This blog is part of our series on “Leveraging the Olympics and Paralympic Games for Local Development”. By sharing insights, best practices and success stories, this campaign seeks to inspire and guide future host cities and relevant stakeholders in maximising the benefits of such global events.
The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games are an opportunity for the city to make an impact on a global stage. But they also provide an opportunity to have an impact locally and create new opportunities for Paris’ small businesses.
The Paris economy – and France’s more broadly – depends on its SMEs. Unlike large enterprises which tend to concentrate in central locations, they exist in every community, providing local employment opportunities for low- and medium-skilled workers in less central zones.
Paris 2024 and its partners therefore made a strong commitment to supporting local business and entrepreneurship — including by enabling easier access to public contracts and providing institutional support through individualised guidance, finance, and recognition.
© Paris 2024
Making it easy for small businesses
One of the main ways Paris 2024 is supporting SMEs is by helping them secure contracts to directly supply the Games. This includes presenting Paris 2024’s calls for tenders alongside Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI), Chambers of Trades and Crafts (CMA), Regional Economic and Social Committees (CRESS), local authorities, and business clubs at over 70 meetings across France.
We have also sought to simplify access to acquiring tenders and support to SMEs and ESS (social and solidarity economy) entities to succeed in their bids, through support of the “Fabrique économique et solidaire des Jeux” initiative implemented by the Les Canaux association and funded by the State.
SMEs also received real-time information on market opportunities more easily through the creation of the “Entreprises 2024” platform, an initiative launched by Paris 2024 and SOLIDEO in collaboration with the MEDEF (the largest employer federation in France).
Over 19 850 companies are registered on the platform, with more than 95% being SMEs and microenterprises. In fact, 64% of all companies registered on the platform are based in Paris and the IDF region, of which 89% are SMEs and micro-enterprises. Particular attention was paid to such companies to ensure they could seize the various economic opportunities offered by the Games, with guidance and support provided on their responses for tenders published on the platform.
This proactive support enables Paris’s small businesses to play a central role in the provision of goods and services for the Games. This is reflected in the results: of the Committee’s 2,346 suppliers, 1,098 are SMEs and 531 are microenterprises, representing 75% of Paris 2024’s suppliers. This platform is expected to operate even after the Games for upcoming major sporting events in the country, leaving a lasting legacy for the growing number of SMEs in the French economy.
© Paris 2024
Backing young entrepreneurs
However, to create a lasting impact, it is essential not only to facilitate access for smaller local businesses but also to foster entrepreneurship and innovation, particularly among Paris’s youth.
Several initiatives have been developed to support this goal such as the “Impact 2024 – Athlete Entrepreneurs” incubator launched in 2021, as a collaboration between Paris 2024 and the French Development Agency (AFD). The project aims to support athletes to develop entrepreneurial skills and launch new projects in France and Africa that use sport as a platform to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals. So far, 52 athletes from 14 countries have been supported.
In a similar fashion, the City of Paris launched The Talents 2024 program, which supports and rewards innovative initiatives in inclusion, eco-citizenship, sport and health, and solidarity.
72 projects by young people aged 16 to 25 from the Greater Paris region were selected in the first three editions, receiving financial aid and accompaniment by professionals.
Finally, the Start-Up Challenge, initiated by Paris 2024 in collaboration with the association “Les Déterminés” is a free training program supporting social impact entrepreneurship based on the values of sport and inclusion in the Paris Region. Over 30 participants, mostly women, have joined this program, leading to a 75% business start-up success rate.
Paris 2024 has actively worked with several stakeholders, partners, and the media to highlight and celebrate these successes through interviews, press conferences, celebration events, expositions and even videos. This helps not to promote the legacy of the Games, but also to inspire others on the path to starting their own business.
© Paris 2024
Beyond the Games
Partnerships have been key to making this work. Trade unions, employer organisations, sports federations, the government, and different local councils worked hand in hand to catalyse positive impact and generate favorable outcomes for the economy. This helped understand the barriers faced by SMEs, and generate solutions such as the creation of accessible digital platforms to facilitate access to tenders, individualised assistance programs, and facilitating partnerships between different SMEs to bid for a large contracts.
Policy makers can also extend their impact by creating labels to reward and recognise the efforts of committed partners and encourage others to sign up to social charters that commit companies to more a responsible and inclusive approach to business. These labels can also be accompanied by directing financial support to innovative, sustainable or inclusive solutions proposed by entities, as well as SSE supporting actors.
We hope Paris’s approach will create a legacy not just for Paris but for future host cities, inspiring them to make sure the Games continue to deliver for SMEs – and local communities – long after the torch is passed on.
The OECD Programme on global events (cultural, sports and business) helps those involved build a legacy of local development. We work with event hosts from national or local governments, the private sector, and cultural, sports or business associations to reap greater local benefits from such events.
Marie Barsacq is the Director of Impact and Legacy for the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, France.
Barsacq worked for 10 years at the French National Olympic Committee on the issues of employment and professional training in the sports movement.
She then joined the French Football Federation (FFF) to create a national institute to supervise professional training, before becoming Deputy General Manager of the FFF in charge of amateur football.
In 2015, Barsacq became Director of Impact and Legacy for the Paris 2024 Candidature Committee, and will continue to hold this position during the organising phase for Paris 2024.