Nominees for the Progression Prize – Eco Austral

Progression Award Nominees

1 – Sven Daudon, co-founder of Court-Circuit

In 2024, Sven Daudon is celebrating his 30th anniversary in Reunion, but also the 20th anniversary of the Court-Circuit advertising agency that he co-founded with the Master group. His personal history has been in Reunion since 1994, the year his parents settled in Reunion. He will be 18 years old and is finishing his secondary studies before leaving the University of Reunion with a master’s degree in information and communication. He began his professional career at ADPE (now Nordev), organizer of the island’s main trade fairs. This three-year experience allows him to know the economic sectors and, above all, the needs of advertisers. He then found himself in a small advertising agency, Piment Rouge, before the Master group asked him to co-found Court-Circuit, an agency positioning itself on the short circuit. And it will be a great success. In 2022, the French group Blue Lions purchased a number of Master’s structures, including Court-Circuit, and Sven Daudon remained associate director of this agency with a 10% stake. Growth continues and he is entrusted, at the same time, with the management of the Blue Lions group in the Indian Ocean. A group which, in 2024, will become SouthNext with the ambition of being “the first communications network in the Global South”.

Court-Circuit’s strategy consists of diversifying its customers – around forty at present – ​​to avoid any risk of dependence. And also to integrate new professions with the creation of expert departments: digital, media, content production and AI Lab. Enough to cross the milestone of 3 million euros in turnover in 2023. The agency, which currently employs 18 people, has seen its turnover increase by 36% over the last five years.

2 – Romain Desvignes, founder of Keylodge

Romain Desvignes was only 23 years old in 2019 when he founded Keylodge. This Frenchman, who came to Reunion Island to spend a vacation, quickly detected a need in the emerging short-term seasonal rental market. Keylodge helps rental companies find more customers and optimize their income, takes care of, if they wish, the time-consuming tasks of reception and cleaning, while making it easier for travelers to search. The company presents the accommodations it manages, as well as a summary of existing offers on Airbnb, Booking.com and other platforms. Keylodge is remunerated by taking a commission on rental income, which varies depending on the service provided. It offers rental companies strategic and personalized advice, a dynamic pricing strategy based on seasonal supply and demand, while maximizing the visibility of the accommodation, its occupancy rate and ensuring its daily maintenance. Romain Desvignes has gradually expanded his team and is expanding his offer, from simple rooms to high-end villas, in all the towns on the island. Keylodge now has 46 employees and generates an annual turnover of more than two million euros. It has become the leader in its market in Reunion, where it will have welcomed more than 6,000 travelers in 2024. This year marks another important step in its development: in the first half, it expanded its activity to Mauritius.

3 – Jean-Christophe Habot, founder of Feelbat

Feelbat has experienced very rapid development since its creation in July 2020 by Jean-Christophe Habot. This engineer specializing in the study of soils and structures was quickly able to convince people of the relevance of his discovery: equipment measuring the deformation of a structure, the evolution of a crack or an inclination on a building or in nature. The collected data is transmitted by radio waves to a mobile application. After an incubation period at the Technopole de La Réunion, he had his first transmitter sensors manufactured in 2021 and found his first customers, on the island and in mainland France. Feelbat already achieves 200,000 euros in turnover when Jean-Christophe recruits his first employees in 2022.

It is continuing its R&D to develop new humidity and vibration sensors and is expanding its range of services and advice, aimed at design offices, companies and individuals. In the first half of 2024, Feelbat successfully raised funds: one million euros in equity investment via Apicap and three investment funds and financing of 500,000 euros granted by BpiFrance.

The company today has 16 employees between Reunion Island and Montpellier, has a turnover of 1.5 million euros and has international ambitions. In October, Jean-Christophe Habot presented his products at a trade show in Korea, where he had just won an award.