Many international students who choose France to study abroad go to business school with entrepreneurial aspirations. But why wait until done with the business school to launch a startup in France? Higher education in Paris is a great time to start a business!
Starting a business in France while in business school is a dream that many international students hold close to their hearts. Supporting them to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true is a priority at De Vinci Higher Education.
Setting up a French business while studying at EMLV
To support business creation in France, Devinci Startup the springboard for student-entrepreneurs at EMLV, provides guidance and advice at early in the students’ entrepreneurial ventures. While getting startup support is crucial for setting up a business in France, receiving the proper business education can differentiate seasoned and unskilled entrepreneurs.
EMLV offers a range of international programmes -MSc, MBA, MiM – designed for students who want a hands-on business degree and global experiences. Digital Business Analysis, international business, international finance skills and tools can be extremely useful for students as they venture into the French business world.
Here are a few examples of EMLV students who converted their internship into a startup creation experience in France.
Stylepeers: promoting sustainability in fashion
Sanghmitra Bhardwaj, class of 2021, studied International Finance at EMLV. As part of her MSc internship, her focus is to create a fashion French Startups ecosystem that has sustainability in its core values via the promotion of small businesses. She does so through Stylepeers, a platform for sustainable fashion.
“Stylepeers mission is to make independently made fashion creations accessible to everyone, through both online (platform) and offline (events). Stylepeers promotes sustainable and unique fashion brands and creators.”
What motivates Sanghmitra to be an entrepreneur and pursue this idea in Paris is France’s “fashion crown”. “Paris is a fashion capital with creators who come from diverse backgrounds. Currently, there is a strong tendency to make sustainability mainstream in the fashion industry. We can notice the same trend on larger levels, in the regulations and customer approaches, so these are some of the major motivating factors for me.”
With Devinci Startup, I had the best experience I could, a friendly and open environment with supportive mentors. They were keen to see the startup’s progress and provided valuable insights on different aspects, including technical and legal. Moreover, I could see a lot of positivity and enthusiasm in the support I’ve got from Devinci startup and Leonard de Vinci Higher Education.
We have successfully developed the MVP for our project and started the next phase of marketing and PR and currently, we are working with three creators. In addition, we are in conversation with over 50 creators in regards to the onboarding process.”
Aysh: business and technology consultancy
Halim Hamdan studies International Business at EMLV. During his MSc degree, he felt inspired by EMLV’s ambition to “provide students with digital tools and cross-cultural insights necessary in today’s business“. So he set up Aysh, a business and technology consultancy business.
“Aysh mission is: provide technology and problem solutions to businesses that seek development and improvements. This project aims to help companies or people who have ideas and want to implement them.”
Aysh provides services for all kinds of businesses that seek improvements and helps its clients build their projects. “Even for those who might not have a clear vision, we provide everything necessary to make ideas clear and possible to create.”
What motivates me to be an entrepreneur in France and Paris is that the country supports entrepreneurial projects. France is a country that appreciates innovations.
The Pole Leonard de Vinci’s staff has been accommodating regarding entrepreneur advice and guidance: entrepreneur visa, business registration… Their help is crucial, especially when it comes to information that is little and yet very essential. Now I have created the company, I got my SIRET number. I made my first deal with my first client and currently a system is being built for the first client.”
You are an entrepreneur? Paris-France is a great home for creators looking to start their businesses. Find out more on Devinci Startup.