Can you tell us about your career path?

Coming from a modest family, I managed to follow an educational path in France's grandes écoles. In 2004, I chose to go to ESSEC to follow the newly-created Social Entrepreneurship Chair program. During my studies, I often realized that the grandes écoles maintained a form of social reproduction, even though ESSEC has worked hard to promote equal opportunities.

I joined Ashoka for 6 years at the time of its launch in France. In 2010, I left with the desire to work on what seemed to me to be at the root of social change: education issues. I spent two years investigating issues of educational inequality.

In particular, I learned that a child from a disadvantaged background is 4 times less likely to be a good student, and that 30% of a student's success depends on the influence of his or her teacher, and 10% on the head teacher. This fueled my conviction that, if we want to reduce inequalities, we need to help teachers ensure the success of all pupils, especially the most vulnerable.

What challenges do you hope to address with Ecolhuma? What is your assessment 10 years after its creation?

We can clearly see the limits of the French meritocratic system, which only marginally compensates for inequalities arising from birth. If we want France to be more successful and move up in international rankings like PISA, we can't rely on an elite alone. It is therefore urgent to help teachers accompany every child towards success, and Ecolhuma is committed to working alongside those in the field.

"Accompanying one teacher means changing the trajectory of 1,000 students, and accompanying hundreds of thousands of teachers means changing the education system."

In 2015, we took the digital turn by creating two platforms to meet the needs of teachers and headteachers: etreprof.fr has provided support for 120,000 teachers and manageduc.fr, created at the end of 2019, 5,000 headteachers have been supported (i.e. 1/4).

In concrete terms, a teacher who discovers at the start of the school year that he or she has a dyslexic pupil in the classroom will need help to understand what dyslexia is and how to adapt his or her teaching to include this pupil. Official training often comes 12 to 18 months later, so with EtrePROF we try to be reactive and provide answers to concrete needs in a caring, "peer-to-peer" approach.

Teachers hear about EtrePROF through word-of-mouth and social networks, which doesn't prevent us from forging partnerships with certain academies. The idea, moreover, is that our action should serve to prototype certain elements of evolution in public education policies.

What kind of leader should we be when launching a social enterprise?

Above all, we need to listen to our needs with empathy and without prejudice. I'd say it's also imperative to possess certain values such as perseverance and humility, because we never know if we've found the right answer, and today's right answer won't be tomorrow's. If we don't question ourselves, we'll end up becoming arrogant or obsolete! If we don't question ourselves, we'll end up becoming arrogant or obsolete!

"I like the idea of "servant leadership": leadership at the service of the collective and the project. I love telling new colleagues who join us about the mistakes we've made and what we've learned from them!"

When it comes to entrepreneurship, it's vital to know how to surround yourself with people who are aligned with your project, who complement you and who can put their egos aside.

For the past 5 years, you've been co-directing the association with Stephen Cazade: can you tell us why?

I'm aware of my strengths, but also of my limits! Stephen Cazade has led UnisCité's development for over 10 years. He is capable of carrying out ambitious strategies for change of scale.

Before co-directing Ecolhuma, we had conceived various projects together, and he had volunteered to support the Ecolhuma adventure as an administrator. There was a mutual trust and respect between us, as well as a complementarity of skills. It seemed obvious to me that we could take the project to the next level by combining our strengths in total equivalence. Co-managing a company becomes an asset when the vision is shared and the skills are complementary.

"By resolving ego problems, I believe we gain the power to act! In any case, the Ecolhuma association wouldn't be where it is today without his commitment and determination."