L’INCUBATEUR JUNE: girls get down to business!

Girls get down to business!
– January 2014 –

Over a period of four months, five young designers will have an extraordinary adventure at L’Incubateur June, a 100%-female business incubator.
In this ambitious project, designed exclusively for June by producer She is the Boss, some 15 young female entrepreneurs will try to gain a place at this next-generation incubator. And although 15 of them will try out for this experience with their innovative, surprising or crazy ideas and concepts, the five mentors will be evaluating them to choose only five, and will then coach the successful candidates as much as they can.

Céline Lazorthes (Leetchi), Hadj Khélil (Bionoor), Gabriella Cortese (Antik Batik), Michel de Rovira and Augustin Paluel-Marmont (of the duo Michel et Augustin) and Véronique Garnodier (Charlott’) will comprise the team of mentors that will assist the five candidates through this intense adventure. Even if good ideas are abundant and the drive to succeed is strong, making one’s business into a success cannot be improvised!

Each week, L’Incubateur June will present the participants with sizeable challenges to help them learn to balance their personal lives as modern young women with a successful career. With the help of business angels Céline Lippi, Francesco Maio and Denis Jacquet, the designers will do their best to impress their mentors and achieve the goal of starting their own business.

From the customization of tombstones to online tutoring for children and a teahouse on wheels, L’Incubateur June will have no shortage of unique, amazing projects!

“The incubator we have been developing since October 2012 with She is the Boss is a very ambitious project for the channels,” explains June’s programming director Camille Bingnon. “We had already had our reporter Carole Tolila preparing short portraits of young female entrepreneurs and are planning a longer version, still in line with the channel’s values, to be able to highlight this other aspect of ‘winning femininity’ and put the focus on young women who are creating value. The L’Incubateur June allows us to truly establish ourselves in this area.”

“We have received around 100 applications while preparing the shoot, yet finding female entrepreneurs under the age of 30 is no easy feat. The synergies are incredible for this project – everyone’s strengths come together to create a firmer team. The mentors, who are all participating on a pro bono basis, are driven by the desire to pass on their knowledge. They’ll help the candidates save a lot of time while gaining invaluable experience. With this series, we will be watching their progress, but the idea is also to give destiny a little boost. One of the goals of such a show, which I like to consider entertainment, is to make viewers realize that they, too, can create a business,” explains producer Stéphanie Brillant.

Women now represent nearly half of the working population, so L’Incubateur June is putting the spotlight on these risk-takers, who will be stopped by nothing. It all starts in January 2014 on June, the channel for all young women! It’s a captivating initiative that’s in line with the times, and will make viewers want to overhaul their lives and be more like these girls each and every day.

Coming to June in January 2014.

Technical information:

• Genre: Reality documentary (France)
• Format: 12 x 45 min.
• Production: She is the Boss – 2013 
• Broadcast: Weekly beginning in January 2014

The mentors:

• Two friends, Michel de Rovira and Augustin Paluel-Marmont (of Michel et Augustin), created their shortbread cookies and drinkable yogurt brand in 2004. Success was not long in coming for these self-styled “troublemakers of taste” whose products are now sold in almost 10 countries.
• Gabriella Cortese launched her first Antik Batik collection in 1992. Solidly anchored in the landscape of high-end fashion, the bohemian chic brand has a presence at 1,500 points-of-sale around the world.
• Hadj Khélil‘s concern for sustainable development led him to launch Bionoor, his company offering organic products. What motivated him was the idea of making exceptional products affordable for everyone.
• Céline Lazorthes is the woman behind Leetchi, the company taking the form of a community bank allowing fundraising and secure payments. It’s an original idea that has also been developed for adolescents and their pocket money with Bankiwi.
• A key figure in home lingerie sales, Véronique Garnodier has developed a true corporate culture based on sharing and fun with Charlott’.

• Take a look at the first images from L’Incubateur June