Meet two Kedge Alumni who are serial entrepreneurs

Hello, Charlène. To begin with, can you tell us about your educational and professional background? 

In 2008, I joined Kedge, which was still called Euromed Management. I graduated in 2011, after finishing my last two years doing a work-study programme in the management of marketing projects. Afterwards, I started working on a business project with my associate Mohand Bencherif, who is also a Kedge alumnus. With the technical expertise we acquired during our studies, we created N-SENS, a company specialised in developing custom-made marketplaces. We supported around 50 marketplace projects in a wide variety of fields: gastronomy, tourism, beauty, handiwork, education...

Where did you get the idea to create Kreezalid?
 
At age 26, and with five employees, we wanted to embark on a new entrepreneurial adventure. That is when we started to think about creating an online service that would allow clients to create a marketplace in only a few minutes. Indeed, we had quickly figured out that the key to success was not in the code of our marketplaces. Isn't it better to launch quickly and start attracting your first visitors, rather than spending six months developing your platform, without any guarantee on your return on investment? So, we studied the solutions already available on the market. And we quickly realised that they are at best technically limited, and at the worst financial inaccessible. We needed to offer a solution that was quick and affordable, but could also be personalised and extended. That is where Kreezalid was born. Our promise: your online marketplace in record time.

Where are you with the project today?

Since early 2017, we have been commercialising Kreezalid, an online solution (SaaS) that allows you to create your online marketplace in just a few minutes, without any technical know-how. Our development team in in France, but our market is worldwide, and our solution is available in French and in English. In addition to the technical platform, we offer our clients recommendations based on our experience in supporting marketplace projects. Our goal is to enable all great projects to have the opportunity to exist, without any budget constraints. We are convinced of the crucial role these platforms play in our way of life, and our consumption of goods and services today (AirBnB vs hotels, Drivy vs car rental companies, Uber vs taxis).

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What are your objectives for the future?

We realised over the last few months that there are great opportunities outside our borders, in particular in our field of activity.

We are convinced that there are great economic opportunities in certain African countries. However, the technological environment and uses are very different. Our challenge is to find the right solutions in order to commercialise Kreezalid in these countries.

How did your time at KEDGE Business School help you launch your projects?

Kedge Business School helped me open up to a path I hadn't imagined: entrepreneurship. The school's "pro-act entreprise" and "Junior Entreprise" programmes played an important role in structuring my project and helped me take the leap with more confidence.

If you had one piece of advice for KEDGE alumni who want to create their own company, what would it be?

I would tell them not to wait to take the leap. I would add that taking the leap doesn't mean taking unnecessary risks: you can easily test an idea as a side projet, and really go for it when you are more sure about your market.

At the worst, you can use this experience and the skills you gained (referencing, web writing, social media management...). Companies today are looking for collaborators with an "entrepreneur" mindset. You don't have anything to lose, on the contrary.