ORANGE partners with La Ruche and social entrepreneurship

Orange has partnered with La Ruche, a leading actor in the social entrepreneurship movement in France, in order to roll out into the French provinces the Parisian model that has proven successful since 2008. La Ruche, a veritable laboratory of social innovation, currently comprises some 100 social entrepreneurs seeking to create and develop innovative solutions to address modern society's problems. It is also a collaborative workspace created in Paris that has handled over 250 companies, with a success rate above 80%.

In relying on its extensive territorial network and the strength provided by a Group workforce of 102,000 spread throughout France, Orange accompanies La Ruche in achieving its regional development goals.

This approach takes several distinct forms: defrayal of installation costs, availability of technological resources critical to entrepreneurial projects, and the involvement and experience-sharing of Orange staff in coordinating the local La Ruche entities. With the arrival of new partners, opening La Ruche branches in many of France's large provincial cities has been planned within the next 5 years.