its swimsuits were placed in compulsory liquidation at the end of 2022, as for Justine Bignet, faced with multiple difficulties in finding premises for her innovative and eco-responsible crèche , she returned to a life of employment.

From innovation to medical biology

The 12 others have overcome the obstacles and managed to create no less than 126 jobs: Stiilt and its alternative to traditional vehicle leasing has 9 employees; Knap and its connected trolleyabout fifteen in his 300 m studio² of Villeneuve-Loubet; Sempack and its sustainable and innovative packagingabout fifteen also; GoMecano with its centralized home mechanic service is now present throughout France, has around ten employees and plans to double that number by the end of 2023 thanks to a new fundraising campaign in progress. Blurizon is an operational transformation consulting firm created by four partners at the end of 2019. It brings together around ten people. “When we explain to a banker that we need to finance our working capital needs and recruit gray matter to develop our business, he doesn’t like it too much, explains Stéphane Douchet, one of the founders. Réseau Entreprendre Côte d’Azur was the only one to open the door to us to structure our project and obtain funding which enabled us to launch our activity and create jobs.”
By setting up Paca Lab and its medical analysis laboratory, James Kasprak will undoubtedly have been the only one to benefit from the Covid. It now has 24 jobs, 42 at the end of 2023 and double by the end of 2024, four laboratories, a fifth which will open next month and five more to come this year.

Break the isolation

Beyond a loan of honor without interest and without guarantee, it is an accompaniment between peers that the candidates for the accompaniment come to seek. “When you start a business, you are alone, it’s difficult, explains Jérémie Niddam, who took over the family business Activitre. the Covid. The support brought me a lot, made me take a step back.” Same observation for Thibault Villette at the head of Gen’K Conseil, digital marketing communication agency for point-of-sale networkssupported through the Ambition program.

“The objective was certainly to double our turnover, which was then 2 million euros, but for me, it was above all a question of feeling alone, he testifies. I have 28 employees to this day but I am still just as alone in charge. I went looking for partners with whom I could discuss strategy, vision, challenge myself and question my certainties. I was faced with people to whom I could say that I had my doubts.”
To mark the official end of their support, the 2020 winners met, in the presence of the new president of Réseau Entreprendre and 2015 winner, Christophe Colineaux, within Artelier Sellerie Motor Yacht, a company run in La Trinité near Nice, by Julia Barbosa, 2016 winner. In turn, the members of the association highlighted the determination, energy, motivation and ability listening to those they will have accompanied for two years. And that some will continue to support.