“We can rely on entrepreneurs to get us through challenging times”

EY is commonly known as one of the world’s ‘Big Four’ accounting firms. It also organises the annual EY World Entrepreneur Of the Year (WEOY) Awards in Monaco – the ultimate global competition for entrepreneurs, those that are reinventing industries, revitalising economies, and reimagining a new era of diversity, sustainability and prosperity.

What sets EY apart is its global commitment to ‘Build a better working world’. The current EY World Entrepreneur Of the Year theme is ‘How can one person make a world of difference?’. The 2022 winner was Gaston Taratuta, an Argentinian entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Aleph. Taratuta has revolutionised digital advertising by enabling companies in emerging markets to advertise on the world’s largest digital platforms. He also invests in educational programs that help people in emerging countries develop professional careers in digital media.

Continuing the honours, fashion designer Stella McCartney received the EY Social Entrepreneurship Award 2022 for Sustainability. McCartney is a well-known environmental and animal activist, and her label uses innovative materials and cutting-edge technologies to reduce environmental impact and improve sustainable methods of production, like sustainable faux furs and fabric made from recycled plastic bottles.

Each year, EY recognises unstoppable entrepreneurial achievements among individuals and companies that demonstrate vision, leadership and success, on both a local and global scale. The firm boasts a powerful network of over 300,000 employees and one million alumni, each inspiring others during their time at EY and beyond.

Stasia Mitchell, EY Global Entrepreneurship Leader, champions an ecosystem of entrepreneurial programs, relationships, and opportunity drivers around the world. I recently spoke to Stasia about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, the importance of connections, and what’s currently trending in the business world.

Stasia Mitchell with 2022 EY World Entrepreneur Of the Year winner Gaston Taratuta

Monaco Life: How and why does EY have such a strong focus on supporting entrepreneurs?

Stasia Mitchell: As EY was founded by two entrepreneurs in the US, it’s such a pleasure for me to continue the legacy of our global entrepreneurial program, which is the only known global program of its kind. We work with entrepreneurs across 60+ countries with the goal to connect them with other people’s projects and resources that will empower them. Also, as advisors to the ambitious, we help entrepreneurs in their growth journeys to deliver long term value and build a better working world.

What I enjoy most about WEOY are all the connections we make. We have the opportunity to bring together entrepreneurs, business leaders and other passionate voices, who, without this program, would likely never have this type of access or engagement. The networking amongst the entrepreneurs is about connecting the dots to build stronger companies that make a world of difference. Right now, there are so many variables separating and dividing us as humans, but I don’t see those as obstacles, they’re actually challenges and opportunities to create an ecosystem. We built a space for the commonality of these people to come together, because they’re entrepreneurs, they’re builders, they’re creators. And when that commonality flourishes, it creates a bridge to get on the same agenda, including the need to be more sustainable and drive diversity, equity and inclusion.

“Entrepreneurs are tough and tenacious, they never give up, they will continue to grow despite any conditions or challenges. We can rely on them to help get us through challenging times.”

What trends are you seeing amongst entrepreneurs nowadays as opposed to, say, five years ago?

I love seeing entrepreneurs prove that they will continue to take on the world’s greatest challenges. What we saw entrepreneurs achieve during the pandemic — their solutions and the speed at which they were brought to the table — I was blown away. It was a global rallying cry to get to a much better place.

I read a passage once that referred to entrepreneurs as weeds, but in a positive way. They’re tough and tenacious, they never give up, they will continue to grow despite any conditions or challenges. We can rely on them to help get us through challenging times.

We are also seeing underserved or underprivileged groups of entrepreneurs rise up. For example, young entrepreneurs, women, Black, Hispanic and Latinx, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, neurodiverse, and disabled entrepreneurs. These are the newcomers to entrepreneurship, and these are the people that need to be supported.

How do you foster a good entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurs are inherently very curious people, and they need access to other entrepreneurs to feed that curiosity, learn and grow. A lot of the time when I ask people “what entrepreneur inspires you?”, they say Elon Musk and Richard Branson, but they’re less accessible. So, as an Australian, I would say to you, for example, “Cassandra, do you know that in your country, you have Jo Horgan of MECCA Cosmetica, a leading luxury beauty and skincare platform and retailer? You have Linda Brown who founded and operates Torrens University, Australia’s fastest-growing, internationally recognised university?”

