Since AXA Private Equity became Ardian back in 2013, its global expansion has been somewhat unrelenting. With over $125 billion in assets under management, the firm has reach and influence across numerous sectors through a plethora of different clients, from governments and pension funds to high-net-worth-investors. But what really catches the eye and makes Ardian stand out somewhat from your run-of-the-mill private equity firm is its resolute commitment to promoting social mobility and education through its Foundation.
Dominique Senequier, Founder and President of Ardian, and listed by Forbes as one of the world’s 100 most powerful women, has always been steadfast in her conviction that social responsibility is a crucial value for company culture. “In setting up the Ardian Foundation,” she said, “we met the wishes of our employees, the majority of whom wanted to commit to causes related to education and social mobility. Our employees drove us to act in the field, and our values of Excellence, Loyalty and Entrepreneurship take on their real meaning with this type of initiative.”
The Ardian Foundation has for years promoted initiatives worldwide aimed at enhancing social mobility, encouraging entrepreneurship, and supporting young people aged 16-25. Ardian really targets young people with limitless potential who are in need of funding, mentoring and guidance to get them started on their path to success.
A focus on the disadvantaged
Ardian’s quest for levelling up and creating opportunities for young people worldwide has focused in general on disadvantaged demographics. Since its creation in 2010, the Ardian Foundation has expanded to 7 counties across the globe: China, France, Italy, the United States, Luxembourg, Germany and the United Kingdom.
With a budget that rises each year (€1.3 million in 2018, €2.3 million in 2020, €2.9 million in 2021) thanks to Ardian’s commitment to give back a share of their profit to support social causes, the foundation has been able to expand to support young people from a primary school age right up to the age of 25, through initiatives focusing on education, entrepreneurship, coaching and funding, with over 34% employees actively involved in the Foundation’s programs. According to the foundation’s President, Carole Barnay, “the earlier you intervene in a person’s life, the better the results will be in terms of success.”
The real driving force behind the Foundation’s activities is its conviction that social mobility can be achieved for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds not only through educative programs and support, but also cultural initiatives for young children, and entrepreneurship initiatives for young adults. The latter led Ardian to launch its project, 3,2,1, launched in 2017.
3, 2, 1: Kickstarting micro-businesses
The 3,2,1 project was launched in late 2017 by Eugène-Henri Moré and Dominique Senequier. Focusing on the most deprived areas of the Parisian suburbs, notably in the Seine-Saint-Denis district, the initiative mentors and guides successful applicants for a period of six months, with expert advice available from Ardian employees, as well as extra funding to kickstart micro-businesses.
According to Eugène-Henri More, “this change is important for people from modest backgrounds who see in entrepreneurship an opportunity to overcome the difficulties they face in finding a job and escaping unemployment. But people in deprived areas don’t have the background, the money, the network or the tools to create a business that can support them. So 3,2,1 is a way to address that need and give people the skills to succeed.”
For the second edition of the program in 2019, over €90,000 in grants were awarded to 8 applicants, allowing them to launch their businesses in an otherwise disadvantageous market for people from their social background. “I like the way 3,2,1 opens the doors of successful businesses for people who would never otherwise get the opportunity to meet and work with them. Without programs like this one, people in these deprived neighborhoods, with good ideas but few resources, would never be able to turn their idea into a business and change their lives for themselves,” said Moré.
Educational support from primary school to university
The Foundation’s support for the young prospects of tomorrow starts at a young age. One initiative the Foundation has been funding and supporting is the Magic Breakfast project in the UK. This British charity works to provide breakfast for children from disadvantaged backgrounds who may have difficulty in accessing sufficient food before starting school.
According to Emilie Wilkie, the charity’s head of fundraising, “we know that 1.8 million children are at risk of hunger in the UK and that it has a huge impact on their ability to learn. We feed an average of 84 children per day in each school and that’s gone up in the past year [2018-2019]. In 2016-17 we were feeding 67 children per day on average, and I think that growth reflects our success in reaching more of the vulnerable children, but it also shows the environment we’re in, where so many people need support to get enough food.”
Other educational initiatives funded by the Foundation include the Maison du Coaching mentoring initiative in Luxembourg, the Year Up initiative in the USA aimed at integrated young people into a professional environment and the Couleurs de Chine project in China, helping school children from ethnic minorities in remote areas, among others.
Institutional collaboration
Of course, the Foundation’s initiatives would not be possible without the multitude of partnerships and collaborative projects it has established over the last few years, all focusing on pedagogical activities aimed at boosting social mobility. Institutional collaboration is key to reinforcing its network of actors working to encourage social development. Long-term partners include the Fondation de France, the Sorbonne University and Carnegie Hall, among many others.
For example, in December 2020, the Foundation, under the patronage of the Fondation de France, the DEPP (Direction de l’évaluation, de la prospective et de la performance) of the Ministry for National Education, Youth and Sports, and the Paris School of Economics (PSE) created a new research chair “Education Policy and Social Mobility” within the PSE.
The aim of this research chair is to take a deeper look into the reasons and causes of inequality in education and suggest solutions to fixing the problem, which will in turn encourage development in academia to encourage economic growth across society, providing the analytical framework for taking real action.
The aim is really to “help children and young people to look to the future and become aware of their own potential”, says Yann Bak, former president of the Foundation. “We are proud to support this research programme that will contribute to improving our understanding of social mobility and building a more inclusive society.”