Top Graduate, the "made at KEDGE" start-up which combines Consulting and Freelancing

Their history

Both graduates from KEDGE (Class of 2018), Naoufel BOUALI and Christopher JEAN decided to jump into the huge adventure of entrepreneurship after having worked for several companies in France. They also both did an Erasmus exchange at the University of Mannheim in Germany, 

“We were both doing a work-study when we started thinking about doing a start-up, and we had the chance to participate in numerous events through the school ((Challenge Auchan, French Tech Culture, Associations…). But it was really during our exchange in Germany that we decided to take the next step and begin. It’s very important to see a completely different view of entrepreneurship, one that is much more focused on Anglo-Saxon models […]. It was a truly beneficial experience,” the young entrepreneurs said.

With its online platform, Top Graduate is reinventing the relationship between students and businesses through promoting freelancing.

Top Graduate: a job platform that combines consulting and freelancing

Top Graduate was launched in January 2019, with the aim of facilitating and securing partnerships between companies and student freelancers around projects that have a high-added value.

On the business side, companies can share, via the platform, what they need and expectations from a freelancer, such as the nature of the project, its objectives, and the skills needed.

On the student side, the startup offers those with a Master degree (bac +4/5) who wish to show they are being proactive, the ability to enhance their CV by increasing the number of professional experiences they can list. After registering, each student is interviewed in order to identify his or her skills, motivations, and expectations.

As soon as each side completes the necessary steps, freelancers can submit proposals to the different jobs offered by companies. Once their proposal is accepted, the project can begin.

At Top Graduate, jobs revolve around four main areas of expertise:

• Sales;
• Marketing;
• Technology;
• Opérations.

A springboard to the professional world

Today, nearly 58% of students report a lack of experience when they enter the job market. Based on this, Top Graduate aims to fill this gap by offering a solution that promotes a door to the professional world and gives students a way to develop a competitive edge. 

As co-founder Naoufel explained, "Our goal is to boost the employability of students, while supporting companies in their development. We want them to see our freelancers as junior consultants bringing a fresh look at their current issues and challenges.” The main goal is not to offer students a new way to make money, but to offer an alternative to the "classic" student job. 

Top Graduate already has many start-up and corporate clients, and more than 500 freelance students have already registered on the platform.

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