[Association story] - Marie Duffort & Anaëlle Lombard

Anaelle :

My name is Anaëlle, I was a student of the Programme Grande Ecole and graduated as part of Cohort 26. During my years in Rennes, I was able to spend 2 years on the Rennes SB campus where I was part of the Apogée association, before having the opportunity to go to Japan for a whole year for my university exchange. It was thanks to my gap year in Webedia's e-commerce department that I discovered the field of supply chain, which I liked straight away. After graduating from Rennes SB, I wanted to specialise in this field and in 2020 I joined the Supply Chain Design & Management specialised master's programme at the Ponts ParisTech school, which I did as a sandwich course at Sanofi. Following this master's degree, I quickly landed my first permanent contract as Distribution Operations Manager at Pfizer in October 2021.

Marie :

A graduate of Cohort 26 of the Programme Grande Ecole, I continued with a specialisation in Digital Marketing. During my years at Rennes SB I was part of the Apogée association and was able to do a university exchange in Maastricht, the Netherlands. I joined Havas Media for my end-of-study internship, working in international media strategy, and I was lucky enough to be able to transform this experience into a permanent contract. After 2 years with the company, I joined Publicis Media as an International Account Manager. I develop media strategies and advise my clients in the automotive and sports sectors.

• Can you tell us more about your association: How did it come about? What is the project? 

We created Leo For The World (LPLM) in October 2020. The association was born following the loss of a friend, a former student of Rennes SB, during an attack while he was on a humanitarian mission in Niger. It is a humanitarian association whose mission is to help children all over the world have access to education.

We believe that education is a fundamental right and a pillar of development, it gives people the opportunity to be actors of their own development while allowing the construction of a more equal world.

Our mission :

- To support projects that promote education at a local level,
- To encourage the education of children who live far from schools,
- To invest in the development and strengthening of educational structures,
- To undertake awareness-raising and prevention activities. LPLM's actions are characterised by active participation in the construction, implementation and management of humanitarian projects, alone or with associations that share the same commitments and values as our association.

• What is your greatest achievement and pride?

Since our creation, a little over a year ago, we are very proud to have already participated in two projects. The first one is still in progress: the construction of a school complex in Niamey, Niger, alongside the NGO ACTED. This complex will include a primary school and a secondary school which will be private and mixed. The aim of this project is to promote the schooling of Nigerien children and to allow them to benefit from an excellent education. After the end of the construction, our association will continue to be involved by taking full responsibility for the schooling of children who do not have sufficient financial means. The second project ended this summer: in partnership with the association APA we participated in the renovation of school infrastructures in the town of Segbohoue, Benin. We also participated in financing their EVI programme, which is a letter exchange programme between Beninese and French children. Stay tuned for further projects with APA in 2022...

• What advice would you give to a young graduate who wants to launch an association?

My advice would be to surround yourself with people and not to hesitate to ask for help, especially from other associations that have more experience. Indeed, the world of associations is a benevolent environment and as soon as we needed help, the members of the different associations we know were always happy to advise and help us. It is this mutual support that has enabled us to structure ourselves well and to carry out so many projects in barely a year of existence.

• Any last words?

We are all very happy to see our project take shape and evolve rapidly. We hope that it will allow us to carry out as many actions as possible in favour of education. If you want to know more about our association and to support us, don’t hesitate to visit our website (leopourlemonde.org) or our social media accounts!

Find Anaëlle Lombard & Marie Duffort on LinkedIn. 

To learn more about the association, visit the brand new website : Léo pour le Monde