Thursday, April 27, 2017
The engaging event in Nice was organised jointly by the GIP FIPAN, the Métropole de Nice Côte d’Azur and the Pôle Services à la Personne PACA on 27th April 2017 at the Mediterranean University Centre in Nice.
Lecturers at the event emphasised that due to the France's strong social orientation the SIB developed quite late in the country and was accompanied with hesitation from some public stakeholders as well as public opinion. However, SIB has been gaining popularity since the public expenses for the social sector have been rising rapidly. French Government even launched a call for proposals in March 2016 and chose 13 projects, further 47 will be evaluated in the second phase.
Three examples of selected projects were presented. They are tackling the problems of abandoned countryside due to the unemployment (partners are ADIE (Association pour le Droit à l’Initiative Economique), the private bank BNP Paribas and the independent evaluation society KPMG);
- finance and support the creation of jobs in the social economy sector with contract lasting of one or two years (Solidarité nouvelle face au chômage); and
-support people far from the labour market preparing their job interview by providing them professional outfits (Cravate solidaire).
Furthermore, the example of Impact Partenaire was presented. Impact Pertenaire is an investment company with a social mandate established in 2007 which has been selected by the French Government SIB call for proposal, with a project dedicated to the economic development of priority districts in France, particularly in relation to the businesses’ creation. The investors’ money facilitates the access to finances of the potential store-owners /franchisee. In fact, with the funds, Impact Partenaire covers 40% of the budget, 50% is covered by the banks and the franchisee has only to invest 10% of the total budget required.
The 60M€ raised for this SIB is coming from the Franchise French Federation (FFF), national franchisors such as Burger King, Carrefour Proximité, Mail Boxes Etc., OCP-Pharmactiv, O’Tacos, Pizza Hut, Speedy, the European Investment Fund, the Française des jeux (the French institution for lotto) and bpi France.
The event ended with a vivid discussion, which proved that the concept of SIB is of a great interest for the stakeholders as well as general public.
