Patricia Gros Micol, Founder and CEO of HANDISHARE, Most Influential WomenLeaders of 2021 Profile

Patricia Gros Micol
Founder and CEO of HANDISHARE


Patricia Gros Micol, Founder and CEO of HANDISHARE, Most Influential WomenLeaders of 2021

“Empowering People with Disability”

In France, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities reaches 18 %, while it is 9% for valid people. Since 2005, by law modified in 2018 (5th of September), companies must prove that disabled people represent 6 % of their workforce. They can also outsource some activities to government-accredited companies, called Adapted Enterprises or EA’s.

Founded by the end of 2011, HANDISHARE is an Adapted Enterprise whose Founder and CEO is Patricia Gros Micol. It provides tailored services and integrated business solutions to its clients while helping them comply with the law on disability.

Based on competition analysis and a market trends study, HANDISHARE’s management has identified potential growth areas in terms of product portfolio and lifecycle, geographical reach, and business-specific niche markets. A reflection on the BtoB business model led to the definition of the long-term vision, mission, and values. It clarifies HANDISHARE’s USP and brand positioning while highlighting client segments and partnerships.

Today HANDISHARE enjoys a good reputation among clients (100% are satisfied every year as confirmed through a survey), partners, and various business networks. A structured communication strategy has optimized the budget and enhanced the web presence of the company.

Every year of operation was profitable. Despite the economic and sanitary crisis, thanks to its agility, its innovative approach to business and human resources development, the SWOT analysis confirms the general assessment of its management : HANDISHARE is financially sustainable and well-positioned to succeed on its socially responsible journey.

After a train accident at 17, the day of her high school exams, Patricia Gros Micol was considered a woman with disabilities. Despite that, she had a chance to have a quite normal professional career. From starting her career in 1986 at Procter and Gamble and Black & Decker to recycling wood and vegetable waste to produce compost and firewood, Patricia has garnered immense experience. In 2010, she was dismissed after a change in the company's organization and decided to create her job. “At this time, I thought about my so-called disability and carried out a survey to understand how people with life accident where able to retrain and learn a new job,” she explains. “And I made the observation that there were few solutions in France. As I had been working on the support functions in all my previous jobs, I noticed that in large corporations, recruitments were steady while at the same time administrative work was sky rocketing!”

This was when Patricia decided to create Handishare to build customized solutions for any client in France and sometimes in foreign countries. “I can say that we paved the way for new professional opportunities for disabled people. Even if we are not that big, I can say that we benefit from a good notoriety and a very good image which is in my opinion more important than being a very big company. Being an example is a way to become one of the tomorrow leaders!”

For Patricia, there have been several role models known for their human role: Mother Theresa or Father Pédro in Madagascar—people without economic objectives. “But I can say that they are real business leaders, with a well-honed commercial and financial sense. If not, how could have they convinced so many countries to help them financially? I think we must stop opposing business and CSR in all the organizations. A human sense makes the large corporations and small companies improve their results! This has become a must, at a time when young people (z generation) desert large corporations in favor of small structures or creation of their own company. Profit is not the only way to succeed in business even if it remains compulsory to finance the growth.” Armed with these qualities, Patricia has been leading her company to great heights.

After the creation of Handishare (2011) and Handishare Interim (2020), Patricia and her team are launching HANDIFORMASHARE (2021), a training organization to raise their clients' awareness of disability and to help disabled people seeking employment to retrain for a job that is recruiting. “Handiformashare is already Datadock approved and will soon be Qualiopi approved (French law).”

On top of these professional goals, Patricia also launched the MADASHARE project : she realized 2 photo books about Madagascar and sold them. With the benefits, 9 schools have been built and she took some of her employees in August 2019 to Madagascar in order to go and teach pupils in one if these schools. IEWL


Company

HANDISHARE

Management

Patricia Gros Micol
Founder and CEO of HANDISHARE

Description

HANDISHARE, an adapted company , offers in addition a customization of its services, support for its customers in order to guarantee them real added value. HANDISHARE is an innovative adapted company that is part of a niche market , in the field of assistance to business support functions (HR, Purchasing, IT, Accounting management, etc.).


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