

EM Normandie, Normandie Université and Les Entrep’, the main actors in student entrepreneurship in Le Havre, launched officially their white-label brand ‘LH Valley’, on wednesday 23 january 2019, with the support of Le Havre Seine Métropole. Unseen up to now in France, this initiative has sprung from the determination of stakeholders to gain in profile, to strengthen the offer of support and to foster connection between young talents in the Le Havre territory.
Hosted at the Capsule – the Université Le Havre Normandie Learning Lab - by Corinne Renault, the Vice-President for training and academic life, Lamri Adoui, the President of Normandie Université, Marc Pérignon, the President of Entrep’ Normandie, Jean-Christophe Hauguel, the Deputy Director General of EM Normandie and Luc Lemonnier, the Mayor of Le Havre and the President of the Le Havre Seine Urban Metropolis, presented in detail the stakes and opportunities of this new entrepreneurial ‘task force’.
‘The main strength of LH Valley is to gather under a white label brand the schemes deployed by the Institut de l’Innovation et du Développement de l’Entrepreneuriat (InsIDE) at EM Normandie and by Normandie Université under the framework of PEPITE Vallée de Seine and by Les Entrep’. Project holders will thus be able to benefit from free support given by friendly (though demanding) experts to make the entrepreneurial path easier and optimise their chances of success. This initiative is fully relevant to the campus Le Havre Normandie scheme which allows us to develop interactions between Le Havre actors in higher education and research,’ explained the founders of LH Valley.
‘LH Valley brings optimism and novelty to our territory. This innovative scheme, which is dedicated to young people and supported by experts, contributes to the dynamism of the Le Havre Seine Métropole urban community whose determination is to weave stronger links between institutional and private actors and to drive new actions in favour of professional insertion for young people and the development of new start-ups,’ declared Luc Lemonnier.
LH Valley: a catalyser for young talents
LH Valley is THE single gateway for all students and young graduates in the Le Havre metropolis who are curious to discover entrepreneurship or wish to be supported in their start-up projects. Easily identified, it opens up for them access to the free of charge support deployed by InsIDE, Pépite Vallée de Seine and Les Entrep’, thus helping them to multiply their chances to move on from the idea to the actual starting of their businesses and their development.
Studies and Entrepreneurship: the ideal combination
Student entrepreneurship has ridden the crest of the waves these last years. More time available, no family constraints (not yet at least), access to a student entrepreneur status and school-incubators, higher education students combine all advantages when starting their businesses. Moreover, they draw from this field-experience many benefits both in terms of knowhow and interpersonal skills. LH Valley stakeholders are naturally aware of these realities and they intend to develop further the attraction young people have for entrepreneurship and thus contribute to value-creation in the territory.