It is both an extraordinary success story and an example of collective solidarity. Two friends, Tanguy Gréard and Olivier Dréan had an early intuition of the success of the electronic cigarette. The two Cherbourgeois created Le Petit Vapoteur in 2010, which has become the European leader in vaping, with a turnover of… 115 million euros!
Very early on too, the two entrepreneurs set about defending the well-being of their employees and supporting various charities. This is what the jury of the Summit of Growth Companies which took place in March in Paris has just saluted, by awarding them the Grand Prize for Corporate Social Responsibility.
“To promote social inclusion, we organize recruitment without CVs. This allows people who are far from employment to apply”, explains the general manager, Christophe Bourgeois. Once the employees have been integrated, the company takes care of their food, for example, by providing organic fruit baskets every day.
Un « Black Fair Day »
It also finances various projects. “Each month, everyone benefits from 10 euros to support a project launched by one of the employees. For example, many of them come to work by bicycle. They asked to set up a cycle repair workshop, which was financed by the company”, continues the director.
The prize, which the company has just received, also salutes its commitment to solidarity. Every year, on Black Friday, Le Petit Vapoteur offers a “Black Fair Day”, in other words a “fairer” day. The management donates all of the turnover of that day to associations. This year, 410,000 euros were distributed to various organizations dedicated to child protection, heart surgery, the most disadvantaged and even animal protection.