What I can tell you today, after all these years, is that I will never return to a traditional job! I am so grateful for everything this project has brought me, for all the people who trust me and join me on this great adventure with Ashoka. 

My story with Ashoka began in 2010. The Making More Health project, which aims to provide better access to health for communities and their livestock, was in its infancy. I was observing from afar, intrigued and very interested. 

Then, in 2013, I had the opportunity to join the project and started working with social entrepreneurs and the sponsors who supported us. We gradually developed the activities, experimenting as we went along. We didn’t have a well-defined strategy at the time. I wondered: how can we create a dynamic around social entrepreneurs internally, within the company? What could we do externally to work with them more concretely? 

I had the idea to observe the practices of NGOs like the Karl Kübel Foundation, which is very active in India. I went into the field, traveling from place to place for ten days, studying the various actions and themes: agriculture, health, women, children. I studied their business model, their strategy, everything they did and how they did it... 

Then I returned home and asked our sponsor to send an executive to the field for several months to start a collaboration with the community. Boehringer Ingelheim's program Making More Health was involved as a partner, not just for funding but mainly to deploy the strategy and oversee the actions. 

I went back to India myself, this time for six months, as an executive in residence, as part of the partnership with Ashoka. I worked with the NGO in tribal villages, hospitals, and schools. We set up training sessions on health issues, digital literacy, and helped them create social networks. 

What I learned during this stay was so important for me! It gave me the energy I needed to create momentum within the company. We started talking about Making More Health, and the information spread, which was not easy in a company like ours that operates in many countries. We needed to be numerous and convinced! 

In 2015, and every year since then, I have organized the "Leadership Week." It has taken place in India, Kenya... Dozens of influential "leaders" came to work with the communities, providing training on health and safety at home, for example, how to measure blood pressure, how to eat well, how to purify water... 

I became aware of the strong links between different health issues. Everything is connected: prevention, accessibility, awareness. We started with prevention, aiming to prevent populations from falling ill. One needs to take a step back and see the whole process, not just a part: how to raise awareness, how to prevent, and then how to facilitate access to care? You can’t just give a woman an exam, diagnose breast cancer, and let her go without being able to take care of her! 

This is still a big problem today; we don’t see the whole picture. I realize how important it is to identify their real needs rather than what we think their needs are. 

The aid is still too scattered. One benefactor will take care of drinking water, another of children, another of women... This is not sustainable. We need to provide the right solution at the right time while communicating with each other. 

This is not about my interest or that of the company that employs me. It is primarily a question of mindset. Being able to go beyond the simple phrase "I want to do something to change the world," but rather asking oneself: what can I do with my skills, with my network, with my energy to really make a difference? 

I started developing this mindset long before I joined Boehringer Ingelheim, when I was a teacher. I saw people in great difficulty who lacked self-confidence. This made me aware of others, of what I could do to help them grow and evolve. So, I thought about what I really wanted to do with my life, my career. Was I going to stick to the conventional path offered by the company? That seemed impossible to me. I wanted to write a different story. 

Today, I can say that it is not easy. It takes guts. You have to go and talk to people, convince them, take them along with you. At first, many of them don’t understand what you’re doing or why you’re doing it, simply because it goes so far beyond traditional thinking, beyond what your boss or your company expects from you. 

For me, it was very important to build a network, to exchange with people like me, who have the same mindset, like social entrepreneurs. I love being confronted with other ideas, reflections, questions... I love stepping out of this conventional bubble, out of single-minded thinking. Things started to change, but there are still many taboos and constraints. 

Another important thing for me was to find support among my colleagues internally. Beyond my team and the department I work in, I found people who joined me on the adventure, who also grew in the light of these great initiatives. We became a very powerful movement! 

You ask me how I managed to get all these people on board. I think there is one element that was decisive: passion. Without passion, no one follows you. They say, "okay, it’s a nice story, but there’s nothing behind it." Conversely, if you are passionate about what you do, they will say, "wow, that’s the dream job, it’s great, I want to do it too!" 

Then, you give them the opportunity to make it their own passion. You send them abroad, to have their own experience with other communities, to live something concrete. 

You start with something simple that doesn’t take much time. A cultural exchange session, for example, on gastronomy or sports. Something they can easily prepare for without being a specialist. You empower them and give them responsibility. It’s a scheme that works: if it goes well at this first level of involvement, the person will gain confidence and want to get more involved. For example, someone who has committed to a cultural exchange program will also want to move to the next level, like participating in Leadership Week or an executive residency. I’ve seen many employees who started their story this way. I just gave them the initial push. I build on what they know how to do. For example, Christian, from the chemistry department, makes soaps. I asked him to go teach communities how to make soaps. 

The idea is to match the community’s needs with my colleagues’ skills. It’s important to know your teams well. Leadership Week is a key moment to identify those who want to get involved. 

The greatest reward is to see, with your own eyes, the improvements within the communities. To see the drinking water wells, the healthy women and children, the schools filling up. The feedback is immediate, and it’s very gratifying. 

To see that my message, my impetus, has been understood and heard. The partnership is starting to make a name for itself. All this gives me the energy to continue, to get more involved. 

Many of us want to change the world. The opportunities within the company are what’s lacking. So, people get involved in social work, but in their private lives. They don’t know they could do the same within their job. This doesn’t necessarily mean traveling to countries far from your own, but starting by participating in meetings, bringing ideas. 

There are several best practices that have helped me bring more and more colleagues on board and make the project a success. 

First of all, you have to keep it simple and clear. The more concrete the mission is, the easier it is for them to get involved. You have to be straightforward and accessible in what you propose. For example, asking the marketing team to give a training session on social media. 

It’s also a mindset: thinking differently about what is normally expected in a company, that is: perfect is the enemy of good. You don’t have to be at 120% all the time. 

Furthermore, it’s important to identify the needs well. What are the community’s needs, what are my company’s needs? 

Stepping out of your comfort zone. In life, we rarely get the chance to do that. At home, at school, at university, then at work... we are locked in a box. We need to get out! 

In summary, I would say that the pillars of success are authenticity, passion, and communication. It’s about creating a network, bringing together scattered individuals and making them a group. Establishing trust relationships. Finding the right people, those who have influence or expertise, while also involving those who are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Entering the system, seizing opportunities. I could compare my role to that of an architect who chooses which material goes where... to build a solid house. 

Today, if my company stopped Making More Health, I would seriously start looking for another job. I believe it’s also a matter of age. At 30 or 35, you take fewer risks, you have children to support... At 50, it’s different. You can afford to take risks, and you have more network. For me, the changemakers are the generation of 50-60-year-olds. 

To conclude, I would like to share a memory with you. Looking back, I think of it as a miracle, a strange and beautiful thing at the same time. I was on a mission in India, looking for a solution to raise funds and improve community health. 

That’s when I received a call from an Indian professor, whom I didn’t know and have never seen again. He had heard about my company’s activities in India and wanted to do something to help us. He was a game designer for adults and was working on a new project. We decided to partner and create a game together based on quizzes. The cards covered different levels of general knowledge and were suitable for people from very different backgrounds. We made and sold the game. The project met our various needs: bringing additional knowledge to the populations and generating funds. The profits were used to improve the living conditions of tribal women. 

The professor then completely disappeared! It was like providence.