Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Eiffage
Film de présentation de la Fondation Eiffage
... Eiffage accompagnées de la prise de parole de Benoît de Ruffray à propos des valeurs portées par le Groupe et sa Fondation.
About Benoît De ruffray
Benoît de Ruffray, chairman and CEO of Eiffage and president of Fondact, spoke in March 2024 about the importance of value-sharing mechanisms within companies. He argued that businesses that share value with employees are more resilient and performant, and he described such practices as essential to the future of "responsible capitalism." De Ruffray called for value-sharing devices to be recognized in companies' extra-financial ratings, stating that they constitute clear proof of social and societal responsibility. De Ruffray also discussed the work of the Eiffage Foundation, which was created in 2008 to support projects in the field of socio-professional integration for people in difficulty, exclusion, or fragility. He said that helping someone in difficulty rediscover their talents and get back on a path of development and fulfillment is "an immense happiness," and he thanked the hundreds of employees and retirees who contribute their time to the foundation's work.
Transcript (5 segments)
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Benoît De Ruffray0:05
In terms of insertion, in terms of corporate social responsibility, a person helped and lifted up is an immense joy. It's the feeling of someone who is in difficulty, how to give them time, a hand, to convince them that they have talents, help them to find them, to discover them, and finally to get back into a project of development and fulfillment. We like to be a family at Eiffage. This family radiates where it lives, in the territories where it is established. And it's true that the strength of a foundation like the Eiffage Foundation is that its first lever is the time given by the group's employees.
I would first like to thank enormously the hundreds of male and female employees and even our retirees, always faithful to the post, who make it what it is today because without them we wouldn't be talking about it as we are today. The Eiffage Foundation was created in 2008 and its vocation is to support projects in the field of socio-professional integration of people in difficulty, whether they are in a situation of exclusion or facing all types of fragility at some point in their lives. On average, the Eiffage Foundation allocates 500,000 euros per year to projects, representing 260 projects supported since the foundation's creation.
The association Entrepreneurs du Monde, for example, supports people in difficulty to create their own business. India for a Bordeaux is being built, it helps me a lot. The Eiffage Foundation supports, for example, Article 1 since 2015, and it is an association that supports students from modest backgrounds in their studies and for their professional success. Since 2015, more than 200 employees have been involved in supporting students with this association. Emmaüs Défi is an association that allows people in great difficulty, who have often experienced homelessness, to work for the revaluation of used objects. So it taught me to restart a little, to get back on track, to regain confidence in myself, and then to become, well, more happy, to become autonomous. I have always been a worker, always a fighter, the end made me happy to find a job, I was nothing. So the solidarity garage Solidar Auto offers vehicles for sale with solidarity loans, I was redirected here as part of a professional retraining where I need my vehicle to go to training, so I was directed here because it was more accessible for people in a job search situation.
The Eiffage Foundation supports projects in France but also internationally, as is the case for example with the association Hydraulique sans Frontières for a drinking water supply project in a small village called D'y remédier. The Eiffage Foundation mainly supports projects in the field of professional integration, but it also wanted to broaden its action to reach more young audiences. The association Epices supports young people who are in difficulty or dropping out of school by offering them training in the culinary arts. The Eiffage Foundation is really open to all employees, so do not hesitate to come and ask if you have a project that is close to your heart or if you wish to get involved in a solidarity action.
I told myself that if I could bring my modest stone to the building, it would almost be my duty. We all have more or less an associative vocation, but thanks to the Eiffage Foundation we can get involved locally in an association that makes sense, to align with the group's values. I am a sponsor of the association Magdala, which helps people who are in situations of precariousness, fragility, and who have difficulty finding their place in our society. As a sponsor, I allowed the association Magdala to benefit from a subsidy from the Eiffage Foundation, and if they have some work, we can also support them in the work. Be curious, look around you, there are some very good associations that really give a lot so that everyone can integrate better and live their life better. Everyone knows an association; thanks to the Eiffage Foundation, a small gesture allows this association to carry out its project. The foundation is a real support to promote Eiffage differently, but it is also for our employees the means to participate in more virtuous, more sustainable territorial actions that ultimately fit into a societal improvement. We have the possibility with the foundation to help, to give a helping hand, and I am convinced that all around you, you have the possibility to get involved.