Sometimes a slip of the tongue is worth a thousand words. Officially named Thursday economic ambassador of Quebec within the Francophonie by the Conseil du patronat du Québec, businesswoman Danièle Henkel insisted on the importance for the province of diversifying its export markets by focusing on Africa, Europe and Asia. In a word: on “Franconomy”.
“I mean that the real message is that Quebec must be more present in the economic Francophonie,” M immediately corrected herself.me Henkel, during his interview with The duty and alongside Karl Blackburn, President and CEO of the Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ). “French is not just a language. It has economic potential, just like Mandarin or Spanish. »
While Quebec is concerned about the health of the French language on its territory, the CPQ is rather proud of the place of choice of French in the world economy. This calculates that Michel Tremblay’s language is the third most important business language on the planet, after English and Mandarin. In fact, the global French-speaking population continues to grow and is expected to increase from 320 million to 1 billion people within 40 years.
The CPQ has also been actively involved over the last three years in the creation of the Alliance of Francophone Employers, an organization whose mission is to bring together the business communities of the Francophonie countries. This alliance has around thirty member countries out of the 88 that make up the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF).
“The rest of the Francophonie recognizes itself in Quebec and in the history of the Francophonie and the First Nations in North America,” says Karl Blackburn. “There are a lot of similarities. It creates an appetite for what Quebec has to offer. We have a place to occupy in the global French-speaking economy. Other countries want to do business with us. »
Women and technologies
Inspired by her own journey as an entrepreneur, Danièle Henkel plans to take the opportunity to focus on inclusion and female entrepreneurship. She was recently involved in a governance board for an OIF project that enabled 20,000 women elsewhere in the world to go into business to escape chronic poverty.
“We cannot talk about the economy without talking about the social aspect. For me, it’s essential,” she says. “There is enormous work to be done on the economic development side of women. Quebec could take the initiative on this and other social issues that bring together economic and social development. I intend to use my influence to change these things. »
We cannot talk about the economy without talking about the social aspect. For me, this is essential.
In the current macroeconomic context, championing greater inclusion promises to be a fairly colossal challenge. The end of COVID has accelerated the movement of national withdrawal and protectionism born over the last decade. The possible return to power of former American President Donald Trump in our southern neighbors raises the risk of a further tightening of global geopolitical borders.
Quebec owes approximately a quarter of its GDP to its exports. Unsurprisingly, the United States is its largest international trading partner. The risk that the American market will become more difficult to access in the coming years could be minimized by greater openness towards the Francophonie, note Danièle Henkel and Karl Blackburn.
Especially since Quebec expertise can be found in sectors with a bright future all over the world. “Quebec’s expertise in technology, energy transition, in air or water treatment technologies, even in medical equipment, is very exportable,” says Karl Blackburn.
“It goes further than that,” adds Mme Henkel. “Talking about the Francophone economy is a way of being visionary and minimizing the impact of future economic disruptions. »
In any case, it is a way of laying the foundations of the franconomy of tomorrow.