Meet Charles Vidonne, a Kedger engaged in combatting coronavirus and terrorism with the French Army

1. To begin, tell us about your educational background. What did you study, before and at KEDGE?

I grew up in Montbrison in the Loire (42). After I graduated from the secondary school (science focus) for two years I enrolled for business school prep courses in Clermont-Ferrand. 

When studying at KEDGE Marseille, little by little I started to specialise in sales and webmarketing. I started with an experience in retail as a an assistant manager in the bakery department at Auchan. During my gap year, I did an internship in the UK in the marketing department of Nexans, the world’s leading cable producer at the time. Following that I also spent 6 months in the global advertising group DDB Paris.

From the very beginning and throughout my studies at KEDGE, I was very involved with the school’s extracurricular activities. I worked to promote KEDGE Alumni, both inside and outside the business school. I was also responsible for developing partnerships during the Student Office election campaign. In my last year, I was given an opportunity to do a university exchange in Lima, Peru and concluded my studies with a somewhat unusual internship with the French Army at Saint-Cyr.

2. Tell us what you did after your studies were finished? Where did you go? What did you learn?

Almost immediately after graduating in 2013, I started working for a startup called Wizdeo, a YouTube digital agency specialising in managing influencers and carrying out advertising campaigns for brands on the platform.

I started as an account manager, managing YouTubers and working on collaborative advertising projects with brands such as Canal+ and Mattel. A few months later I became a business developer and then a business director a year later. I had to persuade prospective clients such as Huaweï, Electronic Arts, and Procter&Gamble to work with us on producing product placement campaigns with YouTubers. I then quickly moved on to an Operational and Commercial Director role for our YouTubers network, where I managed a team of around ten members.

In 2019, I joined Amazon Web Services, the world leader in Cloud Computing, as a Territory Manager and then as a Sales Manager. With my team, we help French companies accelerate their digital transformation and innovate for their business.

CHARLES VIDONNE - LINKEDIN

3. What is your project/situation today? What gave you the idea and the desire to do what you’re doing today? 

KEDGE PARTNER- SAINT-CYR MILITARY SCHOOL

When I enrolled at Saint-Cyr Military School (l’Ecole Militaire de Saint-Cyr) in 2013, I was looking to serve my country as well as to get in shape and build mental strength. It only took a single email about KEDGE's partnership with the army to convince me to go in that direction. 

In 2015, following the awful Charlie Hebdo attack, I chose to continue to serve the country in the French army reserve unit with the 24th Infantry Regiment in Vincennes.

I am now a Lieutenant, in my spare time (weekends and holidays), I supervise the initial training of young recruits and follow them within my Company after their integration on the Regiment in order to prepare them for various missions.

Since joining the French reserve I have carried out 2 Sentinelle missions (in Paris and Marseille) where I commanded a section of 30-person unit whose task was to protect the population against potential terrorist attacks.

More recently I was promoted to the rank of Deputy Officer of my Company (150 people), and supervised the preparation of our troops for the Resilience mission where we assisted Parisian hospitals in the fight against Covid19. We were deployed at the Pitié Salpétrière, the Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris, the Ivry hospital, and the Regional Health Agency. We provided support to the medical staff of those institutions : preparation and delivery of orders, handling of equipment, ensuring security.

Finally, I had the immense honour of marching as Flag Bearer for my Regiment in a 14th of July, biggest French military parade in Paris.

24TH INFANTRY REGIMENT 

4. If you were to give advice to any KEDGE graduate who wants to do something similar, what would it be?

I had many aspirations as a young KEDGE graduate but didn’t always have confidence in my ability to achieve them. In hindsight, my ambition and constant hunger for self-development is what helped me progress. So, what I’d advise is to ask a lot of questions, to stay curious and most importantly, to always dare to try (don’t be afraid to look ridicilous).

Despite the difficulties and many doubts I’ve had, I’ve always pursued numerous and sometimes unusual paths. The more unconfortable and difficult it was the more I wanted to go in that direction. The harder it was the more I learnt, (although sometimes it might have seemed unbearable, I never regretted anything.

All of these experiences – the business school classes, the extracurricular activities, the university exchanges, the internships, and the Army training - have helped me understand where I wanted to go and why. I really want to thank KEDGE Business School for giving me the opportunity to do all of those things.

Dare to try !