From Reporter Issue 89

Ever thought of starting up your own business here? Phil Heinlein offers some first thoughts and Mike Meade looks at the technicalities.

This issue is heavy on content about setting up a business in France and “the rules” have a predominant role in all that. Looking back over the copy I’m struck by how negative much of it might seem. As anyone in business here quickly discovers, it’s complex to set up, expensive to keep going, time consuming to maintain and frustratingly difficult to succeed. But the rules are the rules whether we like them or not. At the Reporter we follow them and we expect our competitors to also.

What sort of expats go into business here on their own account? Some, fed up with Coventry, Cologne or Kalundborg, come to the Coast specifically for this reason; others arrive as semi-retirees, get bored and look around for something to do. More recently I've met a couple of would-be entrepreneurs who were let go by multi-national companies and, keen to remain here, are hoping to make it with their own outfits.

"Is there a market? Have you enough money?

Starting up a business, like marriage, requires some forethought.

First: is there a market for what you intend to offer? A lot of Brits, I find, think of running a bar or a bookshop, an estate agency or a language school (and even a magazine), often with little relevant experience. One question to ask is whether there is a big enough market to support another presence. Another key point is that, except in rare cases (Geoffrey Garnett's food shop in Antibes is the obvious example), few businesses can survive by appealing to the English-speaking market alone. All our local booksellers, for example, have told me that their survival over many years has depended on strong support from French customers.

Second: have you enough money to launch and to keep going for a significant length of time? As one accountant, who often deals with start-ups, put it: "The basic error of many novices in management is to underestimate their costs and overestimate their revenue." You may have what seems like a good chunk of cash in the bank but, as a failed retailer commented dolefully, "Money seems to melt away like butter on hot toast." The banks, surely, are there to help, you may say. Don't count on it unless your business plan looks very good. Rod Mitchell of Mitchell Johnson, with many years of banking experience behind him, spoke frankly: "The failure rate of small businesses – here as elsewhere – is very high and a bank's first responsibility is to the clients who have deposited money with it."

Third: are you equipped to confront the bureaucratic formalities entailed in setting up and running a business in France? In large part, this depends on having a competent advisor (especially in financial matters). If your advisor is himself an expat be sure he has several years working experience in France, otherwise you risk a "blind leading the blind" situation, and I've seen it happen. And then there's the language. One very successful local trader was insistent: "It's risky to go into business if you don't have decent French. Okay, some people have managed but it's a big handicap with officials, suppliers and French clients – and you're also more likely to get ripped off."

You'll hear a lot of moaning from some of the old hands about French paperwork but this is much less daunting if you have a good advisor and adequate French. In fact, there's significant help available to the newcomer in business from the Chamber of Commerce of the Alpes-Maritimes. They run initiation courses – from half a day to a week – and they're now offering a course in English (see box at right). Okay, there's a lot of admin at the start (and quite a bit along the way) but is it worth it? I asked a retailer who's been up and running now for just over five years: "I've now got a feeling of responsibility and freedom I never had when I worked for other people."

© Riviera Reporter

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