CO Conseil

What CO Conseil does

CO Conseil is a non-profit strategy consulting firm headquartered in Malakoff, France, organized as a Société Coopérative d'Intérêt Collectif (SCIC) within the Social and Solidarity Economy (ESS) sector. Founded in 2014 by four French strategy consulting firms (Algoé, Kea & Partners, Colombus Consulting, and Weave), CO Conseil became a Société à Mission under France's Loi PACTE in 2020, inscribing general interest objectives into its statutes. The firm has since expanded its partner alliance to six consulting firms with the addition of Mawenzi Partners (2021), Bartle (2022), and iQo (2023), aggregating more than 100 senior consultants around a core team of six full-time staff dedicated to consulting missions.

CO Conseil's core offering is strategy consulting services to general interest project leaders, including associations, operator-foundations, and social impact enterprises, as well as to societal investors (redistributive foundations, investment funds, Social Protection Groups). Service lines span strategic vision elaboration, social innovation emergence, scale-up structuring, organizational consolidation, governance alignment, cooperative transformation, and impact measurement. The firm delivers a proprietary co-construction methodology emphasising listening, consensus-building, and operational deliverables, validated by a 2021 Koreis impact study reporting that 83% of leaders defined adapted strategic objectives, 90% reported improved appropriation of objectives, and 85% credited CO consultants with strong or decisive contribution to project success. CO has accompanied over 250 general interest projects and delivered more than 7,000 consulting days since inception.

The business model rests on three reinforcing levers: (1) consulting fees from ESS clients billed at adapted, scope-based rates on multi-year contracts; (2) pro-bono skill-based philanthropy (mécénat de compétences) contributed by partner-firm consultants; and (3) co-financing of over 60% of missions by societal investors. As a SCIC, retained earnings are reinvested rather than distributed, and ownership is shared across partner firms and stakeholder representatives via a Supervisory Committee and an external Mission Committee. Go-to-market is consultative and direct, supported by thought leadership (CO-Eclairages, CO-Déclic podcast, Les Essentiels studies), events, and ESS ecosystem referrals rather than paid advertising.

Name

CO Conseil

Legal name

CO Conseil

Website

https://co-conseil.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

CO Conseil is a non-profit French strategy consulting cooperative (SCIC) that delivers strategic advisory services to general interest organizations and societal investors, drawing on more than 100 consultants from an alliance of six partner consulting firms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Malakoff

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Strategy consulting fees: CO generates revenue through strategy consulting engagements billed to general interest organizations. Pricing is adapted to ESS actors to maximize accessibility. More than 60% of missions are financed by a societal investor (foundation, fund, Social Protection Group) on behalf of a general interest structure. A portion of consulting days are delivered via pro-bono skill-based philanthropy from partner firm consultants.
2. Pro-bono skill-based philanthropy (mécénat de compétences): Partner consulting firms contribute consulting days at no charge for structures recognized as being of general interest. This non-cash contribution augments CO's delivery capacity without direct revenue generation, while fulfilling the firms' societal engagement commitments.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

CO Conseil is a non-profit strategy consulting firm (SCIC cooperative) that delivers strategic consulting services to general interest organizations — associations, foundation operators, social enterprises, and societal investors. Services span strategic vision elaboration, social innovation emergence, organizational diagnosis, development structuring and scaling, governance alignment, cooperative transformation, and impact measurement. Engagements are co-constructed with clients and delivered with adapted pricing, leveraging 100+ consultants mobilized from 6 partner consulting firms.

