How did you come to occupy the position of Managing Director of Bull Madagascar?
Since I joined Bull six years ago, I’ve always wanted to work in an international environment. Having started in the Group as a Sales Engineer, Bull rapidly gave me the chance to develop skills in project management, sales and management on jobs as diverse as Project Director, and Marketing Support Manager. For young engineers that’s one of the most motivating and interesting things about working at Bull: the possibility of moving to a different function every two to three years, and taking on roles with a high level of responsibility.

In parallel, my annual performance reviews have helped me find out about international opportunities within Bull. As a result, last year I was contacted by the Personnel Director and Managing Director of the geographic zone that includes Madagascar. A week after our discussion, a trip was organised for me to visit the subsidiary so I could become acquainted with the local context, and some months later, I took over my new role on the ‘Grand Ile’.

What were the decisive factors that led you to accept this challenge?
Opportunities to take on an international role at this level are quite rare, not just in Bull, and so I jumped at the chance. Especially since this new challenge – in a smaller organisation on a human scale, but affiliated to a large Group – has given me exposure to every aspect of the company’s organization and operation (finance, human resources, sales strategy, production…), and this seemed to me to be a uniquely enriching opportunity.

Were you well prepared?
Overall yes, through the experience acquired since I joined the Group and as a result of the open discussions I had with the company’s management team before I took on the job. They, along with Human Resources, gave me a very comprehensive description of the specifics I would face and the difficulties of the environment I would be going into.
It goes without saying that this type of job forces you to be operational very quickly indeed. You need to know how to assimilate as much information as possible, as quickly as possible. In other respects, it’s vital to find the right balance between the needs of the computing market, for an island like Madagascar, and Bull’s strategy. Madagascar is currently in a highly developmental phase, especially in areas such as e-government and telecommunications: and we are supporting various organisations and public sector bodies in the face of these major developments.

Six months after you made the move, what is your first assessment?
I don’t have any regrets about coming here: it’s not an experience I could have allowed to pass me by, as much on a personal as a professional level. For a first international job, it’s more than satisfying.