The firm Des Enjeux et des Hommes, one of France's leading CSR consultancy firms, and the Ecocert Group, world leader in organic certification and operational support towards sustainability, are combining their expertise and teams to form a world-leading sustainable development and CSR consultancy division. The two companies share strong values and a common ambition: accelerating the transformation of economic models towards greater responsibility, by placing people at the forefront of businesses. Ecocert has been committed to Organic Agriculture since 1991 by developing its core business: the certification of sustainable practices. To accompany and support organizations in their progression, in 2014 Ecocert created a subsidiary dedicated to training and consulting, "Ecocert Expert Consulting". The acquisition of 100% of the capital in Des Enjeux et des Hommes enables Ecocert to strengthen the strategic component of its business.

Des Enjeux et des Hommes, created in 2003 and today one of the leading French companies in CSR consulting, plans to expand on an international scale that will rely on the Ecocert network, whilst pursuing the development of techniques and tools at the cutting edge of CSR thinking.

This acquisition will enable the two companies to create strong synergies between their teams by strengthening the diversity of their skills and businesses within the same division. This Consulting division is independent of the Ecocert Group's certification activities and will operate under the brand name Des Enjeux et des Hommes and will bring together 35 consultants for a total turnover of nearly €4 million. The ambition is to offer complete and tailor-made support to organisations (companies, institutions and local authorities), for all business sectors: from structuring a sustainability strategy to operational deployment. This collaboration also allows for the diversification of services: development of responsible supply chains, stakeholders dialogue, awareness-raising and advanced training courses, and international roll-out.

Philippe Thomazo, CEO of the Ecocert Group says : "The merger of Ecocert with Des Enjeux et des Hommes is in line with our ambition to create an international multi-services group, at the benefit of ecological transition and economic transformation. Unfortunately, the global crisis we are currently experiencing demonstrates the fragility of our current economic models and the urgent call to put in place fairer and more sustainable systems. Constituting a strategic division in CSR and Sustainable Development consulting is becoming more than ever, essential. I am delighted to enable this jointly with Des Enjeux et des Hommes, a company sharing our values, repositioning the human being at the core of the economic model. By synergizing our highly complementary expertise, the Ecocert Expert Consulting teams and the consultants of Des Enjeux et des Hommes will facilitate this transition towards more responsible models: we will help economic players to identify, implement and promote more sustainable practices. Sharing the same conviction and focusing on common goals, I am confident that the teams of Ecocert and Des Enjeux et des Hommes will be ready to meet this challenge.”

For Agnès Rambaud-Paquin, President of Des Enjeux et des Hommes : "After 17 years of existence, we wanted to scale up by offering a wider range of services and increasing our ability to support the development of companies in France and abroad. We recognised the shared path and common traits with the Ecocert Group when they approached us a few months ago. We share a sincere approach to engaging with our clients that translates into a high standard of integrity and quality of advice as well as a long-term relationships. We both attach great importance to the human accompaniment of change, which is the key to the transformation of models. The complementarity of expertise is also clear. For all these reasons, we are very enthusiastic about crossing our views and skills.”

About des Enjeux et des Hommes

For the past 17 years, des Enjeux et des Hommes has been supporting companies in the development and implementation of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach. Our mission statement is: facilitate the transition of organizations towards more sustainable models, by providing women and men with the keys to invent those models with their eco-system. Des Enjeux et des Hommes is made up of 15 employees, experts in strategy consulting and change management. Every year, they work with around 100 clients in all sectors and with companies of all sizes. Des Enjeux et Des Hommes joined the Global Compact in 2010 and has been BCorp certified since 2015.

To find out more about it: www.desenjeuxetdeshommes.com/

The firm Des Enjeux et Des Hommes joins the Ecocert Group to create a leading CSR consultancy division.
Back to the news