Marie Adeline-Peix, Bpifrance. “Territory gives roots to see bigger, to aim higher”

This Thursday, October 5, the Accor Arena in Paris will be buzzing with the footsteps of many participants in the annual Big (1) entrepreneurship event organized by Bpifrance. The theme of this 2023 edition incl Madame Figaro partner? Pride. Debriefing with Marie Adeline-Pace, Executive Director of Regional Partnerships and Area Operations at the State Investment Bank.

Madame Figaro. – Why is pride at the heart of BIG this year?
Marie Adeline-Pace. – Because we are convinced that he is a great driving force. Pride creates joy, confidence in one’s project, which is shared with one’s teams and colleagues and contributes to building society. Above all, it allows you to surpass yourself, to strive for the unattainable. “Between the possible and the impossible, two letters and a state of mindGeneral de Gaulle said. This is all that Bpifrance supports with great strength to protect this entrepreneurial pride.

When it comes to innovation, does France have something to be proud of or is it still lagging behind?
We really have something to be proud of, at all levels. More and more innovative French startups are succeeding in the US and around the world. But there isn’t, on the one hand, honest entrepreneurship that would be Tech unicorns with record fundraising, and on the other hand, everything else. This entrepreneurial pride is all too common, from self-starters to promising scraps. We can be proud of this diversity. Take French Touch, which brings together companies from the cultural and creative industries: music, performing arts, living arts, audiovisual, luxury crafts… They combine skills and expertise that cannot be found anywhere else. This is what we want to celebrate with BIG. this entrepreneurial pride from one end of the chain to the other, from deep engineering to craftsmanship.

You were talking about diversity, this very issue remains key in entrepreneurship…
France is far from being the worst country in the world. It is important to see how things develop and I am not sure that France is slower than others. But we need to support this progress by activating all the levers that allow us to remove the bottlenecks, gender bias, or others that make entrepreneurship more difficult when you’re not a white male from a particular background. social. Bpifrance is mobilizing alongside players like Sista, for example, to ensure that foundation teams include women. We are convinced of the importance of increasing the proportion of women and girls in all scientific fields.

Are things really progressing?
As financiers, we have such a hard time finding projects led by women that, even if I can’t show it, I think being a woman is an advantage. Myself, I benefited from being the only one on Comex or Codir for a very long time. People listened to me more than ten men of the same age wearing the same color tie. We can turn our difference into a strength. And I think we have to be very careful not to spend our time explaining that entrepreneurship is terribly harder for a woman than a man, that no one will ever finance a woman, and that it would be crazy to start. Entrepreneurship is difficult and demanding, regardless of its type. This speech is not politically correct, but it is mine. Myself, I am a wife and a mother, and many other things: Breton, CEO… If I was able to continue this career, it is mainly because my husband took care of our children. And yet no one reminds him that he is a father. Similarly, I have had unsuccessful competitions, but not because I am a woman. Explaining to an entrepreneur that his project failed because of his gender prevents him from thinking about whether his example, his business model, needs to be changed. There is no determinism. By locking people into this pattern, we trigger something self-fulfilling. And this also applies to the residents of the districts.

There is nothing dirty about success, it is possible and gives rise to individual and collective pride

The numbers are still relentless: it’s harder to start a business, then grow and recruit, depending on gender, place of origin, education level, etc.
It is not about falling into naivety, but we must not allow ourselves to be limited. Confining women to their gender, even with the desire to support them, is demeaning and sometimes paternalistic. We need to highlight exemplary models that represent the entire diversity of entrepreneurship. It is these people, more than poor speeches, who will change the world. Therefore, in addition to funding, we strive to support women entrepreneurs. And that starts with the seed we plant in young people’s heads through associations that bring entrepreneurs into schools or high schools. All this helps to show that success is not dirty, that it is possible and causes individual and collective pride.

How can we instill this pride in all of France, beyond Paris?
It is even more natural in the territories. Some are more complex than others, especially those who have experienced major industrial transitions. But the territorial determinist does not exist. on the 19th^eBrittany was a volatile area, and Bretons who were just fit to become cannon fodder for the republic lost themselves at sea, fishing for cod in the Icelandic Sea or off the coast of Newfoundland, or for girls to become maids. In Paris. Today it is one of the most attractive, innovative and entrepreneurial sectors in France. In the same way, I am convinced that Saint-Saint-Denis, one of the youngest areas of France, with a difficult terrain but at the center of the national and international transport network, close to Paris and the entire Ile-de-France. , has incredible power. Another example. The network of industrial SMEs of incredible strength in the Vendée relies especially on this local pride, this complementarity and the ability to work together to develop synergies. This is why we lead communities to facilitate bridges. This local, rooted pride can be found in Marseille, Toulouse and Auvergne. Space is neither limiting nor blocking, it provides the roots to see bigger, to aim higher.

(1) Mets, at the Accor Arena in Paris, October 5, 2023. Information at big.bpifrance.fr.