AIMS – Building the New Economic Paradigm from the Old One

Today’s economy is facing profound changes. This is particularly the case in the finance sector, as Ronan Le Moal, Chief Executive Officer of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa can testify, but also in e-commerce, an extremely competitive market where Guillaume Gibault founded his company, Le Slip Français. Together, they attended our AIMs conference to discuss the changes needed to reinvent business models and develop new strategies to sustain a business.

The speakers, who belong to different generations, began by analyzing how career choices evolved for young business school graduates. Fifteen years ago, graduates favoured accounting and banking, which is the path chosen by Ronan Le Moal. In 2009, on the other hand, the trend was rather towards consulting, but Guillaume chose instead to launch his own company. It was only in 2010 that entrepreneurship was ‘democratized’so to speak.

“I think it’s a great time to start a business! That said, you must really want it and it is not mandatory.” Guillaume Gibault

When starting a business from scratch, entrepreneurs need to explore different avenues and leverage different opportunities to support their growth. “Everyone is talking about it” says Guillaume Gibault. There is a lot of interest in start-ups, which therefore generates interest from the media. This enthusiasm, coupled with a strong support infrastructure in France (incubators, competitions, entrepreneur networks, financing tools, etc.), have made these last few years the perfect time to start a business. That said, starting a business is not for everyone: “We should not be wondering what kind of business we could start, but rather what we like to do. Only then will we be able to think about how we could make it work out as a career, and how we can thrive in our workplace,” concludes Guillaume Gibault.

Banks have become aware that their environment has drastically changed in recent years (recurrent economic crises, the digital age, regulatory pressures, etc.). In response to these challenges, two opposing strategies have emerged. The first is to maintain growth by following the same practices. The second is to open up to the ecosystem and commit to serving the economy and entrepreneursin order to build the future. There are internal as well as external (market) challenges. Career paths have evolved and employees don’t aspire to work in a single organization for the rest of their lives. This represents a major challenge, both in terms of recruitment and of talent retention. As for very pyramidal structures such as banking institutions, the trend is to offer opportunities for internal career development and more flexibility so that everyone can find purpose in what they do. Start-ups, on the other hand, offer a bit more of an adventure! Employees can benefit from on-the-job training programs. They are encouraged to innovate and make mistakes, because it’s only by making mistakes that you can progress.