Thibault de Veyrinas, 60, took over the Nantes company Ruban Bleu in 2006, which was threatened with closure, and has made it, today, the European leader in the sale of electric boats, while offering turnkey nautical bases. A precursor of electric propulsion, it continues to develop innovative solutions taking advantage of the agility of its small structure of nine employees based in Vigneux-de-Bretagne to constantly adapt.
How did you end up at the helm of Ruban Bleu Electric Boats?
I have lived in Nantes for 30 years but I am originally from Rennes. I come from a world that has nothing to do with boating since I initially trained in the restoration of old furniture and paintings. I chose to go to Paris to discover the world of commerce and work in different companies. Until the day I had the opportunity to join a company that manufactured equipment, small electronic boxes for computer training, like language laboratories with booths and tape recorders. I have a technical background but a real commercial temperament. This is a huge advantage because I can make the connection between the two. This company, Cartel Europe, filed for bankruptcy. I took it over, we worked very well in Paris for fourteen years until a big contract in Algeria for the Ministry of National Education which we were never paid. We went out of business. It was a “great” adventure and an experience to consider as positive. This doesn't work every time.
Four years before, I had created an agency in Nantes and settled there. I spent a year and a half doing a food job before the opportunity arose to buy Ruban Bleu which was on the verge of filing for bankruptcy 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 left being manufactured, in a building at the former Dubigeon shipyards on the island of Nantes, which were leaving for Moscow. Then it was over. There was only one employee. It was very complicated at the start because there was no transfer of the company, the manager having disappeared. He worked the old way, without customer files, without a plan. It was a very complicated adventure. It took a lot of investment to put all of this together. I didn't have any support. It was a solitary walk, in the fog. In 2014, the Pays de la Loire Region and an investment fund acquired a stake in my capital and thus provided me with valuable support.
How did you find this company?
It was a friend who was looking to buy a company and who had spotted it. He wasn't interested in her but told me I should like her. Many people from Nantes came to visit it but the conditions of resumption were so special that they were dissuaded. There were few assets, no one for the transfer. It was necessary to clear and find a market, and seek to obtain payment of current invoices...
Did you have an interest in boating?
Yes, a passion for boats and the world of industry. The two combined, it’s really exciting. I immediately felt in my element. I did a lot of sailing, especially dinghy sailing, catamaran sailing, for fun, near Saint-Cast, Saint-Malo.
Have you changed the company's project?
Two years after the takeover, there was the crisis of 2008, which we felt in 2009. But we reacted well thanks to an unexpected development in the market. Mayors contacted us because they wanted to enhance the bodies of water in their municipality with a nautical base and were looking for a company to carry out this project. When you take over a business in such conditions, there is no strategy. We are there initially to plug holes and respond to emergencies. You have to take ownership of the company’s content and do what you can do. It took a while for this to become clear. It was only afterwards that we asked ourselves how to revitalize the company. The external element, the crisis, came to change the situation. We no longer had many contacts but we saw this new demand coming from communities. The first was the town of Chanaz, in Savoie, which absolutely wanted to set up a leisure activity to boost its site along the Savières canal. We started to help them in this process. This made it possible to complete in one year a project that would have taken them several years to come to fruition.
Interview carried out by: Éric CABANAS
Photo: Benjamin LACHENAL
The agility of a small company