– Investigation – Industrial espionage, lobbying, disinformation and international confrontations… The daily life of EGE students is worthy of a spy novel. A pioneer in the teaching of economic intelligence, the school imposes a certain vision of the world.
Your principal is a French administration “concerned” with Central Africa. He asks you to introduce him to the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner, in West Africa. And develop a plan to guard against it. Another mission, proposed this time by a major French player in the construction of boats. He wants to know more about the situation of legislation in Guinea: what do you recommend to enter the fisheries police market? In mid-March, MBA students in strategy and economic intelligence from the School of Economic Warfare (EGE) were invited to reflect, with concrete cases, on strategies for accessing international markets, taking into account a security context. moving.
As part of this exercise, Paul (he prefers not to mention his last name), 24, is interested in a parastatal society through which the United Kingdom extends its influence in French-speaking Africa. “When I joined the School of Economic Warfare, my relatives imagined that I was joining the army! We often think of war as an armed conflict, but it is more generally a question of imposing one’s ideas by force. Economic intelligence is collecting, analyzing and using information to make the best decision., details the former student in economic and social administration and business law. He is about to sign a contract with Airbus to work in the arms industry.
His comrade Amaury (his first name has been changed), 26, notes the similarities between journalism, his former profession, and the work carried out in an economic intelligence firm (IE): “When we do a compliance report, we investigate the professional and social ecosystem of an entity. Dissociate reliable sources from others. If you want to approach a person who is difficult to access, you can find out about their hobbies. Does she like golf? We will learn about this sport, frequent the same ground, to create a link. »
“New form of visibility”
The content of the courses at the EGE could feed a spy novel… But it is indeed the reality of the world of work that the school prepares. Students learn to use the monitoring tools used by companies for rapid adaptation once in office. “EI professionals are not smoke sculptors. At the EGE, the students talk about money and operating accounts. They know how to identify what deserves to be protected within a company and what can be interesting to recover outside »points out Stéphane Volant, president of the Club of Corporate Safety and Security Directors (CDSE).
Including the antenna in Rabat, inaugurated in 2019, the EGE welcomes five hundred new registrants each year. The promotions are heterogeneous in profiles as in ambitions. The seventy students of the “strategy and economic intelligence (SIE)” MBA – regularly ranked by Eduniversal as the best master’s in its field – have studied law, economics or political science, and are moving towards cybersecurity, economic diplomacy or e-reputation.
The school and the very concept of economic intelligence have however long had a bad press. “A few years ago, when I spoke about the methods used by China to recover sensitive information, the reactions ranged from surprise to judgmental commentary. Today, everyone agrees that China spies transparently and that counter-influence has to be done”notes Peer de Jong, a former naval colonel and teacher at the EGE. “When Trump brought up rivalries between China and the United States, all the issues we were working on went from shadow to light. Economic war is no longer a fantasy but a reality. We benefit from a new form of visibility, which is likely to increase with the war in Ukraine”analyse Christian Harbulot.
