EDHEC Rendez-Vous: Delphine Arnault voted EDHEC Person of the Year, 3 graduates recognised for their positive impact on society

This year’s EDHEC Rendez-Vous, the EDHEC Alumni association’s flagship event, celebrated remarkable people whose spirit of enterprise and creative energy have contributed to positive transformations in society. These Awards are testimony to the wealth and vitality of the EDHEC Alumni network as well as the quality of the recipients’ inspirational and highly varied careers.
After two years of events held remotely, on 9 June the EDHEC Rendez-Vous brought together more than 1000 alumni, adopting a hybrid format that allowed us to open up this key date in the calendar to a broad community of graduates in France and around the world. For those in physical attendance, the event was held in Paris at the prestigious Perchoir (15th arrondissement), Europe’s first urban rooftop farm, with a 100% eco-responsible offer that reflects the sustainable approach embraced by the School.

Celebrating spirit of enterprise and impact on society

To mark this EDHEC Rendez-Vous, four Awards were given to graduates whose career paths have contributed to the excellence and reputation of the School at local, national and international levels.
 

The EDHEC Person of the Year award went to Delphine Arnault, Executive Vice President of Louis Vuitton.

Delphine graduated from EDHEC with a Master’s degree in 1998 and has stood out not only due to the excellence of her career in consulting and later at LVMH, but also her initiatives encouraging innovation, entrepreneurship and avant-garde creativity, an example being the LVMH award for young fashion designers, which she established in 2013. She serves as an ambassador for the links between LVMH and EDHEC and embodies an ambition and values that closely reflect the School’s identity. LVMH is committed to an economy with greater responsibility and solidarity through various projects: upcycling and bio-sourcing schemes, material support for young designers, and producing masks and sanitiser gel during the pandemic. Its recent donation of the family business premises in Roubaix to EDHEC and the Institut des Vocations pour l'Emploi (LIVE) bears witness to the family’s attachment to the spirit of enterprise and knowledge transfer. This has enabled EDHEC to set up an incubator with strong technological value-added and to accompany its start-ups in an environment that is conducive to creativity and innovation.

The EDHEC Entrepreneur of the Year award went to Benjamin Blanchard, General Manager of Murfy.

Benjamin graduated from EDHEC with a Master’s degree in 2016 and is one of the five co-founders of Murfy, a start-up based in the Paris region whose mission is to reduce waste from electrical household appliances by offering home repairs, reconditioning appliances or taking them off people’s hands. With more than 200 staff members and 80,000 appliances prepared since it was founded in 2018, the company has had a twofold environmental and social impact by setting up its own training course for appliance repair technicians. Its efforts to support job market reinsertion and promote manual labour have attracted investors as well as the Ile de France Regional Council, which has granted Murfy a subsidy.

The EDHEC Commitment of the Year award was given to Jérémy Odoux, Managing Partner of Blue Gate.

Jérémy graduated from the EDHEC International BBA programme in 2003 and is co-founder of the Franco-Vietnamese consulting firm Blue Gate. For almost 15 years he has developed his expertise helping French and international firms to get off the ground, settle and expand in Asia. Jérémy embodies a spirit of enterprise in support of major societal causes: he co-founded the Club V.I.E Vietnam and is also the co-founder and Chairman of the charity Sol'Asia, which helps underprivileged youths in Vietnam and Laos. He is closely involved in the network of EDHEC graduates as an EDHEC Alumni ambassador in Vietnam and as the primary point of contact for student and graduate expatriates in Asia looking for advice.

The EDHEC Start-up Entrepreneur of the Year award went to Victoire de Lapasse, co-founder of Neptune Elements. 

Victoire graduated in 2018 with an EDHEC Master’s degree and went on to co-found Neptune Elements, a start-up created to promote the consumption of seaweed and make it available to a broader market with the production of condiments made from seaweed in powder form. The seaweed is cultivated along the French coast and the product is sold online in refillable containers. Intent on exploiting the exceptional nutritional properties of seaweed in a world increasingly marked by the depletion of natural resources as well as its positive impact on the environment, the company’s two co-founders hope to develop a veritable sector. Their aim is to identify producers and convert consumers who are still relatively unaware of the appeal and taste of consumable seaweed in France. Several major chefs, including Michel Sarran and Glenn Viel, now support them, as well as experienced entrepreneurs like Thomas Landais (Doctolib), Marc-David Choukroun (La Ruche qui dit Oui) and members of the UN, CNRS and France’s Maritime Ministry.

Watch the Best of video of the 2022 edition