Product overview

CO Conseil is a non-profit strategy consulting firm organized as a SCIC (Société Coopérative d'Intérêt Collectif). The company offers consulting services focused on helping general interest projects increase their impact and sustainability. The core offering is strategy consulting services, supported by knowledge products including CO-Eclairages (thought leadership articles), CO-Déclic (podcast series), and Les Essentiels (research publications). The company does not offer a software product platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 83% of leaders report that CO's support enabled them to define adapted strategic objectives
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Join ForcesminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024CO partnered with Join Forces on the study 'Les collectifs d'action dans l'intérêt général' published in April 2026 (content reference dated 2024). The partnership produced a joint publication available for download.
• La FondaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2023Since September 2023, CO has been engaged in pro-bono skill-based partnership (mécénat de compétences) with La Fonda, contributing to the prospective exercise 'Vers une société de l'engagement'. CO provides an external perspective, helps design facilitation modalities, identifies experts, and co-animates working groups.
• BartlecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Bartle joined CO in 2022. Patrick Nicolle represents Bartle on the Supervisory Committee and has served as rotating President of CO since April 2023.
• iQocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022iQo most recently joined the CO partner network. Jilani Djellalil represents iQo on the Supervisory Committee.
• Mawenzi PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Mawenzi Partners joined CO as a partner firm in early 2021, expanding CO's delivery capacity. Boris Imbert represents Mawenzi on the Supervisory Committee.
• AlgoécoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Algoé is one of four founding partner consulting firms of CO. It contributes consulting resources and expertise to CO's missions for general interest organizations. Algoé is represented in CO's Supervisory Committee.
• Kea & PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Kea & Partners (formerly Kea & Partners) is a founding partner firm of CO, contributing senior consultants to CO missions. The firm is represented in the Supervisory Committee.
• Colombus ConsultingcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Colombus Consulting is a founding partner firm of CO. It contributes consulting resources to CO missions and is represented in the Supervisory Committee. Valérie Ader represents Colombus on the committee.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Bain & Company (Social Impact Practice): Global strategy consulting firm with a dedicated Social Impact practice serving foundations and non-profits. Comparable to CO Conseil as a top-tier strategic advisor to general-interest clients, though at much broader scale and full commercial pricing.
• KPMG France: Major global advisory firm with a dedicated CSR/sustainability and social impact practice in France. Comparable to CO Conseil as a broad incumbent that also serves ESS and impact-oriented clients, though as part of a much wider portfolio rather than as an exclusive focus.
• McKinsey & Company (Social Sector Practice): Global strategy consulting firm with a dedicated Social Sector practice serving foundations, NGOs, and social enterprises. Comparable to CO Conseil as a strategy advisor to general-interest organizations, though operating globally and across all sectors rather than exclusively in ESS.
• EY-Parthenon (Social Impact): Global strategy consultancy with a dedicated Social Impact and ESG advisory practice serving foundations, NGOs, and impact investors. Comparable to CO Conseil as an advisor on strategy and impact to mission-driven clients, though as part of a global portfolio rather than a French ESS specialist.

Direct peers

• Utopies: French independent consulting firm founded in 1993 specialized in sustainable development, CSR, and societal impact strategy for organizations. Comparable to CO Conseil in serving purpose-driven clients with strategic advisory across ESS-adjacent verticals.
• Des Enjeux et des Hommes: French consulting firm specialized in sustainable development and organizational transformation for ESS and corporate clients. Comparable to CO Conseil in delivering strategic consulting to mission-driven organizations in France.
• I Care & Consult: French consulting firm focused on sustainability, environmental strategy, and responsible value chains. Comparable to CO Conseil as a French specialized advisory serving mission-driven organizations with strategic and impact-oriented engagements.
• BL Evolution: French consulting firm dedicated to sustainable development, CSR strategy, and ecological transition advisory. Comparable to CO Conseil as a French boutique consultancy working with organizations on strategy for societal and environmental impact.

Others

• Le RAMEAU: French research and action tank dedicated to philanthropy and ESS innovation, providing strategic research, frameworks, and convening for societal investors and general-interest structures. Comparable to CO Conseil as part of the French ESS strategic-support ecosystem, with a similar audience of foundations and social-purpose organizations.
• Avise: French national center of expertise supporting the development of the social and solidarity economy, providing resources, labels, and capacity-building to ESS organizations. Comparable to CO Conseil as part of the French ESS support ecosystem serving associations, foundations, and social enterprises, though Avise is more of an enabling/funder-adjacent organization than a strategy consultant.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/co_conseil
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/co-conseil-et-strat%C3%A9gies-pour-l'int%C3%A9r%C3%AAt-g%C3%A9n%C3%A9ral

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CO Conseil