COOPERATION – ANIMA and Provence Promotion work together to attract MENA start-ups to Provence

ANIMA and Provence Promotion, the economic attraction agency of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis and the Arles region, have signed a partnership agreement for the year 2021.

Their common objective: to accompany innovators and entrepreneurs from North Africa and the Middle East with strong potential, interested in addressing the French and European market from Provence. Provence Promotion and ANIMA are thus making their services available to 150 start-ups supported by ANIMA over the last three years in order to offer them soft landing missions to discover new markets.

At a time of digital transformation and changes in our society’s business models, innovation plays a key role in the attractiveness of territories. The partnership established for the year 2021 between ANIMA Investment Network and Provence Promotion, testifies to the attention paid to innovative companies, their growth and potential collaborations between Africa, the Middle East and Provence.

With the initiative THE NEXT SOCIETY, supported by the European Union, ANIMA has followed more than 150 start-ups in their development and internationalisation phase over the past 3 years. For its part, Provence Promotion, with its “Start in Provence” programme, helps innovative companies to find solutions for setting up in the Aix-Marseille area. This year, the two organisations have chosen to combine their skills in order to promote Provence and its entrepreneurial ecosystem, as well as the soft landing and peer learning tools offered by ANIMA. This partnership is based on the implementation of several actions to attract foreign start-ups with strong development potential to the region by offering them the opportunity to open up to new markets and benefit from shared expertise.

Through its Cross landing Mediterranean scheme, ANIMA will be able to subsidise short exploratory missions in Provence for entrepreneurs from 7 Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia). Provence Promotion, thanks to its knowledge of the ecosystems, will ensure contact with host structures and will be an operational guide to answer all real estate, financial and mobility questions related to a project to set up in Aix-Marseille-Provence.

First action of the partnership

On Tuesday 23 March 2021, ANIMA and Provence Promotion organised a webinar on the opportunities offered by Aix-Marseille to high-growth MENA start-ups that marked the first stage of this collaboration.

Other actions have been identified on the occasion of upcoming events such as Emerging Valley or the Grand Bain scheduled for early April.

More information on the “Soft Land in Provence” event.