POTENTIELLES

What POTENTIELLES does

Potentielles is a Marseille-based non-profit association (loi 1901, Siren 505 189 571) founded in 2007 that supports female entrepreneurship in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France. It operates a 'tiers lieu' (third place) in Marseille opened in 2010, combining a business incubator (couveuse d'entreprises), a cooperative of entrepreneurs (La Coop', a SCIC SAS under RCS 847 531 324 created in 2019), coworking space (Tea-bureau), meeting room rental, domiciliation, a showroom and an alternative retail concept (Le Magasin alternatif). Around 500 women per year are served, with a cumulative base of nearly 3,000 project holders since inception, supported through programs such as the Centre de ressources au féminin, Empowerment Programme, Know me, VALO CREA, La RSE et moi, Ateliers Potentielles à la carte, Labo Créa, Café Business, and the annual Journées de l'Entrepreneuriat Féminin (18 editions).

The organization runs on a mixed revenue model drawing primarily from French public subventions and EU funds (Ministry of Labor, BPI France, Région Sud PACA, Conseil Départemental 13, Ville de Marseille, Préfecture, FSE), supplemented by Qualiopi-certified training billable to OPCO/CPF mechanisms (certification obtained 2021), coworking and room rental, domiciliation fees, contributions from cooperative entrepreneurs, and donations/memberships via HelloAsso. With 16 employees, Potentielles sits at the intersection of public-policy delivery, peer-to-peer entrepreneurship support, and physical place-making — its offering is service- and community-intensive rather than technology-driven, and its core assets are three registered trademarks, Qualiopi certification, and the long-standing institutional relationships required to channel public funding toward female founders.

Name

POTENTIELLES

Legal name

Centre de Ressources pour l'Economie intelligente et l'entrepreneuriat Féminin (C.R.E.F) POTENTIELLES

Website

https://potentielles.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Potentielles is a Marseille-based non-profit association founded in 2007 that supports female entrepreneurship in the PACA region of France through incubation, a cooperative, coworking, training, and community programs, serving roughly 500 women annually.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Marseille

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Service rentals: Revenue from renting physical spaces including coworking desks (Tea-bureau), meeting rooms, business domiciliation, and shared workshop/showroom facilities. These are day, week, or month-based rental arrangements.
2. Cooperative d'Activités et d'Emploi (CAE): La Coop' is a cooperative structure where entrepreneurs work as employed entrepreneurs (entrepreneures salariées), paying membership/management fees while benefiting from shared infrastructure, accounting, insurance, and support services. SCIC SAS registered 847 531 324 RCS Marseille.
3. Public funding and grants: Significant funding from public institutions including Ministry of Work, BPI France, Région Sud PACA, Conseil Départemental 13, Ville de Marseille, and EU Funds (FSE). Funding enables free or reduced-cost actions for entrepreneurship and gender equality.
4. Membership fees: Annual membership fees through HelloAsso platform for supporters and beneficiaries to access services and support the organization's mission.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

POTENTIELLES is a Marseille-based non-profit association that supports female entrepreneurship through an integrated offering combining a business incubator (couveuse d'entreprises), a Cooperative of Activities and Employment (Potentielles La Coop'), a shared third-place workspace (coworking, meeting rooms, domiciliation, mutualisable showroom and magasin alternatif), a catalogue of certified training programs (Labo Créa, Ateliers Potentielles à la carte, Know me, VALO CREA, La RSE et moi, Empowerment), and the annual Journées de l'Entrepreneuriat Féminin event. The offer is targeted at women who are creating, testing or growing a business in the Marseille and PACA region and combines physical workspace, legal/cooperative hosting, skills training and community/networking.

Product overview

POTENTIELLES operates as an ecosystem of services for women's entrepreneurship comprising a business incubator (couveuse) for testing projects, a Cooperative of Activities and Employment (La Coop') for established entrepreneurs, and a tier-lieu providing physical services including coworking, meeting rooms, company address registration (domiciliation), and a shared showroom (Magasin alternatif). The organization also delivers structured programs including the Empowerment Program targeting underrepresented sectors, the Know me youth outreach initiative, the VALO CREA competency valorization project, and La RSE et moi on sustainable business practices. Training services include workshops (Ateliers à la carte), the Labo Créa formation program, and networking events such as Café Business. The flagship annual event is the Journées de l'Entrepreneuriat Féminin held each November with multiple thematic modules.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Le Magasin alternatif: First market testing and commercialization space for young creation in Marseille; a shared showroom and artisan/artistic exhibition space supporting young entrepreneurs
• Journées de l'Entrepreneuriat Féminin
• La Coop'
• La RSE et moi
• Programme Empowerment / Collectif Mixité
• Know me
• VALO CREA

