23rd November 2022

From finance to financiers

Driven by his passion for baking and his entrepreneurial drive, Simon decided to leave his finance job and start a baking business by creating an inclusive project. In this article Simon describes his entrepreneurial journey. Happy reading!

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Meet Simon

My name is Simon and I am an entrepreneur and the founder of Simon le financier, a brand of all-natural, inclusive and made in Luxembourg cakes. I have a real passion for cooking and baking, which to my mind embody the art of sharing.

My entire childhood was shaped by our family meals, when we would all gather to enjoy my mother’s delicious homemade food. These moments are now fond memories, which I treasure.

The idea of creating a business

I lived in Paris when I was a student and never had a fully equipped kitchen. After earning my master’s degree at the age of 25, I finally had access to my first oven while on internship in Italy. That was when I began testing baking recipes and asking my colleagues to try the results (they all survived :-) ). This was a real revelation for me.

Since I was very young, I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur, so I decided to make my passion a reality by obtaining my CAP (vocational training certificate) as an independent candidate, in parallel with my job in finance.

For fans of authenticity

The stages of business creation

My mother instilled in me a love for delicious homemade food. Cakes bring back happy memories for me.

After my experience in Italy, I continued to test, create and discover new pastries. My passion and my desire to bring joy to the people around me grew day by day.

1. Life-changing encounters

When I was working at the University of Luxembourg, I often went for walks during my lunch break, discovered new concepts and talked to local artisans.

It was through these impromptu outings that I came across the House of Entrepreneurship, which took the time to listen to me and steer me towards nyuko, whose “Impuls” programme matched my needs.

These inspiring encounters led me to believe that I had a good idea for a project and that I should go all in and not second-guess myself. It was time to make the transition from idea to action.

2. From finance to financiers: a complete change of direction

In 2021, I took a gamble and left my position as financial controller to focus entirely on my passion for baking.

After more than a year’s work, I launched Simon le financier, a brand of all-natural, inclusive and made in Luxembourg cakes.

This March 2022 launch was made possible thanks to crowdfunding on the Ulule platform. The campaign was a huge success with more than 3.510 cakes pre-ordered in just a few days. That was when my project took a real turn.

Today, the line consists of three flagship products:

Almond financiers, for fans of authenticity
Chocolate fondants, for chocolate lovers
Milk chocolate and chunky almond cookie

None is happier than the gourmand.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

3. Values first

The concept behind Simon le financier is to offer high-quality artisanal cakes made with healthy, locally sourced ingredients to showcase our regional producers’ expertise.

All our products are natural, with no additives or preservatives. As I like to say, you don’t need a PhD in chemistry to understand what they’re made of.

They are made by hand and packaged at sheltered workshops in Luxembourg:

by the HMC League, which supports people with intellectual and cerebral disabilities; and
by the Kräizbierg Foundation, which works with people with motor disabilities.

I am fortunate to be supported by two amazing teams and by people who are doing incredible work.
Simon

It was very important to me to include real added value by bringing a social and inclusive component into my project. Creating and sharing my cakes is meaningful only if they help reduce social inequality and change how society looks at disability.

4. A real social challenge

Simon le financier aims to promote the autonomy and well-being of the participants in these workshops, by helping with their professional, social and cultural integration and giving them access to the labour market, while providing appropriate training and caring support.

This is also an opportunity for the sheltered workshops to continue to grow, by increasing the number of available spots so that people spend less time on the waiting list. This can be done by developing Simon le financier’s business and launching new projects.

1000 thanks to all our small financiers who have supported us since the beginning of this incredible adventure and who believed in this inclusive project!
Simon

Simon’s advice to future entrepreneurs

Choose your partners wisely and take the best advice.
Keep going and never give up.
Get out of your comfort zone.
Learn new things and look outward.
Create a structure that keeps you from spreading yourself too thin.
Think about your short-, medium- and long-term vision to set your targets.
Learn from the experience of other entrepreneurs.

Simon and his bank

After consolidating my project, I decided to create my company Simon le financier.

It made perfect sense for me to turn to a local player, Spuerkeess in Esch-sur-Alzette, for support. Especially, since Spuerkeess is one of nyuko’s partners for several years.

A huge thank you to my SME advisors, Ana and Luc, and to the bank. From the very beginning, they believed in my project and trusted me. I felt fully heard and understood throughout the entire business creation process.

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Nyuko has signed a partnership with Spuerkeess, in order to foster entrepreneurial spirit and strengthening the bank's position with company founders from the start of their businesses. More info in our article: https://www.spuerkeess.lu/en/blog/experts-corner/nyuko-fostering-entrepreneurial-spirit/.