Sofiane Daboussi, PGE 13, embarks on entrepreneurship and creates his first clothing brand, Frenchement.

Sofiane Daboussi, PGE 13, embarks on entrepreneurship and creates his first clothing brand, Frenchement. Clothes with offbeat slogans for all Paris fans.

Can you tell us about your career since you left NEOMA BS? 

I officially finished my course and thesis in December 2016. In January 2017, I decided to make my biggest dream come true: to go to Australia for 6 months. The two years of work experience at Air France during my studies at NEOMA BS gave me the love of travels and I thought that the end of my schooling was the best time to make this great trip. When I returned from Australia I decided to get into freelancing, mainly in the fields of marketing and community management.

Why did you decide to start your business?

During my school years I always had this desire to be an entrepreneur, but I did not dare to start. I had several ideas in mind (I still have a lot of them!), I chose an entrepreneurship elective and above all, I wrote an entrepreneurial thesis on a project I want to develop in the coming months.

At the same time, I wanted to develop a clothing brand. At first I thought of a brand related to Australia, my second home, but I finally decided to leave this project on hold for the time being. Instead, I launched the Frenchement brand. I was born here, and despite my passion for travelling, I love Paris and I wish to live in this city. 

Tell us about your brand, Frenchement. 

Frenchement is a ready-to-wear brand for all Paris fans. In other words, you can find clothes corresponding to most of the districts of Paris, from Montmartre to the Champs-Elysées and Saint-Lazare. All with a touch of humor! The collection is growing daily, I try to create new designs regularly enough to expand my shop!

Browse the Frenchement website

Have you encountered any difficulties as an entrepreneur? 

My main fear was to get started, I work alone on this project and it took me a lot of time to get everything set up. I knew nothing about design, SEO, website creation, optimization, SEA, and it all seemed impossible to me at first. However, I learned everything on Internet and I am very proud to master these aspects today and to use them to develop my brand. 

To what extent has the school helped you develop your project?

Neoma was really the springboard I needed: we were encouraged to innovate, we were offered entrepreneurship courses, and above all, we were given the opportunity to write an entrepreneurial thesis. It is an incredible opportunity to be able to work on a personal project as part of one’s studies. Without it I am almost certain that I would not have embarked on developing a company!