When you bring it back to that local level and make that connection, it’s like, ‘Holy smokes! There are people literally in my backyard doing amazing things and maybe I could do something like that!’ To foster entrepreneurship, we’re creating awareness and then connecting them to people that can mentor them, can coach them, can take them through the journey.

EY also invests in assets that help entrepreneurs discover what they need to do. Because as an entrepreneur, you’re going to have a lot of ups and downs. Our EY 7 Drivers of Growth is a framework that was built by entrepreneurs and supported by EY, that takes them on their different growth journey. Entrepreneurs are always looking to the future, so you need to constantly challenge their thinking. I think EY does a very good job of being a little bit provocative in terms of disruptive thinking. We recently launched a Disruptive Tech Program and EY Tech University in Palo Alto, California, and so we actually have centres around the world to deliver this art of the possible or disruptive mindset.

EY in Monaco. Photo source: EY

Do you think Monaco is an entrepreneur-friendly city? What do you think about the digital transition that is occurring here and how this will serve the Principality in attracting entrepreneurs?

I believe there are more billionaires in Monaco per square metre than anywhere else in the world. So, I would say that you have the founders who can become the funders.

Offline GDP is absolutely moving to online digital GDP. It’s happening now. What Monaco can do is what we’ve done – create a community to drive more activity. And if they could host people in diverse sectors, that would be amazing. If you bring youth, different genders, different races, different types of people to Monaco who have innovative thinking and then fund their innovation, that would be a beautiful thing.

Monaco is an important place for EY, it is where you have your EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards ceremony. What was it like returning to the Principality in 2022 after two years of Covid cancellations?

The energy was electric, I can’t even describe the feeling. But it was more than buzz. We were able to bring our last three years’ of EY Entrepreneur Of The Year classes, including people who could not fully experience this unique event because of the pandemic. In a lot of ways, bringing these visionaries back to the Principality represented how entrepreneurs are key drivers in launching us forward from the global challenges we faced over the last few years.

 

Photo above of Stasia Mitchell provided

 

 

 

MonacoTech sends out invite to new innovators

MonacoTech, the Principality’s start-up incubator is looking for companies to recruit for their upcoming 18-month support programme in targeted industries ranging from fintech to biotech to eco-friendly.

The organisation currently backs some 20 dynamic young businesses, but it is looking to add to this number and has launched a new application phase for budding companies in the greentech, fintech, bio/medtech, yachting/bluetech and digital fields. Counting among its alumni some of the Principality’s biggest success stories – Pineappli, YouStock, YachtNeeds and SkyDeals – MonacoTech is a unique entity in the region and describes its role as a “selective start-up incubator that propels innovation in Monaco”, but on a personal scale and with a personal approach.

On offer is a personalised 18-month support programme featuring workshops with industry pros, events, networking opportunities, peer sharing, and state-of-the-art premises all designed to help companies get an edge in this competitive environment.

Interested parties can apply online until 25th November. If successful in this first round, companies will be asked to participate in a 20-minute interview and present their ideas to a select jury.

Those with the most promise can look forward to joining MonacoTech in March 2023.

To apply or for more info, please visit, www.monacotech.mc.

 

 

Photo supplied by MonacoTech

Photos: Discovering wine regions with the MAC

Members of the Monaco Ambassador’s Club and guests gathered at the Wine Palace on Thursday to discover the offerings of some of the finest wine regions in France.

As part of its busy calendar of events, the Monaco Ambassador’s Club (MAC) organises every October a networking event at the Wine-Palace near the Yacht Club de Monaco. It is an opportunity for members to come together after a busy summer period and reconnect in a casual and fun environment.

On Thursday 13th October, guests were able to enjoy Perrier-Jouet Blanc de Blancs, Clos de Caille Rosé, Cave d’Esclans – Garrus, Hauts de Smith, Médoc de Cos, Château Lassegue, Royal Salute 21 ans, Glenlivet 25 years, and Martell XO.

The next event on the calendar is a Thanksgiving celebration on 24th November, and the Christmas Gala on 2nd December at Hôtel de Paris.

New members to the club are welcome.

Click on the images below to see more photos from the evening. Photos by Fabbio Galatioto…

The Three Poles: a photography exhibition

In a new exhibition in Nice, wildlife photographer Vincent Munier transports visitors to the haunting beauty of the Arctic and Antarctic as well as one other more unexpected ‘polar’ destination. 

