France

We meet Nadia Benedetti, a Game Thinking Facilitator and the founder of PlaynBe in Paris. Once the lockdown was announced she had to change focus of her activity from in-person to remote sessions. It took her a month to re-design the workshop's flow to adapt it to virtual collaboration. Her experience where Nadia had managed teams at distance for the last five years came in handy. Unlike many other facilitators whose clients cancelled everything, Nadia delivered about three workshops per week. She noticed that her clients which were international companies had less resistance and an easier time adapting to the remote collaboration, than the local businesses. Once they saw they got real value out of it, they gradually grew used to it.

We meet Monique Y. Wells, the co-owner of Entrée to Black Paris, a travel business that has provided services tailored for the African-American travel market since 1999. With the lockdown, international tourism in France has been interrupted. Her clients, the majority of whom come from the US, cannot enter the country. Consequently, all pre-booked activities have been cancelled. Until US travellers can come to Paris again, Monique and her business partner are looking at offering some Entrée to Black Paris services online and extending their client base to include French and other Schengen zone travellers. Monique continues to publish weekly posts to her “Entrée to Black Paris” blog to keep Black Paris top of mind for clients while they look for opportunities to schedule or reschedule their travel. The lockdown will not change her long-term mission to illuminate the history, culture, and contemporary life of African Americans and people of the larger African diaspora in Paris.

Jane Bertch, the Founder of La Cuisine Paris, shares the story of the lockdown in a company that works on the intersection of the restaurant, tourism, and events industries, that have been affected the most. As soon as the news started spreading in January the flow of clients decreased. Jane and her team of eight chefs applied ‘strategic procrastination’ instead of immediately reacting, they took a pause to reflect and see how the things would be developing. The part of the business model around building the community became very important. The team kept on sharing recipes and anything that could do to keep clients engaged and positive in challenging times. To keep business going, Jane and her chefs recorded virtual classes that her clients could purchase to enjoy the french experience at home. She also made an agreement with a partner company to develop bespoke baking packages that could be shipped to any home.

Elizabeth Milovidov, a European eSafety consultant and the founder of Digital Parenting Consulting and Coach, shares how the lockdown and increased online interactions led many parents to seek her advice. More and more families had to understand how to use technology in a positive manner, how to set boundaries and engage with their children. During the lockdown, Elizabeth doubled her efforts in running the community of parents and fellow online protection experts. She had time to listen more to parents to create helpful resources that would give them the right amount of information at the right time. Unlike her consulting of big companies, most of the coaching Elizabeth does is pro-bono. With more work on that front, she created a crowdfunding sponsorship account where parents can express their support. To our viewers, Elizabeth offers a small challenge to ask your children “How was your online day today?”