While M6 has just launched the second program of “Who wants to be my associate”, a look back at the only candidate from Occitanie who participated in the first version. From the broadcast Claude Sarda saw his turnover explode.
The adventure begins in January 2019. M6 noticed that a local entrepreneur had just won the Special Prize of the Federation of Regional Natural Parks with his organic and natural products. “They contacted me to explain to me that they were preparing a TV show which consisted of offering investors to finance companies, explains Claude Sarda, who notably produces fir syrup in Sahorre. I said yes, I sent samples to Paris, prepared a little presentation of my company Abies Lagrimus and it all started. I learned that we were then 60 in the rows, then 30 selected, for 5 retained in the end. I was not…” In July 2019 the show goes into a box.
Faced with five investors, big names in finance and business, the candidates must then promote their company in a few minutes and, this is the principle of the issue, ask for a certain sum in exchange for a participation in their structure. “I asked for 30,000 euros in exchange for 5% of the company, recalls the entrepreneur from Sahorre. And there, after tasting the products, Marc Vanhove, the founder of the Bistro Régent chain, puts 60,000 euros on the table in exchange for 10% of the capital. I said yes. I had the funds in my account in September with the obligation not to communicate anything before the broadcast of the show in early 2020. “ Time to redesign the company’s website with this new money and prepare for orders to arrive. On the evening of the broadcast, the site received 15,000 visits, and the equivalent of two years of orders recorded (and paid for) in one week. “Looking back, this TV show was very beneficial, agrees Claude Sarda. Funds of course, but also the network provided by the investor and visibility, all of this is very promising. An extraordinary advertisement, which reflects even on those who cannot find their partner. The message I can give is that you should never turn down an opportunity. This one on a national channel of course was bingo, but anything that gets visible is good for business. ”
Two years after his TV appearance, business continues to prosper and Abies Lagrimus has been able to create jobs, and promote Conflent and Sahorre beyond France.
Read also :
Pyrénées-Orientales: Abiès Lagrimus, the immense benefits of a TV show
Read also :
Box full for the Catalan Claude Sarda on the M6 program, “Who wants to be my partner?”
–
