“I choose adventure!” Gwenvael, 39, converts and creates the startup Chympy!

4 March 2020 By

Entrepreneurship is a state of mind. Sometimes it manifests itself at the start of studies. Conversely, others are caught up in the evidence after several years of experience in business. This is the case of Gwenvael Lemoine, a graduate of the Global BBA from NEOMA Business School in 2003.

After graduating, Gwenvael joined an insurance group as Marketing Manager. A position he held for seven years, before investing in the Commercial Department of the same company for five more years.

But the entrepreneurial spirit already lives in him. Gwenvael is taking advantage of an internal restructuring to give life to a project that has been driving him for several years: creating a startup that makes sense. This is how chympy was born, the first Normandy cashback platform! “After several years spent in the same company and despite all the comfort that the status of employee represents, I felt the need to live my own dream and not that of someone else,” confides Gwenvael.

After taking stock of his different ideas for starting a business, Gwenvael chooses one that fully matches his personal values. Thanks to its local cashback system, Chympy aims to revitalize local trade, a sector currently in crisis, while increasing the purchasing power of consumers and the enhancement of the local economy.

Concretely, how does it work? “It’s simple, fast and secure. The first step is to create an account on chympy, then connect your bank account. As such, chympy has entered into a partnership with an aggregator of bank accounts referenced with all French banks. Then, just buy directly from one of the partner merchants, without changing your habits, with your bank card. The cashback is automatically transferred to your bank account and / or in the form of a donation to the pediatric association “Les P’tits Doudous“, chympy’s partner. ”

At the origin of the project, the creation of chympy was motivated by the idea of ​​democratizing children’s savings, regardless of the parents’ income. Himself the father of two little boys, this is a subject that particularly touches Gwenvael. “I wanted to give everyone the opportunity to offer their children a quality future, for example by saving for their studies. Despite everything, this is a niche so I widened my target in order to boost the purchasing power of all consumers. I let them decide what they want to do with the euros recovered thanks to chympy. They can of course save for the future of their children or use this cashback for other projects that might not have been possible without a chympy! It’s very rewarding. ”

An exciting experience but which is similar to the obstacle course for this graduate in search of meaning. “Professional retraining is not easy. This is a 360 ° change of life which also has an impact on the private sphere. The support of my wife was essential in the realization of this life project. I chose an entrepreneurial adventure, certainly motivating, but also very stressful. A family involves loads and before I started, my decision was therefore carefully considered. ”

Gwenvael’s daily agility must be second to none. He lives chympy, eats chympy, sleeps chympy, Monday to Sunday through holidays. A pressure fortunately offset by the advantages offered by his new status as an entrepreneur: unrivaled freedom in everyday life, surpassing oneself, a very rich diversity in terms of exchanges with all stakeholders. “No two days are alike, you have to adapt continuously and that’s what I like! ”

In summary, Gwenvael wishes to encourage all employees “seeds of entrepreneurs” to embark on the adventure: “Despite the certain difficulty in crossing the course, we have only one life, so it is essential to live one’s own dreams! NEOMA graduates are fortunate to be able to rely on the school’s solid network and to benefit from the support of its incubators … so why deprive yourself? ”

Next steps for Chympy: develop its network of partner merchants in the Rouen agglomeration, then in Normandy, then nationally.

Want to know more ? See you on chympy!