The Roch-Les Mousquetaires Foundation has awarded 20,000 euros to the 3 winners of its "Coup de Pouce" competition, organised in partnership with KEDGE Business School.

The competition is aimed at business creators, or start-ups in the inception phase, who need help in taking that significant step forward. It receives support by partners in the regions (universities, universities, technology institutes, business schools, talent incubators, etc.) who are responsible for identifying young business creators.

The ceremony and its awards

After auditioning eight finalists from KEDGE's Business Nursery, The Roch-Les Mousquetaires Foundation chose the winners of the 2020 edition of its competition. An overall endowment of 20,000€ was shared between the winners to help them develop their companies. 

• 1st Prize (10,000€): SOLIKEND (Clément DUSSER)

Leading hotel booking site for associations

• 2nd Prize (6,000€): HANDDDLE (Dylan TALEB), incubated at the Business Nursery

A turnkey B2B solution to facilitate the incorporation of 3D printing in companies

• 3rd Prize (4,000€): TASTE-IT BY WILD WINE WEST (Gautier DUFAU), incubated at the Business Nursery

An app for professional wine tasters

Selection criteria

Projects entered into the competition were evaluated based on the following aspects: human, technological, legal and intellectual property, financial, and commercial. The main selection criteria considered were the: 

• Innovative nature of the technology, service, or function, with established proof of concept
• Economic viability of the project
• Significant potential for development and value creation, including internationally
• Motivation, availability and ability of the future leader to create and develop a company, lead a team, and build partnerships
• Quality and complementarity of the team
• Control of intellectual property and third-party rights (in particular freedom of exploitation)

Jury members

 The Roch-Les Mousquetaires “Coup de Pouce” competition jury was presided over by Christophe PAUMARD, Administrator of The Roch-Les Mousquetaires Foundation and Independent Business Owner and Intermarché member. The members of the jury were:

• Hervé BONNIFAIT, Independent Business Owner and Intermarché member
• Pierre DEJEAN, Project Manager & Community Leader, Frenchtech Bordeaux
• David DE DRYVER, Consultant with the accounting agency, Condillac Expertise
• Leo FREMAUX, Community Developer, ULULE
• Alyson GRANT, Corporate Relations Manager, KEDGE
• Nathalie MOOCK, Managing Director, The Roch-Les Mousquetaires Foundation
• Benoît PALABRE, Co-founder, Where You Love

“With its annual Coup de Pouce competition, The Roch-Les Mousquetaires Foundation brings inspiration to those who want to give their entrepreneurial venture a better chance of succeeding. Each year The Roch-Les Mousquetaires holds nearly a dozen finals in its “Coup de Pouce” competition, with which it allocates 200,000 euros to some thirty start-ups”, explained Maryvonne LE ROCH-NOCERA, President of The Roch-Les Mousquetaires Foundation. 

“We are very happy that The Roch-Les Mousquetaires Foundation has confidence in us and that it supports the entrepreneurism of the students and graduates of KEDGE Business School, by letting them benefit from these awards,” added Diane LE NAY, Start-up Programme Manager of KEDGE’s Business Nursery.

Business nursery PRESS RELEASE