“I have a lot of admiration for business creators who start from scratch! They must not only have the technical knowledge essential to their profession, but learn everything else in record time. And in areas at the forefront of technology, you often have to wait five or six years before the first euro of turnover… It is fortunate, for the economy of Charente-Maritime, that our territory is attractive for these profiles. »
Thierry Hautier, the president of the Charente-Maritime Chamber of Commerce and Industry, readily focuses on one name in particular: that of Arthur Léopold-Léger. The 40-year-old president and founder of Elixir Aircraft in La Rochelle is among the many figures of this rising generation of economic decision-makers ready to take over in the sectors of the future or to plow new furrows for economic development. local.
Engineers trained at Eigsi, emerging talents that companies in the region seek to capture very early on.
Augé Romuald / SO
Return to La Rochelle
In 2014, the young engineer had the ambition to design and produce an innovative lightweight aircraft for flight schools. A project that has become one of the most exciting industrial bets of the moment with already 180 job creations and the prospect of 500 quickly. And it was with a business creation internship, organized by the consular chamber, that the adventure began. Before going through the departmental incubator (business incubator) and support from the Technopole of the La Rochelle Urban Community.
General Commissioner of Grand Pavois Organization since January, Anaïs Lheureux knocked on another door of the “manager factory” specific to Charente-Maritime. That of Excelia Group. “In 2011, we still said Sup de Co La Rochelle,” remembers the 34-year-old from Limoges. After a master of business administration (MBA) in tourism, direction Paris and Amaury sport organization. Then freelance missions led him to turn to the Atlantic coast. “I wanted to rediscover the quality of life of a medium-sized seaside town. And I had loved La Rochelle during my studies…”
The alumni network alerts him of a position to be filled. In August 2018, she became head of partnerships and public relations for the Rochelais à flot show. Before being promoted to head an annual event essential to the local and regional nautical industry.
“I wanted to rediscover the quality of life of a medium-sized city by the sea. And I had loved La Rochelle during my studies…”
“Meeting the recruitment needs of local companies is clearly part of our missions,” notes Onelia Lamarre, director of corporate and talent relations at Excelia. If the school's influence is national, “16% of our 45,000 alumni live in New Aquitaine”. At the end of their training, “a young person has two to three job offers” and the geographical proximity to the La Rochelle campus constitutes an advantage for recruiters in the battle for the best profiles. Future employees, managers, creators or buyers of businesses to whom Excelia intends to provide the opportunity for multidisciplinary training, by creating bridges between its schools of business, tourism and communication.
A strategic orientation shared by Eigsi, in La Rochelle. The private school, classified as Eespig (higher education establishment of general interest), trains general engineers who are “immediately employable”, indicates its director, Frédéric Thivet. Last year, 423 graduated. Suffice to say that the Charente-Maritime economic fabric, made up of only 0.8% of companies with more than 50 employees, can only absorb a small part.
Alstom, Nautitech…
But their versatility is an asset for finding a job or creating an activity locally. Supporting examples: “The technical director of Alstom in Aytré and that of Nautitech, in Rochefort, visited us, as did the general director of Bénéteau, in Vendée, or the founders of Ateliers Gonnel in La Rochelle, designers of a wood and carbon bicycle…”
The incubator, supported by the Departmental Council, receives 12 to 15 project leaders per year, a third of which result in the creation of a business. Future locomotives of the local economy?
Excelia Group and Eigsi are, of course, part of a broader network of structures (university, Cipecma training center in Châtelaillon, Lekko sustainable tourism accelerator, etc.) capable of turning the cogs of a “leadership factory”. » which clearly contributes to the emergence of new talents for the renewal of the economy in Charente-Maritime.
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