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Sylvain Moineau is a partner in the local team at IMPACT Partners. IMPACT Local is a financing tool for entrepreneurs looking to create or take over a branded business in designated 'priority' areas.
During the summer break, the teams at impact.info invite you to (re)listen to one of our episodes published this year.
This episode highlights the testimony of Sylvain Moineau , partner in the local team at IMPACT Partners .
Enjoy listening!
Florence Jaillet
impact.info journalist
Published on 26 August 2026
Transcript Audio in Français — text automatically translated· AI-generated transcript
0:00 The fact that you can position a branded store in a territory 0:05 will certainly act as a locomotive 0:08 and thus allow the territory as a whole to develop. 0:19 Hello and welcome to the podcast for those 0:22 who want to change the game within their company. 0:25 Ideas are everywhere, in urban political districts as well as in rural areas. 0:30 But where life paths can sometimes be more complicated, 0:33 some people are committed to encouraging talent and entrepreneurial spirit. 0:37 Sylvain Moineau. 0:39 Sylvain Moineau, I was born on May 20, 1982 0:43 and I am a partner of the local team within the company Impact Partners. 0:48 What is local impact? 0:49 Well, local impact is a financing tool aimed at entrepreneurs 0:55 who are going to launch, create, or take over a branded store 0:59 and a branded store that will be located in what we call priority territories. 1:05 This is an activity we've been doing for 10 years now. 1:08 We have supported a little over 400 entrepreneurs now 1:12 and these 400 stores are part of a logic of dynamization, 1:17 of revitalization of rural areas, urban areas 1:22 that ultimately need these stores to be attractive 1:26 and to provide services to the population. 1:28 So what interested you specifically in these priority neighborhoods? 1:33 What interests us is that in these neighborhoods, there are people 1:37 and these people need jobs, they need services, 1:43 they actually need everything that those who do not live in these neighborhoods 1:46 also have access to. 1:48 And in fact, we ultimately need to normalize these territories 1:53 by offering them the same range of services as elsewhere 1:59 as long as there is a population pool available to consume 2:05 but also to be employed in these stores. 2:09 So what are you going to look for when someone comes to you 2:14 and says, here’s the thing, I want to revitalize my store, 2:17 I want to launch a store, what are you going to pay attention to? 2:22 In fact, we will pay attention to their ability to carry the project. 2:26 A store is still a business in an economic context that is not simple 2:31 and so it necessarily requires multiple skills 2:36 and it is our duty to be vigilant about the fact that these entrepreneurs 2:43 have the capacity to carry this project. 2:45 That’s the first thing. 2:47 And then the second thing is the brand they are going to launch with. 2:52 Do we know it? 2:54 Is it relevant to the location the entrepreneur is targeting? 3:00 What are the performances of other points of sale? 3:02 And ultimately, is there a coherence in having this project happen 3:07 in this place with this entrepreneur? 3:10 You mentioned many beautiful stories since you started supporting these businesses. 3:17 Do you have any examples in mind that particularly struck you 3:20 or maybe the first one that marked the beginning of this beautiful adventure? 3:25 Are there stories you have in mind to share with us? 3:29 There are definitely multiple stories, 3:32 and I would be tempted to say there are new ones every week and every month 3:36 since the entrepreneurs who reach out to us, 3:38 they contact us to ultimately facilitate obtaining bank financing 3:43 since we support their own funds. 3:46 So these are definitely entrepreneurs whose life trajectories 3:53 or profiles would make them ineligible for a bank loan without our help. 4:02 So of course, the first entrepreneurs we supported ten years ago, 4:07 there's perhaps a somewhat symbolic aspect that makes us remember them a bit more, 4:12 but in a way, it was applying the logic of what we wanted to do, 4:17 which is to help these entrepreneurs who, before a local pack existed, 4:21 had no alternative solution to carry out their entrepreneurial project, 4:27 and the fact that we set up this tool allowed them to realize what was their life project. 4:35 And so this was obviously the case for those first entrepreneurs we supported as early as 2017. 4:40 I remember a florist, I remember a mechanic, both in the North of France, 4:45 for whom our intervention was ultimately the realization of this life project. 