Asia is a land of friendly welcome for French entrepreneurs. (c) sipa

They fantasized and landed in New York . Shanghai! Less than 24, Benjamin, Thomas and Max, the founders of the legendary Café trainees already have earned their stripes of entrepreneurs. From their first year of operation, they won the Best Bar Shanghai Prize, awarded by the English magazine Time Out, and plan to open in Hong Kong this fall: “we wouldn’t have been able to make it to paris or new york Too expensive and not allowed to make mistakes. And then, just as twenty years ago you had to be in New York, today, you have to be in Shanghai. “

The Asian dream has captured the French entrepreneurs. Megacities where to converge new consumers to industrial zones where emerge every day news factories of the world, agricultural frontiers to explore new technologies to operate, the “Far East” exerts a growing fascination for those who want to cut the umbilical cord and pass what remains an adventure out of their comfort zone.The big battalions are  young entrepreneurs aged between 20 and 45 years. Ten years ago, and particularly the last few years, business creations by the French in Asia have increased, along with rapid strengthening of French business communities: + 11% last year, with officially 110,000 French living in Asia-Oceania – actually much more, because not all of them are registered with consulates.

Individual adventure

Impossible to make a sketch of these pioneers, as entrepreneurship, especially as far from home, is an individual adventure. In Hong Kong, Mathias Helleu thrives by selling US and Chinese stocks and bonds to Asian customers. Bruno Hasson made a fortune in Indonesia: Thanks to his netword of relay clients, he is the leading distributor of handbags, made locally but designed by a multicultural team. Pierre jean malgouyres, architect in vietnam was in a few years of the first 100 global firms with a position midway between the major international names fees and accommodation are too cheap.

Vaissié Arnaud, one of the most striking pioneers of this success, who co-founded International SOS in 1985 in Singapore, becoming world number one in the health sector and international security, yet emphasizes that the choice of Asia is not obvious:Contrary to popular belief, it is not easy to create his own company in Asia. The growth environment and fiscal conditions are favorable, but mounting a business without support is complicated. “So why Asia? It is the adventure that attracts, and those who leave are not necessarily the wealthiest. But for an entrepreneur, pessimism in France is difficult to live with. “

Just as there was the appeal of the “sea”, thus there is the appeal of the Asian market, the energy given off the area, the responsiveness of the inhabitants, the certainty that tomorrow will be better than yesterday … “It is an opportunity to relearn capitalism, summarizes Doan Viet Dai Tu, who has been developing a trading company since 1993 in the Viet Nam , OpenAsia, which today employs 1,400 people.” Our pride in OpenAsia, not only due to the numerical results, but the satisfaction of having created a company culture. Freedom is our luxury. Despite the stress of and a mad work “Despite the pitfalls too.: corruption, counterfeiting … In Vietnam, compared with France,finally, there are more opportunities, more trading margins and less dangers of failure. And no matter whether the AIDS shirk or bank loans are retoqués.

Global Success

As Doan Viet Dai Tu, the French business community has its pioneers. Those who have embarked in the 1980s and 1990s are experiencing great successes, sometimes worldwide: Poylo Joachim, patron founder of the group Aden Services, now with 15,000 employees, a multinational integrated services for companies that compete now with Sodexo, its former employer. Others played rather local or regional card. They are rooted, becoming the pillars of French solidarity diaspora.

In Hong Kong as in Beijing, countless young entrepreneurs have been helped by Patrick Marie Herbet, who arrived in China in 1982, and is head of Abacare, an insurance brokerage company, creator of Rotary Wanchai Hong kong and China Tastevin Knights.

This is its local network which helped partially fund the Year of France in China.

Bicultural Links

This investment – beyond their business – in the cultural and social life is precious to the French presence in these countries. They know the elites, markets, inputs, habits … Often, their spouses were born in their adopted country, their children are bicultural. And history repeats itself, as Alexandre Chieng, 34, co-founder of Schobrunn, number three haircare in China. Son of André Chieng, one of the most renowned French consultants in China and toddler son’s private secretary of one of the founders of the Kuomintang, he was born in Beijing. After studying in France, he returned for an MBA at the University of Beijing. He became a Volunteer in a Corporate (VIE) then worked with BNP Paribas and a financial controller for LVMH. I had a great future, but I was missing something, he says. I thought that my life mission is to create a brand that will inspire the Chinese. Thus was born Schobrunn, with a Chinese partner, a chemist I knew in poker. ‘

This accelerated departure of aspiring entrepreneurs abroad is it bleeding for France? Arnaud Vaissié which is supporting French start-up in the city and invested in the launch of the ESSEC Singapore, the answer is mixed: The great advantage of the French who go abroad is that they can communicate with the rest of the world. Today, they are denounced as people fleeing. But you have to think about it as a circle: provide the conditions for return, valuing their contribution. Those who set up their business in Asia have a fantastic experience. It is up to us to integrate them abroad, and then eventually in France.

Anne Garrigue, writer of the News Asian borders