My journey
Life as an entrepreneur
My management experience, from 1995 to 2005: a tourist resort, a store chain, a golf course company, a film festival in Africa.
- September 2004 – May 2005
Director of the “Quintessence” film festival in Benin
Private company, 11 to 50 employees, film industry
From September 2004 to May 2005, I had the great pleasure of organising the Ouidah International Film Festival in Benin… Can you imagine organising a festival on a shoestring in Africa, with all the logistics of bringing in guests, equipment and speakers, then setting everything up on site, with all the technical challenges — vehicles, power supply, even communicating with partners and suppliers?
It was an extraordinary experience… I discovered new limits in myself… sleeping 3 hours a night and recovering with 30-minute “power naps”… The January 2005 edition was — in everyone’s view — the most successful ever: plenty of films, audiences and media coverage… and a superb, dedicated, willing team. I loved it!
- May 1999 – October 2001
Managing Director – People Nature & Golf (PNG)
Private company, 3 permanent staff, tourist resort concepts, natural golf courses and green spaces
From May 1999 to October 2001, with a financial partner and a golf architect, I created and developed a company designing and building ecological, natural green and leisure spaces… We signed several contracts, including 100 houses and the extension from 9 to 18 holes of the Prèze golf course near Angoulême (Charente), as well as the construction of the 9-hole Loches-Verneuil golf course (Touraine).
For two main reasons (the endless delays of French administration, and non-stop rain from October 2000 to May 2001), our young company ran out of cash and had to file for bankruptcy… An interesting experience, even if I lost a few feathers! ;-)
- March 1996 – May 1999
Development Director – “O’CD” store chain
Private company, from 20 employees when I arrived to 75 when I left, second-hand CD and DVD shops and online sales
While opening the chain’s 4th shop in Tours in March 1996, I began helping to structure it in every respect. I brought the internet into the shops, worked on the network’s database and on ocd.net — an online store importing CDs from the USA, the Netherlands and elsewhere — and co-wrote “the melody”, the chain’s complete book of rules, procedures and concepts.
When I left O’CD to create PNG, the chain had grown from 3 to 15 shops in France and Switzerland…
- August 1995 – June 2005
Creating a tourist resort in Touraine
Self-employed
From August 1995 to June 2005, starting from a manor and its farm left empty for 30 years, I developed holiday cottages, guest rooms, a pool and a 9-hole golf project… Being one of the first to use the internet, I quickly won an international clientele… It was funny to find myself in this very French corner of the countryside speaking English with Australians, Americans, Japanese and more.
I got hands-on experience of tourism (the Loire châteaux), logistics, hospitality, online advertising and the renovation and construction of buildings, which I designed with the architect, coordinating the trades and managing the works… Living close to nature also gave me the serenity that the endless Paris rush denied me…
Shall we talk?
A free discovery call, with no commitment, to see whether we can work together.