Building on instinct: Alphadio Olory-Togbe's career path, EMBA HEC Paris
Following his initial professional success, Alphadio Olory-Togbe took an EMBA with every intent of creating a new company and a daring concept. During his training program, Alphadio put his newly-acquired skills to use and, with determination, created a second company!
GAINING KNOWLEDGE AND SHARING EXPERIENCE
With his industrial engineering and business school degrees in hand, Alphadio Olory-Togbe worked for a year as a business engineer. He then created an IT equipment hire company, which he developed for 8 years, before selling up and creating Industry Capital, a new specialized industrial equipment hire company.
In order to meet this new challenge, he decided to take an external training program. "After 10 years of highly intuitive business development experience in the field, I felt I was ready to enhance my skills in terms of processes and organization. I chose the HEC PARIS EMBA for the program's relevance and for the school's high quality reputation. "
Alphadio is very happy with his choice. The high standard of education that he expected was indeed delivered. He has also learned a great deal about the other participants. "If you want to get the most out of this type of program, you have to really invest in it. By 'giving' and exchanging ideas, you ‘receive’ invaluable feedback from the other participants who gave rich and diversified backgrounds. "
A COMPLETELY NEW APPROACH
Alphadio graduated with his EMBA in 2009. He immediately took the plunge and created a new company: Lavoir Moderne . The 'home laundry' company provides daily ecological cleaning and dry-cleaning solutions. Clothes are collected and delivered in 15 minutes and customers can choose from 3 specific options.
On the strength of his new skills, he applies processes and discipline to this new company.
Now I have the entire HEC Paris 'toolbox' at my disposal and I have learned how to be methodical. Being prepared can make all the difference between success and failure. We ran a demonstrator for 3 years to compare our concept to market realities. I would never have had this idea before my training program.”
— Alphadio Olory-Togbe, Directeur Associé, Lavoir Moderne
Another direct example from the HEC Paris approach is the idea of founding a company on the basis of collective intelligence. Lavoir Moderne’s business activities will cover 60% of Paris as of January 2016. The company is managed by 2 directors - Alphadio and his partner - and a strategic committee which is made up of 8 members from various horizons - another new concept for Alphadio. "There really is a 'before' and 'after' in terms of the training program ", he concludes.