A graduate engineer of Polytechnic and HEC, Anaïs Bouchet chose to put her skills at the service of social and environmental innovation. In parallel, co-founder of a maple ° and CPTO of We do Good, she explains to us why it is essential to encourage girls to move towards scientific sectors, how the French ecosystem of engineering schools slows down entrepreneurship, and how its start-up revolutionizes the financing of impact projects thanks to income sharing finance.
Can you tell us about your journey and what prompted you to study engineering, despite the low representation of women in these sectors?
Anaïs Bouchet: I come from the south of France and I have attended public establishments. I have always loved mathematics and I was lucky to have teachers who believed in me. Thanks to their personalized support, they allowed me to access the preparatory classes and then to engineering schools (Supaero then Polytechnique), while no one around me followed this path.
You mention the small number of women in these sectors. What explains this situation?
Anaïs Bouchet: It is not a question of level, but above all of interest and projection. Most young girls do not project themselves into these professions. The female models are rare, and from high school, many are moving towards medicine or law rather than towards the technical sciences. Consequently, social representation plays a major role.
You spent 6 months in exchange in Beijing (Beijing), what differences have you observed between France and China in the education of girls in science?
Anaïs Bouchet: In some Asian countries, in the Middle East or in the Maghreb, the representativeness of women in scientific sectors is much higher. From an early age, boys and girls have exactly the same chances and the same school rigor, without silent bias. On the other hand, in France, we continue to see more “feminine” or “male” options or activities from college, and these stereotypes slow down vocations. This is why, this equity from primary school partly explains why young women succeed better than projecting themselves into scientific courses elsewhere than in France.
After your studies, you have created your business, maple °. However, you say that there is little form to the company in engineering school. What motivated you?
Anaïs Bouchet: I found that French engineering schools are very technically, but do not teach almost nothing about entrepreneurship, the operation of a business or financial management. For example, in the United States, engineers can very early develop their projects, create their start-ups … In France, this culture is very limited and the majority of graduates are oriented towards industrial design offices, even brilliant in terms of technical terms.
It was this observation that pushed me to create maple ° in 2021. We finance ecological and social transition projects with innovative financial models. Our flagship product is finance in income sharing: investors finance a company and receive a percentage of turnover over a fixed period. Unlike shares or obligations, this model is flexible and adapted to young companies that are not yet profitable.
How do you select projects?
Anaïs Bouchet: We receive around thirty files per week, half comes from incubators and nurseries, another directly from project leaders. Then, our analysts carry out financial modeling and assess the environmental and social impact. We are funding in particular companies which participate in the revitalization of territories and which generate a positive impact, in catering, health, housing, education … To date, we have financed 270 projects and mobilized more than 15,000 investors.
Is the current situation difficult for impact start-ups?
Anaïs Bouchet: Yes, many projects encounter economic and regulatory obstacles. Thus, we must succeed in reconciling impact and economic viability, which is not simple. Ecosystem and state support remain insufficient for young innovative impact companies.
Finally, what measures would you recommend to encourage more women to go to engineering sectors?
Anaïs Bouchet: Three tracks seem essential to me:
1. Show female model roles By recruiting more math teachers and regularly inviting researchers and entrepreneurs in the classes.
2. Make math and logic essential As passport for all trades, and encourage families to be demanding in the same way with their daughters and boys.
3. Support female entrepreneurship By reserving a share of public funding (BPI, French Tech) for entrepreneurs, especially in digital and deeptech.
Interview by Véronique Forge Karibian, founder of Business O Female
