“The suburbs are profitable,” says the founder of the first Davos of the suburbs, which will be held in September in Paris

The objective of the event is in particular to “bring together 100 million euros in public and private orders for businesses located in the neighborhoods”. “These territories must stop being dormitory towns where we do not work,” says Aziz Senni, its initiator.

“The suburbs are profitable”, assured Thursday March 28 on franceinfo Aziz Senni president and founder of the Quartiers d’affaires association, organizer of the Suburban Economic Forum which will take place from September 17 and 18 in Paris, more than a year after the riots of 2023. This first Davos of the suburbs aims to “mobilize the greatest economic, political and associative leaders to reflect on a white paper”. According to Aziz Senni, “these territories must stop being dormitory towns where we live, we sleep and we do not work”. The ambition of this forum is also to “bring together 100 million euros in public and private orders for businesses located in the neighborhoods”.

franceinfo: Why launch this suburban Davos ?

Aziz Senni: Today we are announcing the launch of an exceptional event, the Suburban Economic Forum. This is the first Davos of the suburbs which will take place on September 17 and 18 at the Economic, Social and Environmental Council in Paris.

“The objective is to start from an observation: there is no social integration without economic integration.”

Aziz Senni president and founder of the Business Districts association

at franceinfo

This Davos aims to mobilize the greatest economic leaders, political leaders, and community stakeholders to reflect on a white paper with several proposals. The ambition is to bring together 100 million euros in public and private orders for businesses located in the neighborhoods.

How do you explain that unemployment in the neighborhoods is 2.7 times higher than the national average ?

Over the last 30 years, successive governments have answered the question: what to do with these territories from a security point of view? These same governments responded, and each in their own way, to what to do from a social point of view, from an urban planning point of view. But the reality is that the question of what we do with it from an economic point of view has never really been asked. This is the objective of this suburban economic forum, it is to answer this question and to think together and act together.

There is the free zone system which encourages the establishment of businesses in neighborhoods in return for tax exemptions. It’s not sufficient ?

It’s a drop in the universe of needs. It dates from 1995. It’s over 20 years old. Since then, what’s new? Nothing. These territories must stop being dormitory towns where people live, sleep and do not work. So there is a vision of economic development that we want to pose and it will be during this suburban economic forum.

You want to mobilize 100 million euros in public and private orders to invest in these companies in the suburbs. How to do this when public procurement must go through calls for tender. By applying positive discrimination ?

There is no positive discrimination. We already need to do some teaching, explain how we respond. There are 180 billion euros that were signed last year in terms of public calls for tenders, 30% are SMEs. I don’t have statistics on how many SMEs established in these neighborhoods have accessed this. There is education to be done and support these companies, to give them the means to be able to respond. This is not about discriminating. This is again about creating fairness of opportunity.

Do you encourage young people in the neighborhoods to start their own businesses?

Yes. In recent years, a lot has been done on business creation. But it is above all to say that we have a network of 250,000 companies.

“We always talk about this suburb which costs money. Who tells us how much it brings in? The suburbs have 250,000 businesses and 75 billion euros in turnover.”

93 is the eighth department in terms of social security contributions. When we talk about the suburbs, it is always from the cost approach, never from the turnover and revenue approach. That’s enough ! Now the suburbs are here. She wants to work, she wants to contribute to GDP, she can do it. We will help him.

But some people want to leave these suburbs to escape discrimination in hiring, for example? How to avoid this?

We want to transform this suburb into investment opportunities. Today, no one is selling the suburbs. There is a label made in France, we must create a label made in the suburbs. There is a business in France to encourage the export of our companies. It is very good. We need a business suburb to encourage the export of our businesses to the suburbs. Those who want to come there, we must help them and those who want to leave are free to leave too. We have to create movement.

What stops suburbs from growing economically

The problem is that the suburbs today are not structured into investment products. Who in this country today promotes investment in the suburbs? Who in this country today values ​​this suburb through the operating account? Our message is not a message from the heart, it is a message of profitability, of operating accounts. The suburbs are profitable. I ask our economic and political leaders to see this. We know this because we work in the field. Our businesses are profitable. We want to share it with the whole country. If the suburbs win economically, the whole country wins.

Who will be present at “Davos of the Suburbs” ?

Gabriel Attal and Bruno Le Maire. There is quite attentive listening on the part of the government. We also have personalities from the economic world. Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, the former president of Medef, will also be there. There are indeed many people who will be present and other names arriving. We will give you the list of all the national and international personalities. We also have, for example, a Nobel Peace Prize who will be present with us and perhaps a Nobel Prize in economics. I won’t say any more…