Entrepreneurship, Bernard Magrez knows how to do. At 85, now owner of 42 wineries around the world, the Bordeaux businessman set up his first project at the age of 20. He has known doubts, sometimes failures, often successes. Always passionate about innovations, and attracted by those who, like him, dare to take risks, he had the idea of create the “Start-Up Win”. In January 2021, in the middle of the vineyards of his castle Le Sartre, in Léognan, in the Gironde, he initiated and installed this dedicated start-up incubator “100% wine, vines and wine tourism”, details Sébastien Labat, project manager of the Bernard Magrez group.
Bringing together some thirty companies related to wine in all its forms is an unprecedented operation. Ten are in the process of being launched – here they are called “primeurs” -, in various activities: it is an immersive digital platform for wine-growing properties, a system for sheltering wine. rows of vines during extreme climatic periods, an ecological solution to deal with the problem of frost… Ten others – the “grape varieties” – are already well under way, have formed a team and a structure. Among them, a new principle of insurance brokerage specializing in the world of viticulture, a system of support for winegrowers in their computerization, a producer of innovative flexible material from grape marc … Finally, ten other start-ups, already well established this time – the “vintages” -, can benefit from the coworking spaces or the services offered by the incubator and offer their expertise to the other incubated companies.
“Dream, dream, dream night and day of what you want to be one day, and by dint of dreaming, you will find solutions. »Bernard Magrez
Only twenty kilometers from Bordeaux, Château Le Sartre presents itself as a haven of peace for young companies in search of the future. Here, around fifty hectares of vines and forests surround a majestic building reserved for them. Some works of art from the collection of its owner adorn a common room where biographies of illustrious business leaders are enthroned: Paul Ricard, of which is praised on the wall “The passion to create”, or Steve Jobs, founder of Apple … “As soon as I started, when I was 20, I was buying biographies or autobiographies of successful people, and I continue today. I’m very interested in it, and I’m still learning it, explains Bernard Magrez. My message to these start-ups: dream, dream, dream night and day about what you want to be one day, and by dint of dreaming, you will find solutions. “
You have 65.82% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.