in Lot-et-Garonne, Albatros wins the stage

“We are the only ones in the world to travel by truck to our patients to directly mold and mill equipment for disabled people,” explains Claire Le Fur, director of Albatros, big winner of the departmental prize of this new edition of Néo-Aquitains . The winner was held back by other obligations. It was therefore Sébastien Laborie, administrative and financial director, who received this award from Frédéric Péchavy, president of the Lot-et-Garonne Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Since 1991, the company has specialized in equipping disabled people. “An essential human contact at Albatros”, Claire Le Fur keeps repeating. The company will represent the department at the Neo-Aquitaine of the Year awards ceremony in February 2025. Last year, the Righini company (Tonnenque door manufacturing company) was the departmental winner.

This award rewards the thriving company born in Port-Sainte-Marie, which plans to open new subsidiaries in Finistère and the East of France. Good economic news in a gloomy context. “Recently, in ''Sud Ouest'', the mediator was categorical: you are fed up with bad news,” underlined Stéphane Vacchiani, journalist hosting the evening. So, it was only good news that was delivered, without falling into optimism.

Audience Award

Sometimes you have to see the glass half full. “In the eighty years that “Sud Ouest” has existed, we have evolved in the way we support businesses,” noted, for his part, Nicolas Sterckx, general manager of the “Sud Ouest” group, which now offers today, via its subsidiaries, video showcases, “even if our core business remains information”.

In total, six companies were rewarded in front of nearly 300 people at Agen Agora. And bankers, like one of the partners of this evening, the Banque Populaire Occitane, represented by François Gilles, its director of the business and private banking network. He recalls that “a quarter of business projects in the region are financed through BPO”. Companies have no shortage of projects. They are supported by the CCI which is also gaining momentum by anchoring itself in the Agen Garonne Technopôle. The move is planned for next year. The business incubator attached to it, La Serre, will open at the end of the month.

A public prize was also awarded, thanks to live votes. It was presented by Maud Caruhel, elected to the Region in charge of the social and solidarity economy. It was Salima Allioui and her very young company, Néocov, who, thanks to their removable and durable book covers, won this prize, three years after winning not one, but three medals at the Lépine Competition.

A very masculine podium, as Stéphane Vacchiani pointed out. “We are struggling with parity, but it is up to you to help us reverse this trend, ladies, by running as candidates, and you, gentlemen, by offering us friends, fellow female business leaders. Let’s take up this challenge for the 2025 edition.”