Supporting disabled entrepreneurs

🙌 A look back at an evening committed to inclusion!

On March 17, four female entrepreneurs supported by h'up entrepreneurs and by Éloquence de la différence took to the stage to say loud and clear what disability inclusion means when you're really wearing it.

In just a few weeks, thanks to this joint support path shared between our 2 structures, they turned their experiences into speeches. In front of 80 executives and COMEX members, they took the floor to make their realities heard with sincerity.

🎤 They took up the challenge of answering powerful questions such as:

"Is disability a strength for the company?"

"Is disability a fad?"

With clear stances aligned with their values and vision.

💜 Nathalie Roy Boutin (75 boulevard des mots), Julie Cherrier (HASC), Amel Chikhaoui (RISK'M) and Rachida Le Toullec (Alpha Domus) didn't just take the floor: they carried their convictions and their backgrounds.

🙏 Thank you to Manifeste Inclusion and PwC for hosting and making this course and evening possible!

On January 15, we celebrated the end of six months of h'up Académie support at Banque Wormser Frères, whom we warmly thank for their welcome and support.

To mark this milestone, we came up with an original format: a TV News-style closing sequence, to highlight the journeys, realizations and successes of our 17 entrepreneurs with disabilities.

📌 A progressive program, built month by month, from project clarification to the final pitch presented before a jury on January 15.

💬 And above all, words that sum up the impact of this Academy:

"I felt I belonged, loved, recognized."

"Here, you can drop the mask."

"I stopped hiding my disability to undertake."

Because the h'up Académie is much more than training: it's a space of trust, learning and projection, where undertaking becomes possible without denying oneself. 💜
Thank you to the 2025 jury, to our funding partners and to our LSF interpreters 🙏
💪 Thank you to the volunteers mobilized for this edition :

➡️ 16 mentors

➡️ 16 coaches

➡️ 17 speakers on collective times

📊 A total of 757 hours committed to serving the academicians.

👏 Finally, a huge well done to our academicians and academics!

🗓️ On November 4, the selection jury met at the offices of our partner Alter Equity to listen to the 13 nominees pitch their projects with passion, commitment and conviction. A high point, marked by inspiring exchanges and beautiful discoveries, at the end of which the jury chose the 5 Laureates of this edition unveiled on the evening of December 1 in Paris.

🏆 The juries distinguished remarkable journeys in 5 categories:

🌿 Entrepreneur creator

🌟 Experienced entrepreneur.

🚀 Innovative entrepreneur

🦋 Rebound & reborn

🏅 Entrepreneur of the year

A sixth "Prix du Public" trophy was awarded to the public's favorite project on the evening of the ceremony.

The exchanges highlighted singular journeys, projects driving social innovation and the same shared conviction: entreprising with a disability is possible and inspiring.

👉 To discover the finalists' portraits, click here : https://h-up.fr/les-trophees-hup/les-nominees-de-ledition-2025/

💜 One week to get involved as part of our end-of-year challenge: support h'up until December 1 in view of the Trophées through a challenge bringing together 17 ambassadors to concretely accelerate the success of entrepreneurs with disabilities! https://dift.com/leaderboard/hup-challenge

Cher-es Difteur-ses,

A few weeks ago, the jury of the Trophées h'up entrepreneurs 2025 met to select the 13 finalist entrepreneurs for this 8th edition.

🎯 Discover the 13 nominees for this 2025 edition:

Maëva BELLEMIN-NOËL - L'Oreille Turquoise

Nathalie FABROS - Houppelande

Amandine PAILLASSE - Marqueterie Bois & Paille

Nicolas CADET - Performhance

Bonney MAGAMBO - Hemofab

Déborah PAUDELEUX - Dvora Bien-être

Thibaud VERMILLARD - Domaine Ampelhus

Nouhade LIEVRE - Docticare

Christopher NSIANGANI - Naaya

Evy SABA OUYABE ZUINGHEDAU - AVI

Delphine EDOUIN - Delphine Grandeur Nature

Alexandra MICELI - Alexandra Massages Énergisants

Vanessa ROBSON - Atypick'créa

These 13 finalists, with their varied profiles, hold high the values of resilience, inclusion and innovation. They show that entrepreneurship with a disability is not only possible, but also inspiring.

📸 Their portraits can be discovered here 👉 ICI

💛 Want to support them in a tangible way? Give a dift to h'up: every gesture helps us to support even more entrepreneurs.

Thank you for your loyal support! 🌟

Cher Difteur-ses,

📅 This April 24 we organized the restitution of the h'up Barometer. A major survey carried out with the KOREIS, consultancy, involving 101 professionals, to better understand the obstacles to supporting entrepreneurs with disabilities: 75 from generalist structures and 26 from structures specializing in people with disabilities.

📊 What we learned:

- So-called "generalist" respondents express a lack of resources to better support disability:

27% know how to advise a person to communicate and value their disability situation in their business dealings (vs. 92% among specialists).

