The agility of a small company

I’ve lived in Nantes for 30 years but I’m originally from Rennes. I come from a world that has nothing to do with boating, as I originally trained in the restoration of antique furniture and paintings. I chose to move to Paris to discover the world of business and work in different companies. Until one day I had the opportunity to work for a company that made equipment, small electronic boxes for computer training, just like language laboratories with booths and tape recorders. I have a technical background but a real commercial temperament. It’s a huge advantage because I can make the link between the two. This company, Cartel Europe, has filed for bankruptcy. I took it over, and we worked very well in Paris for fourteen years, until we won a major contract in Algeria for the Ministry of Education, which we were never paid for. We went out of business. It’s been a great adventure and a positive experience. It doesn’t work every time.

Four years earlier, I had set up an agency in Nantes and moved there. I spent a year and a half working in a food business before the opportunity arose to buy Ruban Bleu, which was on the verge of going bankrupt because its former manager, who took over in 2003 from the founder (1992) Jérôme Croyère, had died. When I took over the company in 2006, there were only four boats still being built in a building in the former Dubigeon shipyards on the Ile de Nantes, which were being shipped to Moscow. Then it was over. There was only one employee. It was very complicated at the outset because there was no transfer of the business, as the manager had disappeared. He worked the old-fashioned way, with no customer files and no plans. It’s been a very complicated adventure. It took an enormous amount of effort to put it all back together. I didn’t have any support. It was a lonely walk in the fog. In 2014, the Pays de la Loire Region and an investment fund acquired a stake in my company, providing invaluable support.