4:52 But I have new ones reaching out to us every week or every month, 4:57 either directly or through the brand, 5:00 to assess our ability to support them in this project. 5:06 Transformations of neighborhoods, local transformations that you have participated in? 5:12 In fact, local transformations, a branded business alone is not enough to transform a territory. 5:19 So often, we are part of the solution 5:24 and so being able to position a branded business in a territory 5:31 will certainly not serve as an example, but will act as a locomotive 5:36 and thus allow the territory as a whole to develop. 5:41 And so ultimately, I can't say that we have, through our action, transformed an entire territory, 5:48 but our action, which is very diffuse, 400 projects across France, 5:53 is both little and a lot at the same time, it allows each of these territories to develop. 6:00 Stable jobs are also created most of the time, permanent contracts, 6:05 allowing the integration of young people as well, that advantage, that impact? 6:09 Yes, we did a big job at the end of last year to account for all the social impacts. 6:17 that could be related to our intervention. 6:21 And indeed, we had counted several thousand jobs created or maintained in those territories. 6:29 It's also important to know that a large majority of these jobs are unskilled jobs, 6:36 which can also directly serve the employment rate of those territories. 6:43 We also measured, of course, the diversity rate and jobs by age. 6:50 In what way, in your opinion, do your missions and actions change the game, change things? 6:55 In fact, they change things because it's the trigger that brings a project to life. 7:01 Ultimately, it's not us who carry the entire project. 7:05 We are just the missing piece in an entrepreneurial project that will allow the project to materialize, 7:15 while having the same level of chance of success as if we hadn't intervened at all. 7:22 In fact, that's the goal. 7:24 We start from a situation that is originally a situation of fragility since the inputs are supposed to be insufficient. 7:32 We contribute our stone to the project. 7:36 Ultimately, with this addition, we give businesses the same chances of success 7:43 as if we were facing an ordinary entrepreneur who didn't need our intervention for the project to materialize. 7:51 Here, it's a local package. 7:52 Is it possible with ideas and a well-crafted project? 7:56 It's possible with a lot of will, it's possible with a lot of quality. 8:01 We must not underestimate the difficulty of realizing an entrepreneurial project, whatever it may be, 8:08 but especially in retail. 8:11 Kindness does not exclude rigor. 8:14 But ultimately, yes, it's possible. 8:20 Sylvain Moineau, you are a partner of the local team at Impact Partners. 8:24 16 years old, it's the France agent for starting your business. 8:27 Voice of a 16-year-old, what were you doing? What were you aiming for? 8:29 Did you think about starting a business? 8:31 What you are doing today, does it make complete sense to you? 8:35 At 16, like many, I was in high school. 8:38 At that time, I rather wanted to be an economic journalist because it was something I was passionate about. 8:46 It's something I followed in a way since I studied mainly in finance. 8:54 And then, before joining Impact Partners, I spent a little over ten years in retail banking, 9:00 notably in the business center and thus ultimately in contact with entrepreneurs from all sectors, 9:08 each time in the suburbs of Paris, in several business centers, in Melun, in Montreux, for example. 9:14 And ultimately, the beginning of my professional journey was already in a way associated with this territorial logic. 9:24 Today, when you see these projects taking shape, what do you feel? 9:28 Of course, we feel satisfaction because, once again, we are not just a simple money supplier. 9:35 If that were the case, it would just be a bidding process with the best offer winning the project. 9:45 We are in a consulting approach and we are in a process of being the trigger that allows the entire project to materialize. 9:56 So, our positioning is a bit different. 9:58 Often, I'm not ashamed to tell entrepreneurs that I have absolutely nothing to sell them. 10:03 But on the other hand, my approach is to do everything I can to help them realize this project if I believe they have the capacity to carry it out. 10:13 And ultimately, to try to alert them to all the risk factors that I might have identified. 10:19 And that's our duty of advice towards these entrepreneurs. 10:22 Thanks to Sylvain Moineau, partner of the local team at Impact Partners. 10:27 You can find this podcast on our website impact.info. 10:32 This was Impact.info. 10:34 Entrepreneurship differently. 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