“Doing Business in France” This is a presentation about the challenges & opportunities; the unique aspects of French business culture; how to make business contacts in France; how to manage people in French organizations; or almost anything to do with French business that might provide background context to someone desiring to do business in France and with French people.

2. Doing Business in France
Omar-Pierre Soubra
French American Chamber of Commerce

3. Background
• Age: 40
• Years in the US: 9
• Profession: Director
• Company: Trimble Navigation (15 years)
• Family: Dad of 3 crazy boys
• Training:
• LASER engineer
• Electronic & Power engineer
• MA Sales & Marketing
• Fun stuff: President of the French American
Chamber of Commerce, Maker, Google Glass owner,
Google Project Tango expert, 3D scanning expert
• Always more:
• Linkedin.com/in/omarsoubra
• @Omar_Soubra

5. US connections…
• 13 million American possesses French heritage
• 2 million speaks French at home

6. Culture
• Food
• Language
• Politics
• Holidays
• Arrogance
• Fun
• Passion
• Love
• Beautiful country

7. French Education

8. Education

9. Getting Connected
• Elitism
• Network
• Assistant
barrier…

10. French Economy

11. • GDP: $2.271 trillion (9th in the World)
• France is Europe’s second largest economy (5th
in the World)
• European second largest consumer market
• French companies in Fortune’s 500: 31

12. Innovation
• French Ranks #1 in Europe

13. So French inventions…

14. Some more inventions
• The Braille System
• Canning
• The Bra
• The Parachute
• Camera Phone
• Combustion Engine
• 20% of the video games coming to video game
systems

15. E-commerce company created by
French

16. Innovation tax credit
• France gives companies 30% of all R&D costs
up to €100 millions (~$140m) and 5% above
this threshold, in tax credit

18. Future Trends (hot topics)
• Cars consumption of
120mpg
• Electric charging stations
• Battery life & power
• Driverless vehicles
• Electric planes
• Heavy-lift airships
• Embedded Software
• Electric propulsion
satellites
• Next gen high speed train
• Eco-friendly ships
• Smart textiles
• Wood industry
• Recycling materials
• Thermal building
renovation
• Renewable Energy
• Water quality
• Green chemicals and
biofuels

19. Future Trends (hot topics) - 2
• Medical biotechs
• Digital healthcare
• Medical devices
• Sustainable food
• Big data
• Cloud computing
• E-learning
• Telecom
• Smart Grids
• Nano-electronics
• Connected devices
• Augmented reality
• Contactless services
• Supercomputer
• Robotics
• Industrial plant of the
future
• Cybersecurity

20. Colorado ties…

21. 2013
• France is the 16th market for Colorado
goods, importing $172 million and exporting
$151 million
• Main exports: Solar, Electronics, Aircraft
parts, data servers
• Main imports: Gas turbines, Electronics, Fine
Art, Vodka, Aircraft Engines

22. Set up a business

23. Great resource: Invest in France Agency - http://www.invest-in-france.org/

24. Doing Business

25. The Boss

26. Software

27. Sexism

28. Yes, but…
=
I disagree.

29. Don’t forget Food!

30. Future?

31. Language
French could become the World most spoken
language by 2050
Source: http://www.thelocal.fr/20140326/french-language-be-the-most-spoken-language-by-2050

36. Omar_Soubra RMFACC.ORG