Business France

  • Headquarters in Paris
  • 87 offices in the world
  • 124 countries
  • Chairman of the Board: Pascal Cagni
  • CEO: Christophe Lecourtier
  • Created on 1 January 2015 through a merger between UBIFRANCE and the French Agency for International Investment (InvestInFrance).

Thinking about investing in France?

Institutional set-up

Digital platforms

FDI or Foreign direct investment on black block with blurred background

 

FDI IN FRANCE

Outstanding in terms of the number of investment projects registered: in 2019,

they amounted to 1,468, or 28 investment projects per week, up 11% compared with 2018 and rising more than 50% in five years.

Outstanding also in terms of jobs, with 39,542 being created or maintained, which was 30% higher than in 2018 and almost 50% higher than in 2014. In a single year, international investment has generated the equivalent of all salaried jobs in a city the size of Poitiers.

Outstanding, lastly, in terms of international influence: the investment projects spanned 58 source countries, which was a quarter more than in 2014. Almost two-thirds of them also belonged to European businesses, thereby contributing to the unification of the European Economic Area.

Business France and its partners in France’s regions support you as your investment project is implemented until its completion:

  1. Location proposals
  2. Sector-based, legal, tax and social security information
  3. Real estate solutions
  4. Financial support
  5. Putting you in touch with the local authorities and all public- and private-sector operators.

Regarding prospecting for international investors, Business France information and support mission is gaining momentum, with the creation of the Team France Invest (TFI) partnership, made up of regional development agencies, central and local
administrations, public banks, etc.

 

Institutional set-up

Created in 2018, Team France Export aims to create a fully integrated French team made up of all the key players specializing in exports: it brings together public key players working to support the international development of French businesses – the regions, State services, Business France, the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Bpifrance – and private key players in export support.

Team France Invest is being set up on the same model, with its own partners.
Its aim is to strengthen cooperation between national and regional public partners to better attract and support international investment.
The following are available to all public key players in attractiveness: a Team France Invest collaborative space, parallel to the Team France Export space, to share information and work better together; and six joint action programs, including the joint monitoring of 200 accounts for aftercare/reinvestment, the takeover of ailing businesses, putting growing French firms in touch with foreign investors, promoting turnkey sites, showcasing the regions on the ChooseFrance.fr website and coordinating international communication.

Digital platforms

14 “regional solutions platforms” online as export supermarkets, intended to inform, guide and prepare first-time exporters, covering all their needs: they bring together support and public financing for exports and the best of private sector offers (e-commerce, credit insurance, strategic advice, accounting expertise, translation and logistics). Also, a set up of a database shared with the regions and CCIs, which enables businesses to be monitored in a shared and personalized manner.

In terms of international investors, new digital tools allow to keep in touch and manage projects with customers and local ecosystems: for instance, a key project management tool accelerates the decision-making process and provides more services to potential investors in a secure digital space.

+ a greater pro-active use of social media, with webinars and more testimonials from businesses.

Interview

interview
We spoke with:

CHRISTOPHE LECOURTIER, CEO OF BUSINESS FRANCE

“…we help build links between French businesses and foreign ones so that they can find outlets in markets all over the world, and we help foreign firms to settle and develop themselves further in France.”

CHRISTOPHE LECOURTIER, CEO OF BUSINESS FRANCE, EXPLAINS HOW TEAM FRANCE EXPORT AND TEAM FRANCE INVEST OPERATE

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