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Benjamin Chandelier
Benjamin Chandelier

Outdoor Events Director at OC Sport

EM Normandie, for professionalising internships

What I remember from EM Normandie, is the incompany internships. I had the opportunity to live decisive professional experiences, in a field dear to my heart: sports! After my Year 3, I joined the Marketing & Sales Department of a major sports gear retail chain in Cardiff (UK), then I moved to A.S.O. (Amaury Sport Organisation), the leader in sports events organisation in France, in their Strategic Marketing Department.  After graduation, internships enabled me to get a first job. I was hired by Community, a communication agency specialising in sports and culture, as their Project Manager for the organisation and marketing of sports events. And nine months later, I was back with A.S.O. in their Marketing and Sales Department.

I had the opportunity to live decisive professional experiences.

From marketing to succeeding in entrepreneurship

During the first two years, my mission was to find new sponsors and to support A.S.O. partners on professional cycling competitions. Then I moved on to being Head of all partnerships for all mass competitions, such as the Paris International Marathon, the Paris Half-Marathon or a Tour de France stage. I also had the opportunity to contribute to creating and launching a new event in the Outdoor Sports World: the Oxygen Challenge (Mountain Bike, Trail and Orienteering Race). The latter project is a new milestone in my career. It supported my idea that it might be opportune for me to start my own business. This materialised in 2009. With another A.S.O. employee, I started ThirdPole, a firm specialised in organising Outdoor Sports Events and supporting brands and local authorities in this field. This small firm was a success right from the start. We went from 5 people in late 2009, to 120 people in 2015. Then ThirdPole merged with other companies to become OC SPORT. Our offer today centres on two activities: organising events in the outdoor field (which I am in charge of) and sailing. I manage about thirty people in the Marketing, Sales, Communication, Sports and Logistics fields. 

We went from 5 people in late 2009, to 120 people in 2015

Give some of your time to EM Normandie

It seems important to me to contribute to EM Normandie, in which I had so many good moments. Once I became an entrepreneur, it seemed right to me to share my experience in starting businesses with InsIDE students (Institut de l’Innovation et du Développement de l’Entrepreneuriat), the EM Normandie School Incubator. I hope to be able to bring them advice, recommendations, possibly support, and tell them what mistakes to avoid.

Benjamin's advice:

"Be bold!"

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