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Vote for the Edhec Entrepreneur of the Year 2016

EDHEC in the press

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05.17.2016

The Edhec Entrepreneur of the Year
 
The EDHEC Entrepreneur of the Year award is awarded to an Edhec entrepreneur who has decided to take a leap into the unknown and has contributed to EDHEC’s image as a creator of talent by his/her taste for risk and adventure.
His/Her daring and sense of innovation will have impacted on the winner’s sector or region, or on the vision others have of the sector.
 
Now it's time for you to vote !
 

To vote :

Edhec Alumni? Just click here to submit your vote or use our Facebook application here.

Edhec Alumni & Edhec's friend? It's okay, you can vote directly in our Facebook application here.

 

Therefore, Edhec Alumni vote two times, on Facebook and on the voting module. Each of the two votes counts for 50%.

Feel free to share your vote with a maximum number of friends to support your favorite candidates !

 

François DELTOUR (Master 1981), founder of Effiliation/Effinity

François Deltour is a pioneer of the web!
In 2000, when he founded Effinity (formerly Effiliation), e-commerce was still an unruly business! Everything remained to be done. Thanks to François, Effinity quickly became a key player in the affiliation business in France, with a network of 45,000 partners. This was an area relatively unfamiliar to the wider public albeit essential to brand strategy with a view to attracting new customers online. Since then Effinity has diversified its business and is now among the primary levers that online sellers must use to secure new customers and ensure the continuing loyalty of existing ones.
François explains: “we are working in an area in perpetual movement and we must constantly adapt to the changes taking place, whether in terms of technology or the changing habits of Internet users. You might say that in such circumstances our role is to spin webs so that online traders can catch customers!”

Effinity is keenly aware of consumer trends and in 2015 launched a platform dedicated to the world of influence, linking brands to some 4,000 influencers (bloggers, Instagrammers, YouTubers, etc.).
In 2016, two new companies are being created within the group: Selldorado, a service dedicated to increasing the revenue of small online traders, and Effilocal, a web-to-store solution enabling traders, artisans and store networks to increase their local visibility online and attract new customers to their physical stores.

Effinity has also successfully exported and now has a presence in Europe and Brazil. It has a staff of 70, revenue of €20 M and more than 600 clients, including commercial business like PriceMinister, Ventes Privées  , Walmart and Boulange,  but also the Gendarmerie Nationale and Real Madrid. Based on a robust business model, Effinity has always expanded using its own capital and has never had to rely on external investors.
In the 1990s, François Deltour was already behind Palo Alto, one of the first French web agencies. He served as class delegate and was actively involved in Club Retail.

And in the Deltour family, EDHEC is (practically) hereditary: his daughter Gabrièle is currently completing her studies at the School.

Key Figures : Turnover : €20 M Staff :70 600 clients

We talk about Effinity in ITespressoEdhec Alumnile Journal du Net,...
 

Raphaël Seghier (Master 2008), founder of Homido

Raphael Seghier (EDHEC Master 2008) went into business with two partners on the market for virtual reality headsets for smartphones. This is a sector enjoying rapid growth, with Homido positioning itself as a serious competitor alongside the technology giants.

Having learned Chinese while studying at EDHEC, Raphaël started out in management positions working for French multinationals in China (Peugeot in Beijing and Vallourec in Xi'an, home to the buried Terracotta Army). He then looked for adventure in the world of entrepreneurship, working for a French start-up in Hong Kong in 3-D cinema, which led to the project he developed with two other partners: Homido.

Homido is a virtual reality headset for smartphones. You simply insert your smartphone into the headset so that it acts as a screen which you watch close-up using lenses. This allows you to immerse yourself in all sorts of content: 360° video or VR games, whose special feature is that the user can explore the content in all directions using the smartphone’s movement detection function. This truly transports you into a virtual world.
The launch of Homido has gone well and the product has been successful on the market, with retailers like Boulanger getting on board.

Key figures :

100,000 helmets sold in 2015.

Team : 13 people 

We talk about Homido, in CNet ! Read the article here. 
 
 
 
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