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"Dare to create your own job" in Seine-Saint-Denis

A free-of-charge support program for setting up your own business

The health crisis due to Covid-19 has exacerbated social and economic inequalities. Positive Planet acts to fight against these inequalities, to ensure a professional activity for all and to reduce the socio-economic obstacles which prevail in the most disadvantaged urban areas.The Air Liquide Foundation is supporting the deployment of the “Dare to create your own job” program in the French Department Seine-Saint-Denis.

Rising inequalities

The crisis caused by COVID-19 has accentuated social and economic inequalities, especially in priority neighborhoods, where the phenomena of exclusion have been worsened. The barriers to integration have been exacerbated by the health restrictions: problems of mobility and professional orientation, financial difficulties, poor housing, restricted access to social benefits and health services.

The economic, social and health crisis due to Covid-19 urged 110 mayors and civil society representatives to call upon the French government in November 2020 because of the worsening situation in their territories.

Making sure everyone has a professional activity

Positive Planet is deploying its "Dare to create your own job" program in Seine-Saint-Denis. It is aimed at people having great difficulty integrating or being excluded from the job market, as well as low-skilled people. Its ambition for 2021 is to:

  • identify and support 10 promotions of around fifteen project initiators in a situation of economic vulnerability which has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis
  • unite a community of entrepreneurs through collective learning and networking events
  • participate in the development of entrepreneurship in the neighborhoods and revitalise the neighborhoods most affected by unemployment and precariousness

 

Positive Planet

150 Beneficiaries in 2021

30% living in priority neighborhoods

18% under 26 years old

The Work

The “Positiveurs” who enter a “Dare to create your own job” promotion are very motivated and willing to create their personal entrepreneurial project. The program is particularly aimed at low-skilled job seekers, young people under 26, seniors over 50 and people with disabilities. This free-of-charge support of 4 to 6 months revolves around two learning periods :

  • individual and personalized support on all technical aspects: defining your market study, commercial strategy, business plan, choosing the right legal status and learning how to find financing for your project
  • a collective pedagogy approach emphasizing more the entrepreneurial posture and interpersonal skills, also known as soft skills. The workshops serve above all to refine your entrepreneurial vision, to exchange views with peers and share good practices, as well as to pitch your project in public

“Dare to create your own job” is carried out in partnership with Schoolab and WinSide, two recognized French actors in the entrepreneurial challenges of tomorrow.

What the Air Liquide Foundation is doing

The Air Liquide Foundation covers part of the HR costs of the Positive Planet teams in Seine-Saint-Denis and the association's headquarters to support 10 promotions of "Dare to create your own job".

Testimonial

"I embarked on the “Dare to create your own job” adventure after a professional break due to health concerns. I was lost in my uncertainty on how to bounce back, with more than reduced means, not to say no means at all. Over the course of meetings and exchanges, I discovered an accessible, well-crafted program that provides the means to reflect and build your own project, to think about it in its entirety with simple and effective tools. Above all, I met a committed, caring and attentive team. Be it with my doubts, my difficulties or my pride, I am welcomed and supported. The team has an endless amount of ideas and tips to help me rethink the situation, explore, experiment, meet people or have discussions that open up various possibilities. In this process, I feel taken into account in a rhythm which is mine, with a professional project which, according to my life, my experiences and my desires, evolves and transforms. Certainly, there is only me who can move forward and set up my project, but, today, I am more serene, because the “Dare to create your own job” program gave me the structure (the red thread) that I needed and the team - its energy, so that I no longer feel alone leading my project. Thank you very much to the team."

Sandra, Beneficiary of the “Dare to create your own job” program Artist / graphic designer

Testimonial

"With the “Dare to create your own job” project, the Positive Planet association offers a program with higher added value by providing, in addition to ‘long-term individual monitoring’, a ‘collective support’ component, so that beneficiaries can develop a network, as well as learn to share their challenges and work as a team. This complementarity seems essential to me because not only it allows to teach the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, but it also, and above all, helps to acquire an entrepreneurial posture. In this framework, the method of immersion in a community of entrepreneurs seems necessary to me in order to maximize the factors for success.

In this time of pandemic and the challenges it brings for the labour market, it is essential to foster local entrepreneurial development. Supporting associations and project initiators working in this perspective is important, all the more so, when it is aimed at populations in difficulty."

Turhan OZ,  Software Engineering Team Leader, La Digital Factory & FABS, Air Liquide