La Quincaillerie accompanies entrepreneurs in their development
01/21/2019
Maxence WYTS, Louis BOULAGNON, Hugues MARCHAL
In 2016, Hugues Marchal (a student currently in the Grande Ecole Master program) co-founded La Quincaillerie, a development agency for entrepreneurs, with two childhood friends Maxence Wyts and Louis Boulagnon.
For two years, the agency, based in Lille, has been accompanying over 100 entrepreneurs and small companies from different sectors in their communication, marketing, business development and web development.
This agency, made up of 12 people who are self-employed, aims to make entrepreneurship simpler. Entrepreneurs can ask questions and obtain practical advice, similar to when they go to the neighborhood hardware store (quincaillerie, in French).
However, this young team does not intend to stop with this first project, and is already moving forwards with a second project named Alter-Native: a B2B marketplace to establish responsible brands and designers in independent stores.
The three young entrepreneurs (all either 21 or 22 years old) integrated the IÉSEG Incubator in January 2019 with the ambition of starting Alter-Native, while developing more competencies and visibility.
The Incubator provides each start-up with a physical workplace and with professional support, which allows them to develop and grow. In addition, a coach helps them to structure their project, and they have access to brainstorming workshops, networking events, and the expertise of a community of entrepreneurs.
“My time at IÉSEG has allowed me to become more open-minded, and the courses give us theoretical and practical knowledge in key areas related to entrepreneurship. My studies at IÉSEG also allowed me to meet a lot of people who have helped us with our project,” explains Hugues Marchal.
“We also had the opportunity to be members of the jury for the How I Met Your Startup contest, which was very formative. And today, we are proud to be a part of the IÉSEG Incubator!”
Hugues, Maxence and Louis met in middle school and high school in the framework of an associative project. For the past 7 years, their adventure has been evolving constantly. They hope to continue to collaborate on other projects in the future, as they have become entrepreneurship fanatics!