"You have to act at all levels by 'agri-managing', diversifying your sources of income and not just delivering the raw material."
Entrepreneur, investor & founder of the private incubator FAMMDidier Rousseau is a "serial entrepreneur" who has always been able to identify and encourage innovative projects and who has been familiar with the agri and agro worlds for over twenty years. Far from being satisfied with investing in different areas of activity, he provides global support to numerous AgTech and FoodTech start-ups (Agriconomie, Weenat, The Green Data, NeoFarm, Connecting Food, Miimosa etc.).
With FAMMhis mission is to help build resilient growth in different markets. "I don't invest to invest but because I think I can create value in that scalability," he says. We asked him about his perception of the new generation of agricultural entrepreneurs...
1. What do you think the agricultural entrepreneur of the 21st century looks like?
He or she is a man (or woman!) who has understood that his or her profession is undergoing a major social and societal transformation, and that in this context it is necessary to rebuild the entire value chain, in particular through technology and human skills. He or she has also realised that the countryside, rurality and landscapes are not, or are no longer, his or her preserve, that the technical nature of agricultural practices will increase and that data are at the heart of all future projects.
2. What do you think are the ingredients for responsible and sustainable management of an agricultural project?
Above all, it is essential that farm managers know how to manage the volatility and unpredictability of their income (one only has to look at the yo-yo of wheat prices at the moment, for example). It is therefore necessary to act at all levels by "agri-managing", diversifying sources of income and not just delivering raw materials (this diversification can be done in many ways: direct sales, payments for environmental services, methanisation etc.). Finally, it is also important to be a good communicator, having integrated into one's thinking and strategy all the societal changes underway.
3. What do you think is "the" profitability ratio that is a key performance indicator for agricultural entrepreneurs? It is not the ratio that is key, but the redesign of their value proposition to allow for a stabilisation of revenues as well as their increase!
4. What are you reading at the moment? Two books recently published, whose subjects may surprise you... Dorothée Dussy's "Le cerceau des dominations" and Barbara Cassin's "Le bonheur, sa dent douce à lamort".
5. Is there a personality you have met along the way that inspires you and that you would like to mention?
Not a person but a company: the Soufflet Group
