BoatIndustry met Odile Laborie and Olivia Eidenberger, new recruits of Nodus Factory, the Breton specialist of textile fittings. This was the opportunity to discuss the development strategy of the company.
You have just taken over the general management of Nodus Factory. Can you tell us about your background and your motivations for joining the company?
Odile Laborie I have 25 years of experience in sales, marketing and communication in Paris, in various sectors, from luxury goods to space, via new information technologies and a US law firm. I then co-founded a start-up that developed a surveillance robot for warehouses, which I left after 5 years due to differences of opinion with my partners on strategy. I then started a personal reflection on the future. "I have another 20 years of work ahead of me. Where do I want to spend them? "I concluded that I wanted to grow old by the sea and I started looking for work in Brittany and meeting business leaders. I saw an offer from Yves (editor's note: Yves Laurant, the founder of Nodus Factory) for business development. It was a good click and a real meeting. I liked his personality, but also his vision and his company project, the nautical industry and the position of leader, in the sense of pioneer, in the development and research of the best. The social dimension also appealed to me.
What will be your role within Nodus Factory?
Odile Laborie My role is to transform the SME into an ETI. 400,000 in May and the entry into the capital of ADAPEI 44, an association of parents of disabled children, and of Proximea, the investment fund of Banque Populaire. As I have seen in my other experiences, raising funds is not only money, but also a way to accelerate the acquisition of expertise through networks of contacts and knowledge. Before, Yves was running Nodus Factory alone with 2 employees and external contributions. From now on, we are structuring ourselves with my arrival, that of Olivia Eidenberger for commercial development, a technical-sales assistant and a quality-method manager for the training of operators in ESAT and the follow-up of certifications. Yves remains president and will focus on strategy and investor relations as well as innovation and R&D. I will be in charge of putting oil in the wheels by managing the business, human resources, finance and organization.
What is your business strategy?
Odile Laborie Yves used to do this with his engineering approach. With 3 commercial recruits, the approach is different. Today, the sales department is taking the lead, by structuring itself and setting objectives. We want to develop sales to boaters in BtoC. In recent years, we have noticed that by working mainly with distributors and buying groups, we have lost some of the user's feedback. Nevertheless, we will obviously continue to work with our current distributors via our general catalog. We are also going to open the way to custom-made products because the production tool and the R&D are already in place for that. As for the BtoB market, we are in discussion with shipyards for original equipment on new boats. We are also targeting exports as a driving force in the face of a French market that is a little slow. Olivia's background will help us in this.
Olivia Eidenberger I have 17 years of experience in export. In 10 years at Plastimo, I went from assistant to export area manager, which gives me a global vision of the whole process. This allows me to bring a network and to target the markets.
Odile Laborie : The final objective is to keep the leadership of Nodus Factory on the sector of the textile fittings.
