Meet the ESSEC Graduates in the Forbes 30 Under 30

Forbes has just published its annual “30 Under 30” rankings of 30 talented young people under the age of 30: young entrepreneurs, creatives, and innovators with bright futures in their respective industries! Four ESSEC graduates made it into the 2021 rankings!

Angélique d'Esclaibes (E17) co-founded Epycure, a custom dietary supplement brand. “We offer a range of bespoke vitamins, plants, and minerals tailored to your own individual needs. Our products are made in France, GMO-free, gluten free, lactose free, naturally sourced, and delivered to your door in 100% plant-based capsules via a monthly subscription.” This holistic offering had already won over tens of thousands of customers in France, and is also proving popular with investors: the start-up has just announced a €2.5 m fundraising round to develop new products along with a diagnostic and advice platform, and to grow its workforce. “And we’re only just starting out!”  

Jean-Baptiste Achard (E17) co-founded StaffMe, a platform that puts young freelancers (aged 18-30) in touch with businesses in need of their services. “We provide a turnkey service: from recruitment to matching, and including invoicing and payment. We take care of everything. Thanks to us, thousands of young people, every month and all over France, are providing their skills and dynamic businesses to companies like Sodexo, Danone, and ManoMano, enabling them to fund their studies and their development plans.” The start-up has generated a lot of notice since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, by delivering solutions to students whose part-time jobs were jeopardized by the pandemic: launching a professional training body for young freelancers, recruitment drives on TikTok, temporary work to cover roles in companies whose workforce was severely reduced by staff off sick or locked down with their children, lobbying Thibaut Guilluy, the high commissioner for employment, a column in Figaro... and more besides. “With 17% of non-scholarship students dropping out of higher education due to financial hardship, we can’t afford to settle for helping a few tens of thousands of young people get the same education as their better-off classmates. Now, we are seeing the vast majority of students needing to access financial resources to continue their studies.” (To check out the ESSEC Alumni article on StaffMe, click here.)

Pierre-Emmanuel Saint-Esprit (E16) co-founded Zack, which provides a second life to electronic products. “Today, we throw away 54 million tonnes of electronic products every year, a figure that will rise to 70 million by 2030. That translates into 24 kg for every person in France!” It is this statistic that inspired his solution with Zack, which accepts second-hand devices and suggests the best possible way to avoid simply throwing them away: resale, donation to charity, repair, or recycling. “The circular economy is the best solution for our economic and social model to keep funding itself, while also respecting the planet’s limited resources. It generates local jobs and helps people back into work at a time when the pandemic is in full swing. It creates wealth, and thereby facilitates its redistribution. It forms the foundation for a new cycle of major innovation, all while preventing the over-exploitation of our planet.”  

Alexandre Guenoun (E16) co-founded Kiro, an AI platform that facilitates the interpretation of medical exams and improves interactions with patients. “Our visual, interactive digital platform streamlines the sharing of medical biology reports between laboratories, healthcare professionals, and patients. It lets you keep track of your results anywhere, any time, thanks to an ergonomic app that is easy to understand and available for computers, smartphones, and tablets. There’s no software to install and it updates automatically. Access is secure and all data is encrypted.” Winner of the i-Lab competition and fruit of the Deeptech North America (NETVA) programme, the start-up is getting ready to conquer the American market.

Spotted any other ESSEC graduates in the Forbes 30 Under 30 rankings for 2021? Let us know!

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