Cap40: Fostering business relationships between the Western Cape and France

Cap40 is an interesting new non-profit initiative that aims to foster business relations between French and Western Cape businesses.

One of Cap40’s main goals is to support French investment, entrepreneurs and professionals in the Western Cape and to provide support to Westen Cape business that would like to export their products, services or know how to France, as well as other French-speaking countries and Europe.

At Cap40’s launch event earlier this week, Consul of France Antoine Michon introduced the online social platform created by local French and South African entrepreneurs.

Anyone can sign up for Cap40, but memberships have to be approved. Members can share ideas, contacts, skills, knowledge and business opportunities. Beyond its social network fabric, Cap40 will run a number of events in the coming months, starting 23 January with an event on eCommerce featuring Daniel Guasco, CEO of Groupon South Africa.

“Le Cap40” (an analogy to Cac40, the Paris stock exchange index) is currently sponsored by a number of businesses, including African Eagle and XO Africa (Tourism), Methys (Technology), Energy Intelligence (Energy performance Management), Powertime (mCommerce), Agrana (Fruit processing), Tristan (procurement solutions) and Moet & Chandon (LVMH group, Luxury Goods).

“This initiative is all about accelerating the exchange of talent, ideas, innovation, knowledge, investment capital and business opportunities between individuals and businesses in France and the Western Cape,” says Christophe Viarnaud, one of the founding member of Cap40 and Chairman of the Methys Group.

Viarnaud says that Cap40 will serve multiple uses including that of a jobs board: “Cap40, which is a community based on contributions of individual volunteers and the financing of sponsors, offers multiple free services from job postings to industry interest groups, knowledge sharing and social events, as well as a very user-friendly platform to connect, engage and do business.”

According to Viarnaud 125 people have registered so far and hopes to fuel the momentum in 2013, with an event program and increasing support from the French business community in Cape Town.