Yanis Gannouni is the new president of the CNJE (National Confederation of Junior Enterprises). This TBS Education student, former president of the school’s Junior Enterprise, ESCadrille, looks back on his career and the major projects that await him during this crazy year.
The journey of Yanis Gannouni, from prep to TBS JE
Can you go back over your journey?
I did two years of ECT preparation in Brest. Following my prep, I decided to start a business with a friend, in the gastronomy sector. This adventure lasted a year and stopped with COVID. I wanted to continue in business and entrepreneurship through my school, TBS. I joined the school via the AST competitions and was able to capitalize on my experience in interviews. This is where I discovered the JE, ESCadrille. I passed the recruitment tests for the business, then I submitted my application to become president.
How was your experience at ESCadrille Toulouse Junior Conseil?
I joined ESCadrille in October 2020. I became president at the beginning of 2021 and my mandate ended in December 2021. My experience lasted a little over a year, because I became involved in the subject of the price of excellence which came within four months of my mandate.
At ESCadrille, I found real connections and real continuity with entrepreneurship. You have to be able to manage several subjects: the Junior Enterprise ecosystem, relationships with the school, clients of all sizes… I learned a lot and ESCadrille helped me in four aspects: business learning, with increased skills in customer experience; the managerial dimension, since you have to manage a high-performance team that has won numerous awards; strategy and long-term vision; training new teams.
Yanis Gannouni, president of the CNJE
Why did you want to join the CNJE afterwards?
At the end of my mandate, on January 1, 2022, I was still in the handover period. In fact, we make sure to have a common project between two mandates. We then went through the excellence awards process which required us to work on much broader subjects such as the development of the movement. This really allowed me to have a vision of the Junior Enterprise model, their strengths and their weaknesses. In parallel with the prize of excellence, I was able to establish links with the CNJE, because the recruitment period took place at the same time as the prize. I got interested in it and saw that there were certain levers to accentuate the model.
How did the recruitment process take place to join the CNJE?
There are three moments of discovery of the CNJE and I was able to do one of the three. Once I made the decision to join the movement, there are between 3 and 5 recruitment weekends. We exchange with many stakeholders, we had to present scenarios on specific themes such as the partnership relationship or the vision of the evolution of the movement. We must then present our proposal to alumni and outgoing teams. Then, we are co-opted by the team and voted on at the General Assembly of Presidents at the end of June. It is the 200 presidents of the movement who choose whether or not to accept the co-optation and declare whether we are elected.
The major projects awaiting the CNJE
How will your year go? What major highlights will punctuate your daily life?
Today, I am on a gap year to devote myself full-time to the CNJE. I will work throughout the year with Marie, my vice-president.
On the international side, I was in Brussels this week for the handover ceremony of the European Confederation. This allowed me to exchange with other confederations. On the French side, there is a lot of work to be done with the partners. The major stakeholder remains the Junior Enterprises whom I will meet every week to learn more about their needs and the needs of the movement. There is also a relational aspect with alumni.
On the more external, even political, part, this mandate will be an opportunity to address the issues surrounding the status of JEs in order to clarify it. We also work in close collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. The objective is really to make the movement visible politically and in the media.
What will be the broad outlines of your mandate?
The first project will be that of clarifying the status of Junior Enterprises. The other essential lever on which we will work is the business dimension. They need to understand more the potential of JE. We want to highlight the expertise of Junior Enterprises.
Finally, the third axis is that of experience, both upstream, during one’s year within a JE and downstream. We want to better inform students about what we do in these associations and work with alumni to create a real network effect. Of course, we are going to act on the commitment which is part of our concerns, whether on CSR, gender parity, well-being or social inclusion.
The future of Yanis after his presidency of the CNJE
What are your plans for the future?
I have been moving towards the entrepreneurial world for several years now. I find a lot of elements there that drive me, particularly in terms of creativity. It’s extraordinary. I am of course not closed to anything. I work more on experiences. I didn’t expect to create my company after my prep, join ESCadrille or chair the CNJE.
For the moment, I am focusing 100% on this experience and I would of course like to find a logical continuity to my experience within Junior Enterprises. Each of my experiences was more intense than the last and I don’t know what I will find next. Today, what interests me above all is the world of startups around Tech.
