Guest Post: France and Entrepreneurship Sans Frontieres

The Taproot Foundation's Miriam Young saw a post about France's new "everyone can be an entrepreneur program," that I wrote about here. What started as a comment actually ended up being a thoughtful rumination on entrepreneurship, cultural conversation and growth, and common meaning in a global world.

I believe George Bush said it most eloquently: "The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur."

... Now, aside from the fact that we all know entrepreneur IS a French word, the question remains: is the definition of the word really the same in both cultures? I think France's new self-employment initiative is really a fascinating change of pace for the country.  I am by no means an expert on the French economy but I do remember the problem of low purchasing power and a high unemployment rate when I was living there last year.

How to combat these economic problems?  Some say more competition is needed to keep prices low.  Or maybe it was the imposing of a 35-hour work-week that led to a sluggish economy?  Maybe people should be allowed to work overtime and be paid accordingly? President Sarkozy's revolutionary concept, as I recall, was "Work more to earn more."  Hmm... interesting, but maybe a little too crazy. I remember seeing in Paris the sign retorting, "Work less to live better."  Ha!  La France, je t'aime.

A lot of people I knew were downright outraged about this philosophy of his.  I recall a heated teacher's lounge conversation with teachers disgusted at the thought of cutting back their 2-hour lunch break.  There were strikes in the streets (another reason why France is awesome) and an overall sense of the public putting its collective foot down: I don't think so, Monsieur le Président.

I know, it seems insane—35 hour work week?!  2-hour lunch break?!  4-6 weeks paid vacation?!  Regular strikes in response to public policy changes??  But hey, that's French culture and a French way of life.  Americans certainly could learn a lot from that.  Still, buying power is low and unemployment is high.  France has universal health care, but the system is starting to go in debt.  Real solutions are needed that the public will embrace.  But how do you change public opinion on these Sarkozy proposals that seem to be a little too “kozy” with Americanizing French culture?

For example, to introduce more competition to bring down prices may seem reasonable until you see a new Walmart-type hypermarché going up on the outskirts of town and business leaving the small shop owners in the centre-ville.  How can you shake up the French economy without threatening a French way of life?

This may be the ticket.  I am curious to see if a government-sponsored entrepreneurship initiative will resound with its citizens as a policy rooted in Frenchness.  The google translator did get the basics down.  Essentially, the huge improvement here is a simplification of the tax codes and start up procedures for small business owners.  If your business makes less than a certain amount of money annually, you are exempt from paying the TVA (type of tax) and, for the first 3 years, professional taxes.  Instead, depending on the type of enterprise, you pay a fixed rate of either 12% or 23% of your earnings.  If you don't make any money, you don't pay any taxes.  This makes it easier for entrepreneurs to price their merchandise/services appropriately, as they can get an accurate estimate of their monthly/trimester tax payments.

This will help folks from all walks of life use their ingenuity to supplement their income (for example, people in tourism who mostly have seasonal work).  So that could mean students, unemployed people, retirees, single moms, street mimes..etc. Blowing a breath of new life into the economy, or more precisely, a breath of "growth and liberty" into the economy, Novelli believes this initiative will allow people to use their talents and imagination to overcome their personal economic challenges.  (Égalité, Fraternité, Liberté you’ll all recall.)  Basically, the French version of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps!

Still, to me, this seems like a pretty drastic change in how the role of government and the individual is viewed in France.  Certainly there have always been French entrepreneurs, it is their word after all--but how ingrained in French culture is entrepreneurship?  I think (and again my opinion is not all that qualified) that this initiative may in fact be something that French people should respond to and recognize as their own.

A major challenge in reviving the French economy has been the French public’s rejection of policies that too closely resemble those of the U.S.  They are worried about Americanization, while we of course are logically afraid of “Obama socialism” and Frenchization!  I wonder if we can’t all learn from each other instead of fear and judge each other’s crazy crazy way of life.  I’ll always remember my gaping friend in Strasbourg when I told him that, not only were stores open on Sunday in the U.S., some were open 24 HOURS.  Pardon?!  You know, we are kind of insane in this country. Still, entrepreneur is at least a word we can both understand.\

Miriam Young is a Program & Fundraising Fellow at the Taproot Foundation in Chicago.  With a B.A. in Commercial French and International Studies from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Miriam spent last year teaching English in Istres, France.