Hub@Luxembourg, partner of the French network “Village by CA” by Crédit Agricole, has appointed her CEO, Amélie Madinier. The Hub@Luxembourg acts as a facilitator to build business relationships between startups and corporates. We met the new CEO, Amélie Madinier, at the Hub’s offices located in the House of Startups, in a jungle like and quiet atmosphere—the perfect setting to chat about her nomination, the Hub and our ecosystem.
(Featured Image: Amélie Madinier joined Hub@Luxembourg, Crédit Agricole’s startup network / Image Credit © Anna Katina / Silicon Luxembourg)
Can you tell our readers a bit more about your past professional experiences?
If I look back on my experiences, I realize that I have always worked, even remotely, on projects linked to innovation. My first job was with Innoven, a consulting firm specialized in organization, strategy and marketing in an innovative context for financial services. Then, I joined Visa to implement all the necessary processes for Visa to get closer to data.
Four years ago, I arrived in Luxembourg to join InnoHub, the first private accelerator owned by entrepreneurs. The switch to entrepreneurship was a real challenge for me!
“Our role is to be an internationalization platform for startups from the Crédit Agricole’s network already incubated in the Villages, as well as for foreign startups.”
What have you learnt with InnoHub?
I had the chance to see many local initiatives put in place and to source many foreign startups in order to bring them to Luxembourg. More importantly, I was really attracted to the pragmatic approach developed by InnoHub: entrepreneurs led by entrepreneurs.
Those two approaches will be helpful for me within the Hub. Our role is to be an internationalization platform for startups from the Crédit Agricole’s network already incubated in the Villages, as well as for foreign startups.
Why did you decide to take on this new adventure?
I have absolutely loved my time with InnoHub, as it was a pure entrepreneurship experience and a challenge for me coming from bigger structures. I had to build everything from the ground up, which was really exciting!
This new project within the Hub@Luxembourg is just as exciting, as I’ll continue to do what I’ve enjoyed doing at InnoHub: building a project from scratch. That being said, the possibility to lean on Crédit Agricole’s group and rely on a precious network of experts that will enable us develop multiple synergies were also key elements for me.
What are you bringing to the Hub@Luxembourg?
My experience in the Luxembourg ecosystem, which I know very well. Over the past years, I have established a strong network which will help me build the Hub@Luxembourg as Crédit Agricole foresees it.
“We need to be able to give concrete facts and figures to the startups and make them eager to discover what Luxembourg can bring to them!”
What are you views on our ecosystem?
Needless to say, our ecosystem has changed recently. We can count on multiples infrastructures that complete themselves. However, it’s perhaps important to start focusing on things that are missing in our ecosystem, things that prevent us from finalizing projects.
I think that it would be interesting to think about a way to encourage investments and increase the amount of funds going to startups. We need to push companies towards a heightened desire to take risks.
Another solution could be to promote higher transparency around the granting of subsidies. Fit4Start is great, but not sufficient!
Stronger collective initiatives with neighboring regions also need to be strengthened to broaden the market’s perception of our startups. A collective approach beyond our borders is essential.
In that sense, we need more startups like Job Today or Aiva in Luxembourg. Those startups pursue projects that are outside the common FinTech field we know here, and support the true desire to diversify the Luxembourg’s economy. They have scaled-up to the international level while benefiting from Luxembourg’s assets, which is what we need to lean towards.
In my opinion, we are now in a world where communication must be based on pragmatic information. We need to be able to give concrete facts and figures to the startups and make them eager to discover what Luxembourg can bring to them!
