Gaetane Lemarchand, EDHEC 2019, presents Ecocircular

Can you explain how your project came about?
In my second year at EDHEC, I met Anne Laure. We shared an interest in social and environmental entrepreneurship. When we started our gap year in June/July 2016, I was in London while she was in Paris and we continued to discuss the environmental theme and one day the penny dropped and we decided we really had to do something in that domain together.
We didn’t want to do another final internship in that area because what we wanted was to become entrepreneurs. So an idea began to take shape: we would take a year out from our studies after the gap year and before our second year on the Masters programme. We looked at lots of different projects and businesses that were developing in environmental innovation. We organised meetings and then one day we had a discussion on Skype with Jules from Circul'R, the first to have travelled the world of the circular economy. He told us about all the meetings with entrepreneurs he had had over the course of a year in the four corners of the globe. He and his partner Raphaël had just returned from their year abroad and were setting up a network of entrepreneurs from the circular economy. We asked one simple question: how did they intend to continue to build that network now that they were based in France?
That made it clear that we could do the second circular economy world tour and help expand the Circul'r network. Added to that was the fact that we wanted to take on business development missions with entrepreneurs, and that’s how the Ecocircular project came about.

What is your initial assessment of this entrepreneurial adventure?
It’s been an extremely rich experience. We really went through all the different phases. At the very beginning we were really excited to be launching the project with loads of friends and loved ones offering us encouragement, and EDHEC (Christine Coisne and Florence Da Costa) giving us more support than we could hope for, it was wonderful! Then we entered a more challenging period where we were looking for funds to finance the project: that took a huge amount of time and we were on internships in Paris. We were in contact with major groups with often complex budgetary decision-making processes. Until February 2017 when everything started to take off. We were finally able to start getting in touch with entrepreneurs from the 10 different countries which we were planning to visit, to prepare the groundwork and start looking for business development missions, to get stuck in so to speak!

Have you ever benefited from the EDHEC Alumni network?
Yes, the EDHEC network has been a big help. We used it often to find the right contact person in major groups like Coca-Cola, GRT Gaz, Lafarge, Flunch, Auchan, Vicat and Tiru. It was also very encouraging to get feedback, which has encouraged us to do the same when we are contacted by EDHEC students.

What advice do you have for young entrepreneurs?
Believe in what you’re doing and don’t be afraid to take an extra year out to start building something. Even if it doesn’t work it won’t be a waste of time because it gives you great insights into all aspects of business.

What’s next for your association?
We still have to think some more about what the association will ultimately become. Several young people have already contacted us to take over the project, but it might be that we are too attached to it to hand it over to someone else, perhaps we will continue in another way.

Avez-vous des attentes vis à vis de la communauté des diplômés de l'EDHEC ?
Partager notre contenu médiatique afin de faire connaitre notre projet et de sensibiliser à l'économie circulaire qui est pour nous l'avenir de toute entreprise. Et avoir des contacts dans les pays dans lesquels nous nous rendrons. Souvent les diplômés EDHEC peuvent réellement nous ouvrir des portes à l'étranger pour rencontrer des personnes haut placées dans des grandes entreprises ou plus largement pour nous faire partager leur réseau sur place. 

More information:
Website: www.ecocircular.org
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