CirculaCar was co-founded by Edouard Nicolaÿ (a Kedge graduate) and Geoffrey Pauwels, with a single aim in mind: to convert combustion-powered commercial and industrial vehicles to electric power.

After growing up in Toulon and studying rugby in Toulouse, I joined Kedge's Master grande école in Marseille in 2011, where I met my wife. Driven by travel, sport and projects, I loved defending Kedge's colors by joining the rugby team, and setting up a ProAct in the Philippines to develop the sport for underprivileged children.

What particularly impressed me at Kedge was the ProAct system and the possibility of creating your own course, à la carte. I opted for subjects focused on business and project management. This gave me a solid base from which to develop my entrepreneurial project, after having worked for a number of major groups such as Nike, GL Events and Sodexo.

Kedge Entrepreunership didn't exist during my school years, but I was lucky enough to take part in the incubation program last year and benefit from the network and expert advice of the coaches and teams, in particular Feyrouz TRIPOTIN.

A company specializing in the electrification of professional and industrial vehicles, whether for new vehicles or retrofits (conversion of existing combustion-powered vehicles).

We develop innovative solutions to accelerate the decarbonization of the sector by offering a more ecological and economical approach. We also design our own patented battery packs, which are repairable, connected and assembled in France 🇫🇷.

We complement each other very well: Geoffrey takes care of all the engineering side, while I'm in charge of purchasing and business development.

CirculaCar can electrify a business vehicle model in just 12 weeks, compared to 25 weeks with a conventional design office.

We achieve this thanks to our integrated approach with manufacturers (from prototyping to series production and after-sales service), by supplying all the necessary components, and to our standardization, which reuses 80% of the technologies already developed.

The remaining 20% involves model-specific adaptation, building on our proven base rather than starting from scratch.

To accelerate their development, CirculaCar is launching a €700,000 fund-raising campaign and will be supported by the Crowdcube platform, where anyone can invest.

Photo credit: https: //mesinfos.fr/auvergne-rhone-alpes/circulacar-donne-une-seconde-vie-electrique-aux-vehicules-92952.html

Don't wait until you've got the perfect project to get started. If you've got a good idea, get started and surround yourself with the right people. Be optimistic, curious, committed, and know how to tap into your network.

Ask yourself: What really drives me?

NB: In the early stages, initial experience as an employee is often highly formative, giving you a good insight into the workings of a company, and potentially enabling you to meet your future partner.