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Every year, when designing her “Business Models and Innovation” course for her Bachelor in International Business students, Catherine ARCHAMBAULT-JANVIER, professor of strategy at IÉSEG, asks her students to reflect on real-life business issues. After giving them the opportunity to help entrepreneurs who had graduated from the School (such as Geoffroy MARTICOU, co-founder of Grand Scène), or major companies in the region (such as Boulanger, which wanted to strengthen its “Product as a Service” strategy), this time she chose a completely different theme, and a cause that meant a lot to her.

This year, Bachelor in International Business students helped Ophélia GASTÉ, founder of La Maison OMA, a house dedicated to women’s well-being and renewal, inviting each woman to (re)connect and (re)find herself. La Maison OMA has 3 objectives: firstly, to bring together and unite women who are going through key periods in their lives simultaneously, from adolescence to menopause, to encourage sharing, mutual support and fight isolation. Secondly, to inform and assist these women by choosing caring speakers and practitioners qualified in women’s health. Finally, to take care of women by offering them a warm, welcoming place where they can express themselves freely and where all topics are addressed without judgment or taboo, with respect and kindness.

The students’ objective: to propose a business model for a digital offering to complement the “physical” activity to be offered at La Maison OMA. App, website, social networks: the aim is to make this offer easily accessible to all, and to win the loyalty of this community.

“It’s not easy for 19 – 20 year-old students to think of themselves as potential parents and to identify activities, offers, services… that could be of interest to mothers (and fathers too) of all ages… So, after receiving Ophélia GASTÉ in class, we took some time to think about what it means to be a parent today, what the needs are… It was a fascinating time of exchange, and that was also my aim in choosing this theme: to get them to think about something else, to open up, to help them project themselves into a possible future… What’s more, thanks to the great cultural diversity of the students, who came from all over the world (Italy, Malaysia…), the exchanges were incredibly rich. Finally, by welcoming a solo-entrepreneur this time, we were also able to discuss the challenges of entrepreneurship, the difficulties of creating something new, the advantages, but also all the side-effects to be taken into account.”

Catherine ARCHAMBAULT-JANVIER

Creating a website and an app in line with the La Maison OMA charter, offering content, complementary activities, services (such as clothes swapping), new functionalities (such as booking activities, appointments with practitioners…) or even creating content and animating the community, the Bachelor in International Business students have done much more than expected… presenting real features to bring a community of men and women to life, while 100% online.

“During my own studies, I had the opportunity to work on real business cases. These were the most enriching learning experiences I ever had. So today, I’m keen to give students the chance to work on real cases too, and get a real feel for what’s going on in the field. I must say I was very impressed by their involvement and imagination, on a concept they’re not used to studying. I really enjoyed getting their feedback and impressions, which gave me an additional perspective on Maison OMA, far from the day-to-day business. I came away with a lot of very good ideas, and I’ve identified several that I’ll be able to implement very quickly.”

Ophélia GASTÉ, fondatrice de La Maison OMA

It was a very enriching experience, not only for Ophélia, who was able to benefit from the invaluable advice of the generation known as “digital natives”, but also for our students, who became entrepreneurs and creative strategists for a semester!