Xavier Moal, Partner Lawyer at Cabinet Moal & Associés

In the context of setting up our Strategic Orientation Committee, our 1st circle (the managers’ managers) was invited to participate in an executive brainstorming session relative to the management of innovation within the Crédit Agricole du Finistère’s Regional Branch. We called on the Village by CA Finistère’s team to host this working group: //Framing the exact parameters of what needs to be considered. //Moderating preparatory steps via WhatsApp: finding articles, ideas, examples, etc. //Preparing and hosting the group using Serious Game methods: Lego Play; Speed Boat. //Creating a video. //Preparing the pitching of results to the Management Committee.

During a particular internal project, one of our engineering teams left its usual workplace to come stay at the Village by CA Finistère. Our goal was to change their usual frame of mind by hosting them in an inspiring environment. Throughout this “excubation” period, the team benefited from the Village’s expertise: coaching our internal team tasked with developing a POC for an innovative product in our field; acculturation to new user-oriented development methods created by start-ups; preparing pitches for the Executive Committee; and participating in an exposition to present the prototype. The coaches’ advice gave our team the opportunity to confront an external and neutral point of view. Our prototype was awarded a prize in 2018 and in 2019 we won the “Janus de la prospective” award from the French institute of design (IFD) for this very prototype, which now includes an AI system.

Healthily nurturing the future, adopting new usages, rethinking the industry’s tools, connecting the world of agriculture, and more. The fields of food and agriculture face many challenges. In order to respond to these issues, Even, our cooperative group from Brittany, decided to accelerate its own innovation by launching Even’up in March 2018 - a start-up contest aimed at rethinking the agribusiness industry in all its aspects. The Village by CA Finistère helped us set up this Europe-wide call for applications, involving the national Villages by CA network, selecting projects, and accelerating all 5 contest winners in their development and growth for an entire year.

At Secma Cabon’s current stage of development, questions relative to its own organization needed to be addressed in order to foster the success of the company’s future projects. To this end, we called on the Village by CA Finistère to help us design a new way of working that would allow us to rationalize and clarify our interactions with respect to tipping points in our activities. The Village by CA’s team took care of several tasks: individual “Key Person” interviews with the company in order to understand current personal views of the organization; preparing, hosting and restituting working groups; the company’s value chain and associated processes; prioritized courses of action; acculturation to the visual management of production; learning about Lean Management; and coaching unit managers. These various workshops helped us improve our team spirit, rationalize exchanges between our research, production and administrative units, and enhance presales targets.

Au stade actuel du développement de Secma Cabon, les questions liées à l’organisation apparaissent comme un sujet à adresser pour favoriser la réussite des futurs projets de l’entreprise. Pour cela, nous avons fait appel au Village by CA Finistère pour nous accompagner à co-concevoir un nouveau mode de fonctionnement permettant de fluidifier et clarifier les interactions associées aux moments-clés de notre activité. L'équipe du Village by CA a mené plusieurs travaux : Interviews individuels « Homme-Clé » de l’entreprise pour comprendre la vision individuelle de l’organisation actuelle. Préparation, animation et restitution de groupes de travail. Chaîne de valeur de l’entreprise et processus associés ; plan d’actions priorisé​. Acculturation au management visuel de la production. Sensibilisation au Lean Management. Coaching des chefs de pôles​. Ces différents ateliers nous ont permis d’améliorer l’esprit d’équipe​, de fluidifier des processus entre le bureau d’étude, l’atelier de production et l’administratif et d’améliorer les délais d’avant-vente.

In the context of deploying our primary strategic goals : Continuing our virtualization policy, including the payment flow chain; Exploring solutions provided by the blockchain in order to reduce client waiting times; Developing an offer by using BIM tools and a predictive maintenance solution for heating; Continuing our policy of improving customer relations. We called on the Village by CA team’s skills to identify the players that could most efficiently help us put into place these strategic goals. Thanks to a whole slew of solutions on subjects of housing, real estate, construction and energy provided by the Village network’s start-ups, we were able to move forward in applying these projects and in identifying innovative solutions as-yet unknown to our teams.

Brest’s Village by CA is definitely one of the most efficient institutions in terms of tangibly helping its members, whether through its prospect-targeting network or through its team assisting us in communications, outreach and the search for new markets.

Its structure is comprehensive and provides feedback from other entrepreneurial experiences, which naturally creates new opportunities. It’s everything I could want from an accelerator.