Sponsorship in the field of offshore racing is most often the business of large companies with solid backs. This limits the number of them... and makes them popular with many skippers. This is Sébastien Rogues' observation after years as a sailing professional. It's a bottleneck that can drown the best. So why don't you go somewhere else? By creating a consortium of partners ranging from simple SMEs to large industrial groups.
"Elsewhere" is in the world of VSEs and SMEs. A world populated by more than 1.5 million companies. If each one dedicated 2000 euros to sailing, the most extraordinary boat would be born... Sébastien Rogues dreams. Yes, but then he also becomes aware that union, in this context, can really be a force. It is with this in mind that its Yacht-Club des Entrepreneurs could soon form a partnership with a major European association to support entrepreneurship, whose values it shares.
How can such sponsorship work?
Let us take the case of Mr. Doe, an invested and dynamic company manager. At the head of a very small business whose activity has nothing to do with boating. Mr. Doe is an entrepreneur like many in France, but with a passion for sailing and especially for ocean racing.
At each race, he follows the known skippers, who he knows are also entrepreneurs like him. Mr. Doe dreams of being able to involve his company in this kind of nautical adventure. It is this dream that the Yacht-Club des Entrepreneurs de Sébastien Rogues proposes to realize.
The investment is made through the digital platform developed by Sébastien's team. In a few clicks, Mr. Doe became "Sailor", the Yacht Club des Entrepreneurs version. For 2000 euros, he now has access to a range of services. Because he understood that it was neither classic sponsorship, nor traditional patronage, nor crowfunding... but a win-win relationship from entrepreneur to entrepreneur. It is part of the project.
Through this investment, he has the opportunity to make savings on professional purchases. Indeed, this Club provides him with free access, free of charge for members such as himself, to a renowned buying group, Dynabuy, which logically offers advantageous rates. So much for the sound and stumbling cash.
Then, our entrepreneur benefits from the availability, for his communication needs, of photos, videos and information concerning the nautical adventures of Sébastien and his crew. Thus, he can associate his staff with a competitive approach and enhance the image of his company through a human adventure.
This club is also a good way to network with the possibility of meeting other entrepreneurs who are passionate about sailing. But the icing on the cake is the possibility of sailing on the Multi50 Primonial, alongside Sébastien Rogues, for the duration of a trip at sea.
A new sponsorship model?
About twenty entrepreneurs have already decided to join this club: the managers of the companies Le Fondant baulois, the Idea Group, the Barnes agencies... "Sébastien's project totally seduced me. He is an entrepreneur, a company manager and a manager. I recognize myself in him and I want to help him. In addition, the competition in high-level sailing, on a deckchair and particularly in the Multi50 demonstrates a very strong commitment. I am a true admirer, supporter and (small) sponsor, because it is a dream for me...", explains Dominique Goubault, manager of a printing plant in Nantes which has joined the Yacht-Club des Entrepreneurs.
