Could you briefly introduce Proengin and the major milestones of its international history?
Proengin is a French company founded in 1972 that maintained a family-owned structure for a long time, up until 2004. At that point, founder Pierre Clausin passed the baton to Patrick Bleuze, backed by an investment fund. I arrived at that turning point, 22 years ago. In my early days, we were doing about €8 million in revenue with an almost single-product offering.
Our international development truly kicked off with the US market, which still accounts for over 50% of global military spending today. Then, driven by our new President Jean-François Brun in 2018 and supported by funds like Capital Export and Aqualium, we reached a new milestone. Last year, we hit €35 million in revenue with a team of 120 employees spread across France, Dubai, the US, India, and Thailand.
What was the most foundational decision in your recent international development?
Without a doubt, the decision we made last year to regionalize our organization. We structured the company into strong geographical hubs: an Americas hub, notably managing Canada from our US subsidiary; an EMEA hub (Europe, Middle East, Africa); and an Asia hub. This strategy allows us to be as close to our clients as possible. For instance, relative to their geographic footprint, our biggest clients worldwide are Israel and Japan, due to their historical exposure to risk. This regionalization also aligns with our ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) commitments. By opening offices in Bangkok for Asia or Abu Dhabi for the UAE’s military decision center, we limit the travel of our Paris-based teams, thereby shrinking our carbon footprint while boosting our commercial agility.
Which of your international successes makes you the proudest?
It is undeniably India. After years of effort and perseverance, we are now officially qualified as a supplier for the Indian Armed Forces. We pulled off a true strategic masterstroke by recruiting the former head of competing technology at L&T – essentially the Indian equivalent of Thales – to lead our future local subsidiary. It is a massive point of pride, because India is an allied nation to France with which we have enormous growth prospects. We project that our revenue there will equal our European revenue by 2030.
In your view, what major shift must companies embrace to adapt to this “new normal” in global business?
I am convinced that once we reach a certain scale, crossing the regionalization threshold becomes an absolute imperative. It is the vital lever for cutting both our costs and our environmental impact. Digital tools today allow us to collaborate effectively remotely, but nothing replaces a physical footprint right at the heart of local market demands and cultural specificities.
How do you steer the company through this unstable global landscape?
I have to deal with a sometimes brutal reality: the current geopolitical climate, however tragic, works in our favor. Following the conflict in Ukraine and fears surrounding Russia, many countries – like the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and the Baltic states – are massively equipping themselves with our detectors. However, I want to emphasize one crucial point: we do not sell weapons. Our core business is saving lives and protecting people and assets against chemical or biological attacks. That is a message I proudly convey to young graduates: we provide protection solutions in a world that, unfortunately, isn’t always safe.
In your view, what major shift must companies embrace to adapt to this “new normal” in global business?
I am convinced that once we reach a certain scale, crossing the regionalization threshold becomes an absolute imperative. It is the vital lever for cutting both our costs and our environmental impact. Digital tools today allow us to collaborate effectively remotely, but nothing replaces a physical footprint right at the heart of local market demands and cultural specificities.
Conversely, what are the main challenges you face?
The US market remains complex due to the coexistence of federal and state structures, but our main hurdles are primarily geopolitical. For example, we had an internal mobility project for Abu Dhabi that is currently on hold due to the ongoing war in the Middle East. There are also countries where we are strictly prohibited from selling to military forces, such as China, Pakistan, or Egypt. I wouldn’t call these failures, per se, but rather the standard hazards of global trade, which we manage pragmatically on a case-by-case basis.
How do you steer the company through this unstable global landscape?
I have to deal with a sometimes brutal reality: the current geopolitical climate, however tragic, works in our favor. Following the conflict in Ukraine and fears surrounding Russia, many countries – like the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and the Baltic states – are massively equipping themselves with our detectors. However, I want to emphasize one crucial point: we do not sell weapons. Our core business is saving lives and protecting people and assets against chemical or biological attacks. That is a message I proudly convey to young graduates: we provide protection solutions in a world that, unfortunately, isn’t always safe.
In your view, what major shift must companies embrace to adapt to this “new normal” in global business?
I am convinced that once we reach a certain scale, crossing the regionalization threshold becomes an absolute imperative. It is the vital lever for cutting both our costs and our environmental impact. Digital tools today allow us to collaborate effectively remotely, but nothing replaces a physical footprint right at the heart of local market demands and cultural specificities.
Learn more about Proengin
