After two administrative closures, including a tragedy, the crèche management company is back on the scene. Who is at the head of People&Baby? Since when does it exist? Who does she work with? Le Figaro reports on its activities.
A new case hits the People&Baby company, which specializes in the management of crèches. In one of them in Lyon, firefighters intervened on Tuesday “for a blocked door and discovered on this occasion a towel forgotten on a hotplate which heated without smoke“says People&Baby. In fact, two carers found themselves stranded outside the crèche, leaving six children alone inside.
After this incident, without dramatic consequences, People&Baby received a notice of temporary closure for three months. The company “challenges this request for closure and challenges the prefecture because this decision has no legitimacy and proves a relentlessness of the department (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) against private crèches“. This event comes after two administrative closures of crèches in Bordeaux and Lyon. The first followed “maladaptive behaviorsby three professionals supervising children. The second is due to the death of an eleven-month-old girl after the ingestion of a caustic product given by an employee last June. But who is at the head of this company? Since when does it exist? Who does she work with? Le Figaro reports on its activities.
200 million euros of personal wealth for the founders
It all started in 2004, when the two founders saw “a chronic lack of crèche places throughout France“. On the one hand, childcare worker Odile Broglin, previously a nurse at the crèche at the Pompidou hospital. On the other, his companion Christophe Durieux, an entrepreneur in corporate communication. At first, their solution was aimed at large companies, Total was also the first to sign with People&Baby for a crèche in La Défense. Then the address book grows, with the collaboration of the city of Paris.
In 2017, the group was even elected “best brandin the nursery category by the magazine’s annual survey Capital and the Statista research institute. Today People&Baby owns 700 private and municipal establishments in France as well as 150 worldwide (China, Cambodia, United States, Canada, etc.). In all, the company employs 6,000 professionals, works with 14,000 parents, 1,500 corporate clients and 150 communities. Behind this operation hides a flourishing business with a turnover of 84.2 million euros in 2019. According to the ranking of Challenges, Odile Broglin and Christophe Durieux would have a fortune estimated at 200 million euros, according to data from last July. Solicited by Le Figarothey did not respond to an interview request.
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