Products and services

• Couveuse d'entreprises Business incubator (couveuse) that hosts aspiring female entrepreneurs, allowing them to test and develop a business activity under a hosted framework before creating their own company. Targeted at women in the Marseille/PACA region preparing to launch a venture.
• Potentielles La Coop' (Coopérative d'Activités et d'Emploi) Cooperative of Activities and Employment (CAE) that provides a legal and social framework for female entrepreneurs to invoice clients, benefit from social coverage and access mutualised back-office services without immediately creating their own company. Targeted at women entrepreneurs in the test or launch phase.
• Tea-bureau (espace coworking) Shared coworking space inside the POTENTIELLES tiers lieu, providing female entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals with a flexible working environment in Marseille.
• Salle de réunion Rented meeting room within the POTENTIELLES tiers lieu, available to female entrepreneurs, partners and local actors for workshops, client meetings and team sessions.
• Domiciliation d'entreprise Business domiciliation service offering female entrepreneurs a professional registered address and mail handling at the POTENTIELLES Marseille location.
• Atelier / Showroom mutualisable Shared, bookable showroom/workshop space inside the POTENTIELLES tiers lieu, designed for female entrepreneurs to present, test or produce goods in a mutualised setting.
• Le Magasin alternatif Alternative retail store operated by POTENTIELLES that hosts and sells products from female entrepreneurs, providing them with physical retail visibility in Marseille.
• Journées de l'Entrepreneuriat Féminin Annual event dedicated to female entrepreneurship organised by POTENTIELLES in Marseille, gathering women entrepreneurs, partners and the local ecosystem around conferences, workshops and networking.
• Programme Empowerment Empowerment programme offered by POTENTIELLES, focused on personal development, confidence-building and leadership for female entrepreneurs in the Marseille area.
• Know me Training module by POTENTIELLES designed to help female entrepreneurs build personal branding, visibility and self-presentation.
• VALO CREA Training module focused on valuing one's work, pricing offers and understanding business value, aimed at female entrepreneurs in the PACA region.
• La RSE et moi Training module dedicated to Corporate Social Responsibility (RSE) for female entrepreneurs, helping them integrate sustainable and responsible practices into their business.
• Labo Créa (formation entreprendre)

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• UR SCOPcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUnion of Cooperatives that supported the creation of La Coop' and continues as a strategic partner for cooperative development.
• CRESS PACAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional Chamber of Social and Solidarity Economy, member organization for network and ecosystem development.
• MOUVESmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMovement of Social Entrepreneurs, membership organization connecting POTENTIELLES to broader social enterprise ecosystem.
• Collectif 13majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWomen's Rights Collective in the region, part of network for women's rights advocacy and economic empowerment.
• Réseau des Réseaux des femmes dans l'Economique en PACAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetwork of networks for women in economics across PACA, providing peer network and collaborative opportunities.
• Union des CouveusesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational federation of business incubators providing network support and best practices sharing for the couveuse program.
• Cité des MétiersmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCareer and skills center providing resources and referrals for entrepreneurs using POTENTIELLES services.
• Osez le mixmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional mixing initiative addressing gender stereotypes in occupations, co-financed by EU FSE and regional authorities.
• Eclosion 13minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociation for women in performing arts hosting permanent offices at POTENTIELLES, serving women artists and technicians.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Initiative France: Federation of local Initiative platforms offering zero-interest loans and mentoring to business creators across France — a much larger incumbent in the same entrepreneurial-support category, broader in scope than POTENTIELLES' women-focused niche.
• ADIE: Association pour le Droit à l'Initiative Économique — French non-profit providing microcredit and support to entrepreneurs excluded from traditional banking, especially women and unemployed — comparable mission support and women-focused exposure to POTENTIELLES.
• Réseau Entreprendre: French network of volunteer business leaders providing free mentoring to entrepreneurs creating or taking over businesses — overlapping entrepreneur-support mission with POTENTIELLES, but oriented toward growth-stage rather than pre-creation testing.
• France Active: National network financing and supporting social and solidarity economy (SSE) entrepreneurs — broadly comparable as a public-supported entrepreneur-support structure, but operating at significantly greater scale and with a financing-led model.

Direct peers

• Les Premières: French network incubating women-led innovative businesses through coaching, networking, and access to financing — directly comparable mission (women entrepreneurs) and operating model to POTENTIELLES.
• BGE Réseau (Boutiques de Gestion): National French network of non-profit business incubators providing creation support, training, and testing for aspiring entrepreneurs — the closest direct analog to POTENTIELLES' couveuse and formation activity, though generalist rather than women-focused.
• Force Femmes: French non-profit supporting women's professional trajectories through mentoring, training, and networking — comparable women-focused mission and target audience to POTENTIELLES, with national scope rather than regional.

Others

• 100 000 Entrepreneurs: French association mobilizing entrepreneurs to share their experiences with young people in schools — thematically adjacent to POTENTIELLES' Know me and Empowerment programmes aimed at young women from priority neighborhoods.
• France Angels: French federation of business angel networks financing startups and SMEs — adjacent ecosystem participant that complements POTENTIELLES' pre-creation pipeline by providing downstream capital to ventures graduating from couveuse/cooperative programs.

Emerging players

• La Ruche: Network of coworking and shared workspaces supporting entrepreneurs and impact projects across France — overlaps with POTENTIELLES' tiers-lieu model (coworking, shared showroom, support community) without the women-specific focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Potentielles
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCbAFR10uMGgxjNpoIpyU0oQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/Potentielles
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/potentielles
• Pinterestfr.pinterest.com/potentielles

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

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 POTENTIELLES