If you had to summarize your international development in a few key phases, how would you tell that story?
The Group’s international expansion was structured around three distinct phases. The first, initiated in 1995 under the leadership of Georges Laurent and accelerated from 2001-2002, relied on a distribution model using partners identified at international trade shows, notably Light+Building in Frankfurt. This approach, progressively refined by selecting industry-specific distributors, laid the groundwork for our first footholds in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
The second phase, starting in 2008-2009, marked our entry into the African continent, with Gabon as our initial market. This strategic pivot toward sub-Saharan Africa – Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea – proved to be highly foundational: today, this region accounts for 50% of our international revenue.
The third phase, triggered by the integration of Novéa Énergie in 2015, fundamentally transformed our export approach. With international business no longer acting as a secondary lever but as our primary growth engine, we built a formalized strategy. This led to the creation of our own subsidiaries in Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gabon, Morocco, Benin, Colombia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and soon South Korea, gradually phasing out the distribution model in favor of a direct physical footprint.
What is your greatest international point of pride? And your biggest regret?
It would be inaccurate to speak of regrets, per se, given that every mistake added to our learning curve, driving more informed decisions in the subsequent stages. Our primary source of pride lies in the Group’s ability to scale from a regional SME – without any initial specialized background – into a recognized global player in public lighting, operating in over 60 countries.
Maintaining the bulk of our manufacturing in France for almost all our markets, while sustaining 450 jobs both domestically and abroad, is also a massive point of pride.
Our US experience, despite being paved with mistakes over thirteen years, perfectly illustrates the educational value of failure: every setback helped us sharpen our understanding of local market dynamics and ultimately structure a lasting partnership.
What has your global strategy brought to the Group internally?
Committing to global markets tenfold multiplies a company’s capacity for development. The sheer necessity of adapting to culturally and economically diverse markets generates volumes and large-scale projects that are simply unattainable on a highly structured domestic market like France.
This momentum also forces us to engineer products tailored to specific cost constraints, thereby enriching our global solutions portfolio in ways the domestic market alone would never have prompted. Finally, it creates a relentless challenge regarding competitiveness: entering a new market means going head-to-head with established local manufacturers, often competing on both price and quality simultaneously.
Without this proactive approach, our Group would likely have remained a regional SME specializing in street lighting. Going global is precisely what changed our scale.
You position yourselves on “sustainable urban lighting.” How does this value proposition play out internationally against highly aggressive Chinese price dumping?
Faced with Asian competitors offering price points sometimes 90% lower, our differentiation cannot rely solely on a “Made in France” label, which has limited traction in the public lighting sector. Our true added value lies in our deep technical expertise and a consultative, educational approach with our clients: we guide them through the complexities of their own RFP specifications, helping them weave environmental and functional criteria – such as reducing energy consumption, protecting biodiversity, and optimizing infrastructure sizing – into their decision-making process.
While the price tag remains the dominant factor in most cases, this approach is bound to gain major traction as tenders increasingly incorporate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) requirements. The development of turnkey EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Contracting) offerings, which bundle installation, warranties, and maintenance into a comprehensive solution, reflects this shift toward longer-lasting, higher-value-added partnerships.
How do you manage the human element internationally: retaining talent, limiting turnover, and giving a sense of purpose to employees working in highly uncertain environments?
Our international management of the human factor is rooted in a philosophy that prioritizes the human dimension over short-term performance. In unstable geopolitical environments, employee evaluation relies more on their resilience and adaptability than on immediate quantitative metrics.
Almost all of our international team members were hired outside of formal recruiting procedures, as a result of encounters and relationships built over the long term – some spanning over fifteen years before any actual collaboration began.
This approach fosters a level of commitment and cultural alignment that is hard to replicate through traditional recruiting channels. Our preferred management model is a balanced partnership built on mutual trust, information sharing, and a long-term vision, rather than a mindset of control or short-term reporting. Building enduring subsidiaries rooted in a sustainable vision is therefore favored over opportunistic expansions.
You recently acquired HESS in Germany, with the support of Altios. What lessons have you drawn from this experience regarding integration?
The integration of HESS illustrates the inherent complexity of cross-border M&A. The cultural and legal gaps between the two entities, particularly regarding labor law, required us to bring in specialized resources: an HR consultant experienced in international acquisitions, a French integration director with 25 years of experience in German companies, and structured support from Altios. Despite these measures, the process remains demanding, especially against the backdrop of an otherwise unfavorable economic climate in Germany.
Two main takeaways emerge from this. First, the acquiring executive must maintain a sustained physical presence at the newly integrated site: a twelve- to eighteen-month immersion significantly accelerates the understanding of internal dynamics. Second, one must exercise extreme caution when acquiring a distressed company: the human and organizational baggage poses a structural risk that a discounted purchase price does not always offset.
How do you view the evolution of the TEAM France Export ecosystem in terms of better supporting mid-market companies globally?
The TEAM France Export ecosystem – Bpifrance, Business France, Chambers of Commerce, Foreign Trade Advisors, and Medef International – has genuine strengths, but it suffers from a lack of coordination. Sending multiple, overlapping delegations to the same target countries creates a sense of fatigue among foreign stakeholders and dilutes our collective impact.
The ideal model would rely on an international coordinator capable of assembling complementary teams around foundational projects, similar to large-scale public-private partnerships like the “Lumière du Bénin” project. The challenge is to move beyond these purely sector-specific initiatives: today, “Smart City” project management often lacks alignment. A truly cross-functional approach – integrating lighting, traffic management, water supply, and environmental monitoring – would be both more efficient for local municipalities and a stronger differentiator for French companies exporting their expertise.
What three pieces of advice would you give to an SME looking to accelerate its international growth?
First, fully leverage the public support programs available – TEAM France Export entities offer resources, networks, and acceleration programs that it would be a real shame not to tap into.
Second, treat global expansion as a long-term commitment. It is not a one-off opportunity, but a marathon that requires resilience, constant self-assessment, and dedicated human resources – ideally individuals with prior experience in international environments.
Finally, allocate a substantial and sustainable budget to this strategy. A half-hearted approach is rarely viable: without differentiating expertise or a robust export organization, it is difficult to establish a lasting presence. International success is built over time, never by dabbling.
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