Digital Campus students & budding entrepreneurs!
Camille Hourdé and Jonathan Bernard are both Mastère students at Digital Campus.
Alongside their studies, and thanks to the support offered by DC Start, they decided to embark on the entrepreneurial adventure.
A look back at their experience as budding entrepreneurs with the two founders of MonAchatFrancais.fr, a marketplace for products made in France!
The Grands Projets: working as a team on a real-world project
Students from the first year of the Bachelor through to the first year of the Mastère, including the Prépa Mastère, have six months to come together as a team and work on a concrete project set by a local or national company.
In the spring, these students are ready to pitch in front of a jury at the grand oral of the Grands Projets!
MonAchatFrancais.fr, what is it?
Mon Achat Français is an innovative e-commerce site built around the principle of a marketplace that brings together, across a wide range of categories, products made in France, so that consumers can easily find exactly what they are looking for. The platform also enables SMEs, entrepreneurs and artisans, as well as creators and producers of French products, to gain greater visibility at lower cost.
As mentioned, Mon Achat Français initially launched its activity through a “marketplace” format, but what makes the concept innovative is that on Mon Achat Français you will also find Private Sales, which allow our customers and prospective buyers to enjoy exclusive discounts all year round; as well as the sale of boxes for those who wish to experience the pleasure of receiving or giving a box, discovering new “Made in France” products and brands every month without having to take out a (monthly or annual) subscription.
How did the idea for your 100% made-in-France company come about?
The idea emerged shortly before the first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020. For nearly three years we had been following the “Made in France” market very closely, a market that has been enjoying a revival for more than a decade. After going through a slump for many years, Made in France is once again becoming fashionable, a real trend — thanks in particular to brands such as “Le Slip Français”, which have given Made in France fresh momentum. For more than two years we have been visiting “Made in France” trade shows, and we are delighted to discover new brands every year, as well as to see more and more participants taking part in these events.
And so, at the start of 2020, we came up with the idea of contributing in our own way, and with our own skills, to the development of “Made in France”, to safeguarding and creating jobs, to the French economy and to French expertise. For us, it is a genuine social, economic and (eco-)responsible commitment.
Coming from a digital background and still studying at Digital Campus Montpellier, we asked ourselves the question: “How, at our level and with our knowledge, can we contribute to the development of ‘Made in France’?” So we carried out market research and found that no “Made in France” marketplace yet existed on the internet. Since then, more than ten competing marketplaces have been trying to make their mark on this market, which is precisely why we must stay constantly on the lookout for novelty and innovation in our project, in order to offer our potential customers what they cannot find elsewhere. The advantage of the marketplace is being able to list a wide range of products on one and the same platform.
We therefore give young companies the opportunity to enjoy the same visibility as SMEs with 10, 15 or 20 years of experience. But it also benefits visitors, who in this case have access, on a single website, to several brands and product categories that will become increasingly diversified (in range and in budget) over time. This will allow us to truly develop our image further around our original positioning: making products made in France accessible to everyone, and to every budget.
How do you manage to juggle school, your work-study placement and the start of your entrepreneurial journey?
Striking the right balance between studies, the company and the project is not always easy and demands a huge amount of time and commitment on a daily basis. The first advantage we have is that there are two of us on the project, which allows us to share out the roles and tasks, ensuring flawless organisation.
Secondly, it is our passion for what we do that simply keeps us from ever watching the clock or thinking about what we are doing. It happens, and you could even say it is our everyday reality, that we work from 8 a.m. through to 11 p.m.
How did DC Start help to get you off the ground?
DC Start enabled us to launch this project by freeing up dedicated slots in our timetables for developing our ideas. What better than a real entrepreneurial project to kick off our Mastère? On top of that, the guidance of our mentors throughout this project is a real asset, as it helps us to reorient ourselves, rethink our strategies, and benefit from their experience and their network — some of whom are directly involved in our project.
You opted for a 100% e-commerce solution — did the lockdown influence your choice?
No, not at all; we had already thought of this 100% digital solution before the lockdown. As digital students, it seemed only logical to create an e-commerce site that would let us put into practice what we have learned over nearly four years.
That does not mean our goal is to stay 100% virtual. We have solid strategies, good ideas and a sound plan that are only waiting for the epidemic to ease in order to take shape.
What does the future hold for “Mon Achat Français”?
Mon Achat Français is already thinking big. This is not a project that will come to an end once the DC Start exams are over — it is very much a long-term venture. We have already given thought to the next steps of our adventure, with the exportation of our project internationally, even on a global scale, or its rollout in other countries. Not to mention other projects that should come along very quickly before the end of 2021.
If you could give just one piece of advice to future DC students, what would it be?
In a word: “create” — don’t be afraid! If you are afraid of failing, just tell yourself that you will learn far more from making mistakes than from getting everything perfect on the first try. Your project will not be perfect, and neither will your strategies or you. But that is exactly where you will develop your skills across the board and discover new ones. If you are passionate about your profession, about our profession, and you have innovative ideas, then you have to give yourself the means to start a business and create.
That comes through learning at Digital Campus, but also through personal research, a self-taught mindset, motivation, practice, determination, networking, sharing experiences… While we cannot tell for now whether our project will be a success, we are already convinced that this experience will have a huge amount to teach us for our future.