Yannick Jauzion, from rugby to ginseng and insurance

He took part in the legend of the Blues and the Red and Blacks. Eleven years after his retirement from sports, the former three-quarter center of Stade Toulousain (2002-2013) and XV of France (73 selections from 2001 to 2010) Yannick Jauzion changes private activities and public as an insurance broker and regional consultant. He is also the volunteer president of the food laboratory FG Nutra, a subsidiary of the France Ginseng company he co-founded. This son of sheep breeders from the Tarn, who has remained small, almost shy, although he has one of the best records in the rugby The Frenchman (three Brennus Shields, three European Club Cups, three Six Nations competitions), did not follow a career plan, pleasing himself by seizing opportunities.

While playing rugby, Yannick Jauzion obtained a diploma in agricultural engineering at the Purpan Engineering School in Toulouse in 2003. In 2010, he was contracted by entrepreneurs Jean-Marc Mateos and Thierry Jara to start the company France Ginseng co-founded in Seysses south of Toulouse, the first production of ginseng in Europe. A plant he knows well. “When I played rugby, I took food items with ginseng for its tone, immunity, well-being and improvement of cognitive functions,” he says.

“quiet” and “freedom”

He is passionate about this Asian root which must be left to grow for four years before it dries. He became president of the company in 2013 and promoted French ginseng in the media. He then took a step back while volunteering, for three years, the processing laboratory of the pharmaceutical center FG Nutra, a subsidiary of France Ginseng. The eight-person company cultivates 20 hectares of organic ginseng under shade houses photovoltaic in Haute-Garonne, in Landes and Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and markets its food products under the Jardins d’Occitanie brand. But Yannick Jauzion did not participate more in ginseng. “I wanted to get closer to my parents’ farm in Tarn,” he explains. I didn’t want to stay in Toulouse. I love the country, I was raised there. It gives relaxation and a sense of freedom. »

In sports, you have to work on the intelligence to be competitive and that has stuck with me. I need to understand things.

Yannick Jauzion

His professional direction is largely the result of meeting at the end of his sports career in 2013. At 34, insurance agent Marc Gasmi contacted Yannick Jauzion to create an insurance company. insurance brokerage Excellium in Blagnac (Haute-Garonne) with Jean-Louis Baticle and international handball player Jérôme Fernandez. He became an associate director of this three-person firm and broker for businesses. “At the time, I was looking for an activity in Toulouse because my ex-wife worked there,” he says. I took this opportunity and trained with insurers. I like working for different types of companies, finding the right insurance for them. »

With a relationship, Yannick Jauzion started by negotiating insurance for rugby and football clubs, mainly for Girondins de Bordeaux for two years, and also in the world of agriculture. He seeks in Tarn, where he made a deal for the union to get rid of Trifyl waste. “I like the technicality of insurance products,” he says. There are sectors that are difficult to insure such rubbish because insurance companies don’t want to take the risk. »

“It is not a political post”

Has rugby helped him in his professional life? “In sport, you have to work on the details to be competitive and that has stuck with me,” he emphasizes. I need to understand things. In insurance, you have to understand the legal aspects to explain them to customers.” He prepares the files in his large restored farmhouse on a hill in Réalmont (Tarn), 6 kilometers from his parents’ farm in Venice.

Another opportunity is available to him in 2021. Kamel Chibli, vice president in charge of Sport for the Occitanie region, is contacting the former international rugby player, to present himself for the regional elections on the socialist list Carole Delga . “The regional president wanted elected officials from civil society,” said the person not included: “I liked being able to work for the common interest. The rural world needs to maintain a network of public services and means of transport.” The regional advisor redistributes policies in the Tarn, including weekends, and prepares a regional contract for the Gaillac vineyard. Agriculture is never far from this 46-year-old father of three, who plans to take over the family farm of 300 sheep and – he confirms – will not “have a political career”.