Despite startup culture continuing to struggle in Europe, innovative companies in France remain determined to entice talent with an international experience. According to a recent article in The Telegraph UK, French startups are going out of their way to lure French expats back to their homeland – with some even offering to help with the costs of repatriation.
In a new initiative called “Come Back Leon” (named after a popular French pasta ad from the 1980s), French firms are pooling their resources to offer repatriation help and hitting the road across the United States and the UK to entice workers back to their home country. So why are these companies doing this? And why now?
Despite France’s reputation as a high-tax, bureaucratic nation where starting a business is difficult, startup founders claim that its startup culture is growing. In a recent study by Deloitte, France was named as the nation with the fastest growing technology sector for the fourth year in a row.
The goal of the Come Back Leon campaign is to fill 3,000 positions at several French startups and is being independently funded by business owners rather than the government. Unfortunately, the process has been wrought with frustration from the get-go. "Every time we look to recruit someone for a big post, we ask the question, can we go looking (for French people) in the United States or another country? Each time the recruitment firms tell us 'No, they'll never come back'," said one startup founder, “That’s frustrating.”
So far, the Come Back Leon group has primarily focused on the Silicon Valley area in California, but they have plans to visit New York and London over summer 2015. With an estimated 40,000 French expats working in the Silicon Valley alone, they hope to reach their goals.
Some people are less than enthusiastic about this campaign, though. One Facebook user -- perhaps a French expat herself -- posted “When will we see the campaign #BienvenuLéon? To support the thousands of qualified people that want to come work in France?” (Translated to English) Indeed, to many it seems strange that French startups would focus more on recruiting those who had already gone, rather than appeal to the millions of qualified people who would surely love the chance to work in France. It’s interesting to note that the French are also very proud of their culture and heritage, which seems like a likely reason they’d rather repatriate “their own” people who understand French culture rather than foreigners.
Do you have any knowledge of French startup culture? Why do you think there has been a mass exodus of French talent overseas? What can French companies do to entice executives to their home country?
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