When Croissance Plus proposed to us this trip to the heart of the Israel Valley last July, I did not hesitate one second but without really understanding why. Was it for the leads and the potential partnerships that we had received in Romania and Moldova, from Israel? Or was my motivation the magazines or stories extolling the dynamic innovations coming from the Hebrew State? I really did not know until this morning, when I had breakfast with Frederic Beudin, the President of Croissance Plus. After spending the last 24 hours in a coma, laying on my couch in front of the fireplace, after a chauffeured limousine – goodness gracious! -picked me up at the Roissy airport, I really couldn’t figure out why I ended up again in Terminal 2A this morning!
Frederic then reminded me why we were going there, which helped me to better formulate a few ideas what I could expect from this trip. Israeli technology, he reminded me once again, was probably the second global source of IPOs on the Nasdaq and if these companies succeeded, it is because of the local venture capital that had the nose, and the balls and means, well… Perhaps also, there are incentives and innovations particularly efficient in terms of taxation. This is what we will look at tomorrow with Christian Estrosi, when he gets there. Because, if we can find a few good ideas there we will bring them home to France, and suggest them to our government. In this regards, without playing the alarmist, I must say I felt a lot of panic in the French entrepreneurial movement, whether it was with the Medef people in Hanoi or amongst the other members of the delegation. Whether it is the professional tax reform or the budget deficits, many fear the uncertainties of the government and the storm is far from being over. I saw many difficult moments between the political and business leaders. I saw tears in the eyes of a founding chief executive who is 70 years old or more, because he believes his group which had sales of over € 350M in 2008 but realized only 150 in 2009, may not get through 2010. I’m not allowed to share names, but I am speaking of a great innovator, someone that the recovery plan should have saved but has not. Because the recovery plan finances have already been invested in the automotive industry, at a pure loss!
Because the world is in bad shape and we know that France needs GOOD reforms, Croissance Plus is playing its part in finding solutions on the eastern borders of the Mediterranean.
I am going there also, because actually twice in the past two years we have been consulted in Romania and Moldova, by companies from Israel, whose leaders have remembered their family histories are also Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian or Moldovan. Pentalog has received an active partnership proposal from Israel and is considering with interest all the potential lines of distribution of its services and technology. A country that is so innovative cannot be ignored, especially when the opportunity arises.





