23% think that this support should be the sole responsibility of specialized structures.

- Yet 82% of generalist respondents express the need for training in these issues.

A strong signal: players want to upgrade their skills.

🔎 Three key findings:

The support ecosystem must continue to be strengthened to better meet the needs of entrepreneurs with disabilities.

The obstacles identified are collective and concern generalist structures as a whole.

Solutions exist, as demonstrated by the practices of the specialized structures surveyed.

💡 This Barometer is a starting point. It paves the way for future concrete actions: training, awareness-raising, collective skills-building.

Find it here.

A big THANK YOU for your support!

Dear difteurs,

Last week was the 20th anniversary of the loi pour l'égalité des chances, la participation et la citoyenneté des personnes handicapées, which in 2005 laid the foundations for a more inclusive society guaranteeing fundamental rights.

Thus, h'up entrepreneurs was able to be present at various events to celebrate successes, but also to remind people of the issues that concern entrepreneurs with disabilities. We were on the Place de la République on February 10 alongside the Collectif Handicap to carry a call for citizen mobilization to advance the cause of inclusion and equal rights. ✊

On February 11, our President Damien Caillaud and Honorary President Hamou Bouakkaz were at INJA to take part in a roundtable discussion on the occasion of the "Handicap et Inclusion" stage of the Sommet Citoyen à l'Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles. We were also present at the Handilab for a day of exchanges and work in the presence of Catherine Vautrin, Minister of Labor, Health, Solidarity and Families and Charlotte Parmentier-Lecocq, Minister Delegate for Autonomy and Disability.

Another big news: the team welcomes Emmanuelle Charbit, who succeeds Pauline Arnaud-Blanchard as the association's General Manager, as well as our new Île-de-France Regional Manager Laura Lassegue.

Dear difteurs,

1. The autumn season kicked off in the Paris region with a network event at our Paris office. It's the perfect opportunity to get together with our entire community of entrepreneurs, volunteers and partners to exchange news and wish each other a happy new year!

2. The end of the year is approaching, and we're taking the opportunity to start taking stock of 2024! So, since January 1, 2024, h'up has been able to advise 464 entrepreneurs with disabilities, 400 of whom have been able to be supported within our various pathways.

3. Last week was the European Week for the Employment of People with Disabilities. Find our various interventions on this occasion on our Linkedin account.

4. Our Trophées h'up event is approaching! Discover the 12 nominees and help us award the Public Vote Prize: you have until December 1 to vote on our page https://h-up.fr/trophees/

The h'up entrepreneurs association is organizing the 7th edition of les Trophées h'up entrepreneurs. The aim of these is to reveal 6 prizewinners with exceptional backgrounds, but also to shine a light on all of France's 80,000 disabled entrepreneurs.
Of 90 applications received, 40 were able to pitch their projects to the Expert Committee on July 9. This committee, made up of our operational and financial partners (France Travail, Lacoste, BGE, etc.) had the difficult task of selecting 3 nominees in each category:
 
- Entrepreneur Créateur:  Pierre de Linage (Aphasix), Delphine SOYER (D&S Coaching) and Sophie Hoffmann (Podcast "My Boob story").

- Experienced Entrepreneur: Valentin Duthion (Le Regard Français), Olivier Dellabe (CFLOU) and Romain Deffrenne (Reyouzz). 

-Entrepreneur à l'International : Pierre Cabon (Wheeled World), Kevin D. (ICane) and Catherine Coinçon (Sophro-mobile). 

- Rebondir & Renaître: Arthur Lin (#JeNeSuisPasMonHandicap), Johanna Valentin (ENJOYA Events) and Léanne Pinel (MIND'S EYE).
The overall winners will be announced in December at the big Trophées evening! So stay tuned! 

 

The closing evening of the 6th edition of our h'up Académie program took place on January 23! At BPI France's premises, which hosted us for the occasion, the 18 entrepreneurs who had assiduously followed the program were able to pitch their projects, a fitting climax to 9 months of intense support. We were able to bring together some fifty participants for the occasion, including program partners (CIC Private Debt, Banque Wormser Frères, BNP Paribas, Andera Partners, Fondation Léon Grosse), institutional players (France Travail, AGEFIPH) and volunteers who had accompanied the academics. The h'up Académie program enables an annual class of around twenty entrepreneurs with disabilities to benefit from a program combining coaching and technical support, during individual and group sessions, in order to work on a development issue or a change of scale. 

 

A page is turning, but the 7th h'up Académie 2024 class is almost here! Our call for applications closes in a week's time to select the entrepreneurs who will be supported in accelerating their entrepreneurial activity. Future projects to support for the future! 
Eager to take your place on the side of the bold? Then make a donation via our HelloAsso link: https://h-up.fr/don-entreprise-ou-particulier-aide-entrepreneur-et-handicap/
And if you'd like to know more about our Academicians, check out the video portrait below of Rémi Uzzan, founder of Othentik, a consultancy helping companies innovate through cognitive diversity.