He created his very first company at the age of 17, before founding one of the first web agencies in France. After having sold several companies to large groups, Alexander March, nicknamed the entrepreneur-philanthropist, has decided to devote himself to the fight against inequalities, in particular by promoting solidarity and corporate donations to associations and NGOs. At 48, the French entrepreneur is still teeming with ideas and projects.
What led you to create Epic, and how does the foundation work?
After having sold my last two companies to the Publicis group and the BlackBerry group, I knew that I was going to dedicate part of my life to others. I said to myself that we had to support companies that want to give more, and help organizations that need money. As for a company, I did a market study, and brought an entrepreneurial vision in the world of humanitarianism which could sometimes be lacking.
It’s very important that these associations be “challenged” in the same way as a company, especially with regard to the mistrust that sometimes surrounds donations, isn’t it?
Whenever I went to see companies to ask them why they weren’t doing more, very often they replied that they didn’t trust them, or that they didn’t have the time or the knowledge. So they did the minimum. I told them that we were going to restore their confidence by analyzing these NGOs, with 45 selection criteria.
You have also created an investment fund, Blisce, in which the notions of commitment and responsibility are taken into account. Will companies have to be more and more responsible?
The world has changed a lot in recent years, with an acceleration due to Covid. In 2018, in my book The Sharing Revolution, I was already explaining that a company would find it increasingly difficult to hire and sell its products if it did not make sense of its approach. The notion of positive finance still seemed incongruous a few years ago, but today I am convinced that finance has a major role to play, which is how we became the first B Corp investment fund in Europe [certification accordée aux entreprises répondant à des exigences sociétales et environnementales]. Each person who works at Blisce must donate 20% of their bonuses, and must give 5% of their time every month. And they do it with great pleasure. We have supported a number of companies, such as Too Good to Go [appli contre le gaspillage alimentaire]in this perspective of positive finance.
Is this all the more essential with the younger generation attaching great importance to these values, within the company itself?
Yes, but it’s not just people under 30, we see that today people in their forties, those in their fifties, etc. are being questioned. They wonder if what they have been doing for twenty years still makes sense, if they should continue to live in the big cities. Ten years ago, success meant living in large urban centres, having a company car, a corner office, etc. We grew up with that kind of thinking. Today, the single success model no longer exists. For some, the main thing is to be home by 6 p.m. to take care of the children, for others, it is to live in a quiet corner of the countryside. The same goes for entrepreneurship, not everything is played out at Station F in Paris.
You also say that today, it is also the consumer who decides…
We can decide with our credit card. We can decide which business will succeed or not. Watch what “Who’s the boss?” » [marque de consommateur qui « rémunère les producteurs au juste prix »]. In 2016, people said to themselves that we were going to pay dairy farmers properly, and today they have become the leading brand of milk sold in France. For what ? Because consumers say to themselves that it is better to highlight this type of company, by agreeing to pay one euro [1,27 euros exactement] liter of milk [dont 54 cents va directement au producteur]. The base can have considerable impacts on societal developments.
I told the companies that we were going to restore their confidence by analyzing these NGOs, with 45 selection criteria. »
How do you think the relationship to work will evolve in the coming years?
There is an employment crisis, with tension in certain positions, and it is up to employees to impose the type of society they want. I obviously make a difference between those who can afford to choose, and those who do not have the choice of their work, but this movement crosses all categories. Look at what is happening in the hotel and restaurant industry: thanks to Covid-19, there is a general questioning of the status quo.
We feel a strong desire among young people to embark on entrepreneurship, to be their own boss. What advice would you give them?
Do not wait for the big idea: there is a difference between entrepreneur and inventor. We put extreme pressure on ourselves if we wait to have the idea of Elon Musk. Of the six companies I started, only one was based on real innovation that didn’t exist before, yet the other five were also successful. Afterwards, there is a notion of work: I have rarely found successful people without having worked a lot, both the baker and the start-up. Finally, you have to do real market research, you have to be a sponge, spend time with people to find out if your product is suitable for the market… When people screw up, it’s because they imagined something that didn’t was not suitable for the market.
What will be your next project?
I am working on a project to fight against inequality of opportunity. This is glaring at two points in life: at birth, and there is not much we can do about it, and at the end of high school, because, depending on the parents’ means, or the place where the where we live, a young person will have access to the studies he wishes to do, or not. And when we don’t have the means, we have a tendency to shut down, to not even try. My new project will work on the access of the greatest number to the great schools, when they have the intellectual capacities and when they deserve it. This is meritocracy.