Innovation Article

Fostering intrapreneurship through Darwin

17.08.22

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Darwin, Avril's intrapreneurship program

Avril includes boldness among its corporate values. This is evidenced by the Darwin intrapreneurship program, launched in September 2019, accessible to all Group employees. The objective? To contribute to Avril’s innovative potential by promoting the most disruptive and high potential ideas. Testimonials.

Within the framework of the Darwin program, candidates are invited to propose their ideas, then to develop them through a coaching in start-up mode, before pitching them in front of a selection jury. The successful candidates are then mentored for six months to further explore their project. During this time, they must build a proof of concept and confirm the feasibility and business potential of their project. Feedback from three winners with very different personal profiles.

Walid Lahweg

project manager of Upstream Olive, winner of the first edition of Darwin

"The Darwin program provided me with a dream opportunity to pursue my idea while maintaining my job security and benefiting from the high level of expertise available within Avril. My idea was quite simple: to innovate on the World Food market in France with a brand offering food products based on North African cuisine. As an award winner, the six months of coaching taught me how to build a relevant commercial strategy city by city. I also learned how to develop a product offer and then improve it through tests on a consumer panel in a number of cities."

Bernard Gozlan

former Asia manager at MiXscience, winner of the first edition of Darwin

"I was having difficulty in clearly understanding the problems of animal nutrition manufacturers in terms of choosing additives and specialty ingredients. Within the Darwin framework, I suggested digitizing this market through a platform open to all the market players to discover and better understand the products and their use. In my opinion, the key to a successful entrepreneurial project lies in the validation, at all stages, of the usefulness and relevance of the project vis-à-vis its target. With Darwin, not only did I make the transition to entrepreneurship, I also had the opportunity to convert an idea into a real company creating value."

Claire Sauvée

innovation performance analyst at Oleon, winner of the second Darwin edition

"My project? To convert agricultural waste from one of Avril's production sectors into a functional, nutritional food ingredient that could be labeled "all natural". Objective: to meet consumer expectations in terms of natural ingredients and the environment. I believe that my idea stood out because it was perfectly aligned with Avril's development strategy, since it involved transforming a plant resource into a specialty ingredient. Moreover, I was fortunate to have received strong support from my hierarchy. This enabled me to explore and develop ideas that were a bit off the beaten track in oleochemistry. The bootcamp-type support was also highly rewarding. I greatly improved my communication skills and my ability to convince others."

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Employees were selected to participate in the 2nd edition of Darwin and to take part in an accelerator bootcamp, led by an expert in the field of intrapreneurial coaching.