OREANDA-NEWS. This Thursday, 26 October 2017, Alstom hosts the first session of the new reinforcement and acceleration programme "Destination ETI" at its global headquarters in Saint-Ouen.

Pacte PME, specialised in stimulating cooperation between key accounts and French SMEs since its creation in 2010, is launching the second edition of its strategic reinforcement and acceleration programme for French SMEs.

Following the success of its first edition in the aeronautics industry last year (30 SME managers accompanied for thirteen months, with the support of three major contractors from the sector: Airbus, Safran and Thales), Pacte PME will now accompany 34 company managers from several sectors: one third of companies from the railway industry, one third of companies from aeronautics, one third of companies from other industrial sectors and services.

The new programme, called "Destination ETI", has the financial support of JP Morgan Chase Foundation and Alstom. It is based on the strategic and educational engagement of sixteen industrial, financial, academic and associative partners: nine major groups (Airbus, Ariane Group, Alstom, BNP Paribas, RATP, Safran, Schneider Electric, SNCF and Thales), a leading management school (ESCP Europe), 3 associative networks (Afmae, Richelieu Committee, Sport dans la Ville), 1 public support organisation for export (Business France), 1 competitiveness cluster (Astech) and 1 sector-based professional federation (the Federation of Rail Industries).

For Fransois Perret, Director of Pacte PME, "the originality of "Destination ETI" is twofold. Firstly, 9 key accounts are directly involved in co-constructing and co-animating this innovative educational device. Secondly, through this initiative, we want to encourage the economic growth of the companies we are accompanying as well as the programme’s genuine social impact. In fact, one-third of the accompanied businesses are located in economically and socially sensitive urban neighbourhoods, while about ten beneficiary companies are led by women, which should, in the future, help them to become ambassadors for entrepreneurship in their respective fields."

Olivier Baril, Director of Purchasing at Alstom, adds: "Destination ETI represents a major opportunity for the rail industry to accelerate its support of SMEs in the face of today’s new challenges, from digitalisation to internationalisation. Our common goal is to strengthen collaboration between SMEs and major groups, for ever greater efficiency of the railway sector."