EDHEC Entrepreneur of the Year Nominee: Patrick Amiel (EDHEC GE 1996), founder of Wengo

What do you do when need the advice of an expert or the help of a good professional? The Wengo website enables individuals to choose the right professional based on the opinions of previous clients and to contact the professional with a single click.  

Back in 2006, after spending six years in digital marketing with major advertising agencies like DDB and McCann, Patrick Amiel decided in the space of 24 hours to switch to the entrepreneurial route. He then joined Wengophone, a subsidiary of Neuf Cegetel offering an internet-based telephone solution, a sort of “French Skype”. He teamed up with the four other founders to completely overhaul the company’s positioning and business model. As of today, the telephone platform is used to put individuals and professionals into contact with each other, with Wengo charging a commission for each consultation. The mechanics are well-oiled. Individuals registered with Wengo can choose from among 2,500 specialists by viewing their profiles, their price rates and availability, and especially the opinions of previous clients. After entering their bank details, they are called by the professional of their choice and billed according to the time spent in consultation. Wengo verifies the expert’s credentials beforehand (for lawyers, for example, Wengo checks their professional membership card and their registration with the chamber of lawyers).
Since being launched in 2007, Wengo.fr has been consulted over 2.7 million times. With the system thoroughly tried and tested, Wengo is expanding via a strategy of partnerships with other widely-used sites like Aufeminin.com or Yahoo!, and by a series of targeted acquisitions geared to broadening Wengo’s domains of expertise, e.g. Astrocenter in 2010, Juritravail and Netiris in 2012, DevisPresto (2013) and SansRDV (2014), with two further acquisitions currently in progress.
Wengo now operates in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Brazil and plans to start up in Turkey, Germany, Denmark and Norway this year. The company is now owned by Vivendi, employs some 150 staff and posts €40m in sales.

During his time at EDHEC, Patrick was President of the EDHEC Student Union (1994/1995 - Nice) and founded the EDHAIGLE association geared to helping 10-16 year olds placed under legal protection procedures for youths and minors.
For more information : http://www.wengo.fr/