The City of Nice, the Mercantour National Park and the Prince Albert II Foundation are co-hosting Munier’s latest exhibit, Les 3 Pôles, at the Musée de la Photographie Charles Nègre.

For more than two decades, he has captured images from the Arctic and Antarctic, laying bare their raw nature and showing the world how very alive these regions are. He is a photographer renowned for roaming the most desolate places on Earth and has made a career out of searching for beauty in places rarely explored by humans. 

The Three Poles turns the spectacular but often bleak landscape of the polar regions into a living, breathing place, filled with life. Additionally, he adds in work from his trip to what he calls ‘the third pole’, the high plateaus of Tibet. 

Nearly 50 photos follow the trails of animals living in the harshest conditions, such as Arctic wolves, polar bears, musk ox, Tibetan foxes, Pallas cats, wild yak and emperor penguin, revealing the majesty of each in a style strongly influenced by minimalist art. Most extraordinarily, he also managed to capture photos of the elusive snow leopard, adding an element to his portfolio that almost reaches the ethereal. 

His work will be accompanied by the screening of The Velvet Queen: Snow Leopard with Sylvain Tesson, and co-directed by himself and Marie Amiguet. The film won the 2022 César Award for Best Documentary.

The exhibit runs from now until 15th January at the Charles Nègre Museum of Photography in Place Pierre Gautier, Nice, every day except Mondays from 10.am to 6.pm. 

For more information, visit www.museephotographie.nice.fr. 

 

 

Photo by Vincent Munier

Fuel strike extended: government orders some workers back to work

fuel limit

It’s a mess of epic proportion for French President Emmanuel Macron and his government. France is three weeks into a strike by oil refinery workers, who were joined Tuesday 18th October by transport workers, some teachers, and nuclear energy workers looking for higher wages.  

The strike has left 28% of the nation’s petrol stations dry, with that percentage increasing to 50% in northern and central France, as well as in Paris.   

Oil refinery workers union CGT voted on Tuesday to continue stoppages at several oil depots and refineries operated by TotalEnergies as their demand for a 10% pay rise to offset the rising cost of living – as well as company profit-sharing – were not fully met.  

The government is countering, saying that its cap on gas and electricity prices has prevented the cost of living crisis from being as bad as it could be, and that they have managed to keep inflation to 6.2%. According to Eurostat, this is the lowest amongst the 19 eurozone countries. 

Macron vows to find a solution 

In a meeting with ministers on Tuesday 18th October, Macron vowed to try and sort out the current fuel situation as soon as possible.   

The government started a requisition at the Feyzin depot in Rhône on Tuesday; an edict requiring certain employees go back to work to ensure minimum service is provided. This is meant to ease pressure in Hauts-de-France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. 

“We are doing it for French people, we are not doing it to go against the protestors,” said Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher. Réquisitions are absolutely necessary so that people can continue to go to work and cover basic needs.”

The lack of supply has pushed prices back up to June 2022 levels, with the cost of diesel increasing by 12 cents in the past week. Diesel prices are today averaging €1.908 per litre while SP95-E10 is at €1.665 and SP98 is €1.767 according to tracking website www.carbu.com.   

To try and ease the blow, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne also announced on Tuesday 18th October that the government’s 30-cent-per-litre fuel discount would be maintained until mid-November, instead of being reduced to 10-cents-per-litre as previously planned on 1st November. Total’s 20-cent-per-litre deal will also remain in effect during the same time period. 

 

 

Photo by Wassim Chouak for Unsplash

 

 

 

Rapid breast cancer screening system to revolutionise women’s health

Did you know the wait for breast cancer screening results can take as long as four weeks in France? Here in Monaco, that time period has been cut down to just one day thanks to a revolutionary new clinic that has recently opened at the Princess Grace Hospital Centre. 

Coinciding with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Breastday Centre opened its doors at the CHPG in early October.  

It will allow women wishing to be screened for breast cancer or those looking for a second opinion to consult with a doctor, undergo imaging and run blood tests as well as receive their results all within a single day. Patients with suspected breast cancer will also be able to organise the necessary follow-up treatments and consultations on the spot. 

All patients have to do with call the hospital to make an appointment. A consultation over the telephone will be offered by a doctor within 48 hours, after which the patient will be invited to attend the CHPG if further investigation is needed.

This highly advanced centre will revolutionise the Principality’s current diagnosis and treatment pathways.  

Further information: www.chpg.mc/portfolio/breastday-center/.

 

 

Photo by Angiola Harry for Unsplash