FORMER AU MARKETING DE FUTURES CRÉATRICES D’ENTREPRISES

Abstract

raining men and women to found their own company, with marketing and communication tools, such was the challenge of the author who conceived and co-animated these training courses. Since the Nineties, the French government has been encouraging job seekers to start their own businesses and in turn to become themselves employers. The training sessions described here were initially provided for a mixed group within the framework of the Île de France regional Chamber of Trade, in Versailles (78) and Evry (91). These sessions then took place at the Irfed Europe association, in Paris, whose main objective is to help future women entrepreneur of different ethnical origins conduct a feasibility study of their project. A Business Plan was the logical follow up to help these women entrepreneur’s dreams become reality. It first began with the analysis of the initial idea together with the market and competition research. This naturally lead to the development of a sales pitch and of marketing tools and concluded with a business forecast (sales turnovers, profit margins, profitability, and so on), requirements planning (investments, financing, company cash, loans if necessary) and, most important, with a result. This decision-making support did point out traps and difficulties but most of all it encouraged practical and personal initiatives. It could also be a starter generating larger projects, resulting in authentic economic developments like E-trades, international trade, etc.