Alongside ADIE and the RATP Group Foundation, RATP Dev works to promote the social and financial inclusion of economically marginalised communities.
A key player in the fight against exclusion in France, the Association for the Right to Economic Initiatives (ADIE) assists individuals who are excluded from the labour market and traditional banking system in launching their business. How does it work? Entrepreneurs who lack access to banking loans are have their projects financed through microloans. They are also assisted before, during and after launching their project.
The RATP group, a valuable ally
The RATP Group Foundation has been involved with ADIE since 2012. In 2013, RATP Dev followed suit in supporting ADIE’s initiatives outside the Paris region on the local level, where it is established. This commitment has enabled it to strengthen its local roots and help with local economic and social development. Every year, ADIE and its partners identify one or two regions based on strategic issues and work closely together on the ground. In 2018, the partnership involves helping 10 individuals in Boulogne-sur-Mer and 25 women launching projects in the Val d’Oise department. In addition to financial support, the foundation and RATP Dev’s subsidiaries support ADIE’s initiatives in various ways—such as by providing a bus with a stand dedicated to business development; promoting business development and ADIE’s services through poster campaigns in the metro, bus and RER networks; and by organising events. “In the Val d’Oise, for example, we put up portraits of project developers based along the bus route, to create closer contact with users”, emphasises Grégoire Heaulme, Regional Director for Ile-de-France and Centre-Val de Loire. There is also another key initiative which was put in place in 2015 with the RATP group in Ile-de-France: Quai des Créateurs, a pop-up store located at the station Gallieni, on loan from the RATP group. With this innovative initiative, ADIE gives micro-entrepreneurs the opportunity to test out their ideas on “real” customers and to prepare themselves in situ for managing a shop, while benefiting from the advice of the association’s volunteers.
The virtues of a lasting partnership
Since the very beginning, the RATP Group Foundation and RATP Dev have continued to renew their partnership, year after year. “The RATP group’s corporate foundation and ADIE have shared a common history since 2012—they also share values such as respect for others and for the wider public good”, says Florence Javoy, Secretary General of the RATP Group Foundation. She continues, “It is a partnership that has developed naturally over the years, one that now goes beyond basic financial support, with the involvement of the RATP group’s teams and structures on the local level”. This long-term partnership is particularly important for ADIE. “We share the same values with the RATP group—local proximity, and a sense of community and service”, explains Grégoire Heaulme. “The longevity of the partnership and the loyalty of the RATP Group Foundation and RATP Dev are a real advantage. It enables us to take action over the long run and gradually cover more ground. We sow the seeds in a given area, and through the links that have been forged, our teams continue to dedicate themselves to working with entrepreneurs in the years that follow. ”
ADIE in figures:
- 800 partners
- 1,300 volunteers
- 2,000 donors
- 160,000 microloans funded