The president of Yapla overindulged in parmesan. On May 16, Pascal Jarry was in Parma to officially launch his all-in-one payment and management platform for NPOs on the Italian market.
“It’s the Mecca of parmesan,” he confides by videoconference. So I ate way too much and I can’t wait to come back to Montreal so I can exercise. »
This terrible sacrifice was worth it.
The Montreal firm’s partnership with the Crédit Agricole Group, which has more than 1.7 million customers in Italy, gives it access to a new market of nearly 400,000 NPOs.
Dedicated from the start to NPOs
Pascal Jarry founded Yapla in 2013, based on a web agency he created in 2007.
“Life meant that I worked a lot with associations that had needs to manage members, events, donations, accounting,” he relates.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY YAPLA
Pascal Jarry founded Yapla in 2013 in Montreal.
From its founding, Yapla has therefore devoted itself to NPOs. These are its only clients: “Yapla only does that. »
It only did that in Quebec, at first, but surprisingly, its expansion was not oriented towards the nearby Canadian-American market.
“The strategy that we adopted at the beginning was to really master the French-speaking world,” explains its president. Having had professional experience in Europe, I knew France well. »
In 2018, he entered into a relationship with Crédit Agricole, a major French financial institution with a strong presence in the associative sector.
“They saw the opportunity to offer their customers a free version of Yapla to add value to their banking offering,” continues the entrepreneur.
The following year, Crédit Agricole became a minority shareholder in the Quebec firm.
“For almost five years,” he says, “we have worked with them at the level of their clients, but we also market independently throughout France. »
Yapla has around fifty employees, including around ten in France, where it has an office in Paris.
Profits with NPOs?
Yapla offers a “completely free” payment and management platform to NPOs.
But Yapla is not one of them. How does it generate its income?
Its basic platform includes “all the features that allow you to collect donations and online payments, manage your members, manage your events,” explains Pascal Jarry. At the end of a transaction, we ask the final payer for a tip, if they wish. This allows us to cover the transaction costs that we assume. So we assume and finance the risk while allowing the NPO to use the platform completely free of charge. This is of great interest to small associations which work more in charity and voluntary work. »
Yapla’s clientele also consists of larger, better-funded professional orders, associations and organizations, which for their part pay transaction fees and subscriptions for certain more sophisticated services.
“We manage millions of transactions,” emphasizes Pascal Jarry.
The platform, which serves more than 50,000 NPOs in Canada and French-speaking Europe, has enabled these organizations to raise more than 355 million Canadian dollars since its creation.
Yapla has now just stepped into the Italian boot, largely because Crédit Agricole was present there. It was Yapla who made the suggestion.
“They said it was interesting because we bring value to their banking offering in Italy,” says its president.
“By having a distributor, we have a slightly larger base and we are able to grow more quickly. It reduces the risk. And we will also look for the market at the same time. »
The arrival of Yapla in Italy “is an important step in relation [au] international positioning because it demonstrates a real capacity for adaptation,” affirms Pascal Jarry.
“When you arrive in Italy, you have to be a little more courageous and have a little more financial capacity – or be a little crazier, I don’t know,” he observes. No significant competitor or leader was found in the association management software market. [logiciel de gestion pour OBNL]. »
You also had to have an appetite.
PHOTO CHARLIE DEUNER, PROVIDED BY BEHY
Former professional athletes Étienne Boulay, Maxime Talbot and Bruno Gervais have just launched BEHY.
Three athletes throw a drink
Be careful with your pancakes, maple syrup can be fuel, it seems. With a group of local entrepreneurs, former professional athletes Étienne Boulay, Bruno Gervais and Maxime Talbot have just launched a new hydration drink “powered by maple syrup”. BEHY is made with natural electrolytes and is naturally sweetened with pure maple syrup. Available in four flavors (cherry lemonade, passion fruit, watermelon, grape), it contains no artificial sweeteners, flavors or colors. “Maple syrup shows promise for improving cardiovascular health and reducing inflammation after exercise,” the company maintains. BEHY is distributed in particular by IGA. Before contributing to the creation of BEHY, Bruno Gervais played several years in the NHL, Maxime Talbot won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Étienne Boulay lifted the Gray Cup with the Alouettes. It just goes to show that there’s not that far from the cut to the lips.
Naval Québec returns to port
PHOTO PROVIDED BY NAVAL QUÉBEC
A commercial delegation led by Naval Québec made a five-day stay in Finland to establish links with the Finnish naval industry.
Contrary to what this photo might suggest, the participants in the Naval Québec trade mission to Finland did not encounter gigantic closed doors. From May 6 to 10, the association which represents companies in Quebec’s naval supply chain led a delegation of around forty participants to Finland. They mainly came from suppliers and companies in the shipbuilding sector, but also from economic development organizations and a specialized training institution. More than 225 meetings were organized between participants and Finnish companies. At the end of the visit, Finnish Marine Industries Secretary General Elina Andersson already saw many possibilities for collaboration and synergy, particularly in Arctic technologies. The mission stopped in four cities (Helsinki, Turku, Rauma and Vaasa) and visited three shipyards. She had gone there by plane.
Cleaning in the sanitary
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SANIBERT
Sanibert specializes in the rental and maintenance of portable toilets and toilet blocks.
Sanibert, specializing in the rental and maintenance of mobile toilets, is receiving reinforcements. Its owner, the French group Enygea, acquired the toilet division of the EBI Montreal group, located in Montreal East, to expand the scope of the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield company. The acquisition allows Sanibert to consolidate its position east of Montreal, while maintaining the jobs, agency and equipment of the subject of the transaction. With its expanded team, Sanibert plans sustained growth, particularly in the construction site and events sectors. Sanibert had already acquired Toilette SUPRA in Napierville in 2021. It was founded in 1986 by Réjean Taillefer, joined two years later by his son Patrick. In 2011, a consortium of French businessmen acquired part of the company’s shares. The Enygea group took over Sanibert in 2020.
6000
Öko Créations will provide 6,000 Öko-Pads menstrual pads made in Quebec to indigenous communities in northern Canada. The Boisbriand company is one of the partners selected as part of a menstrual product distribution project worth $2.4 million, with the aim of combating menstrual poverty.