What Adefpat does

Adefpat is a French non-profit association (association loi 1901), founded in 1983 and headquartered in Albi, in the Occitanie region. Its purpose is to support the success of development projects in rural territories by accompanying entrepreneurs, business owners, and local authorities through expert-led assistance, training, and methodological tools. The organization operates a daily field presence across six departments of Occitanie and serves a member base of 40 collectivities and 12 economic organizations.

The service portfolio is organized around three missions: "accompagner" (personalized support for project leaders), "innover" (experimentation projects and toolboxes such as the Boîte à outils de la participation citoyenne and the Boîte à outils de l'impact social, developed through the Rural Impact program), and "professionnaliser" (Rural Campus training platform and La Veille monitoring service). Adefpat is also a recognized operator of the DLA (Dispositif Local d'Accompagnement), a state-administered accompaniment program for associations and social enterprises. In 2024, the organization reported accompanying 102 companies, 53 collectivities, and 930 persons, with 7 jobs created and 147 jobs consolidated.

The business model is grant-funded rather than commercial. Adefpat draws on a diversified base of public financing including the Région Occitanie, the French State, the Banque des Territoires, European funds (FEADER and FSE), and four departmental councils (Lot, Lozère, Tarn, Tarn et Garonne). Services are delivered free of charge or at subsidized rates to eligible beneficiaries. Headcount is reported as 1-10 employees, augmented by a deployed network of consultant-trainers. The organization is governed by a board of directors and operates without private shareholders, venture capital, or a parent company structure.

Name

Adefpat

Legal name

Adefpat

Website

https://adefpat.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Adefpat is a French non-profit association headquartered in Albi that provides expert-led accompaniment, training, and methodological tools to rural entrepreneurs, business owners, and local authorities across six departments of the Occitanie region, funded primarily by public grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Rural Development and Territorial Support Services

NAICS

Social Advocacy Organizations (8133), Educational Support Services (6117)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Legal Aid & Client Advocacy Services (BPAGAEAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Consumer Rights & Public Interest Advocacy (BPAGAFAK)

Keywords

• Rural development support
• Territorial accompaniment services
• Citizen participation methods
• Social impact measurement
• Entrepreneur training programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Albi

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Public funding and subsidies: Adefpat operates as a non-profit association (association loi 1901) primarily funded by public sources including regional council (Région Occitanie), French government, European funds (FEADER, FSE), and Banque des Territoires. The organization also receives support from departmental councils (Lot, Lozère, Tarn, Tarn et Garonne).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Adefpat is a non-profit association that provides expert-led accompaniment, training, and methodological tools to support the success of projects on rural territories in the Occitanie region of France. Its core services include personalized accompaniment for entrepreneurs and local authorities (Accompagnement Adefpat), the DLA program for associations and social enterprises, and professionalization offerings such as Rural Campus and La Veille.

Product overview

Adefpat offers a comprehensive portfolio of services for rural territorial development, centered on three main missions: supporting project success, innovating with territories, and professionalizing development actors. The core offering includes personalized accompaniment services (Accompagnement Adefpat and DLA) for entrepreneurs and local authorities. Supporting these are specialized toolboxes including the Boîte à outils de la participation citoyenne for citizen participation methodologies and the Boîte à outils de l'impact social for social impact measurement. The Rural Campus provides professionalization training while La Veille delivers ongoing intelligence on territorial development trends.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• DLA (Dispositif Local d'Accompagnement) Local support device providing individualized engineering to help associations and social enterprises address organizational and strategic challenges.
• Rural Campus Professionalization platform for development agents and elected officials to build competencies in territorial development and citizen participation.
• La Veille Monitoring and intelligence service providing trends on rural development, citizen participation, and territorial innovation topics.
• Boîte à outils de la participation citoyenne Comprehensive toolbox for citizen participation containing methodologies and operational tools to help territories implement participatory approaches, organized by participation objectives.
• Boîte à outils de l'impact social Social impact measurement toolkit developed within the Rural Impact project, designed for consultant-trainers to identify and measure social utility and impact adapted to development training.
• Accompagnement Adefpat Personalized accompaniment services for creators, business owners, and local authorities to help them succeed with their projects in rural territories of Occitanie, leveraging expert networks and proximity-based assistance.

Quantifiable outcome

• 102 companies accompanied in 2024
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Parc Naturel Régional des Grands CaussescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNatural regional park partnership for climate change adaptation projects for outdoor nature businesses.
• Pôle Equilibre Territorial et Rural Albigeois BastidescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTerritorial development partnership for artisan and commercial consolidation projects.
• agglomération Gaillac GraulhetminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIntermunicipal cooperation for associative bar project and community development.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• France Active: National network financing and accompanying social enterprises and associations. Comparable to Adefpat in accompaniment model and public-interest mission, but operates nationally and includes loan/guarantee activity.
• AVISE: National agency supporting the development of the social and solidarity economy through accompaniment, resources, and methodological tools. Direct peer to Adefpat's toolbox-development and accompaniment activities.
• RTES (Réseau des Territoires pour l'Économie Solidaire): Network of local authorities promoting the social and solidarity economy. Comparable to Adefpat in working at the intersection of rural territories, collectivities, and social-economy project accompaniment.
• AFIP (Association de Formation et d'Information Pour le développement rural): Rural development training and information association operating in several French regions. Comparable to Adefpat in rural-territory mission, training programs, and accompaniment of rural project holders.
• ADRETS (Association pour le Développement en Réseau des Territoires et des Services): Alpine-region network supporting rural territorial development through accompaniment and projects. Comparable to Adefpat in territorial-development mission and proximity-based service model.

Broad incumbents

• Le Mouvement Associatif: National umbrella representing associative life in France. Comparable in mission (supporting associations and civic initiatives), but operates at a national advocacy level rather than direct territorial accompaniment.
• CNESS (Conseil National de l'Économie Sociale et Solidaire): National body representing the social and solidarity economy in France. Comparable in policy advocacy and ecosystem-support role, but national rather than regionally focused.

Emerging players

• Terre de Liens: Federation mobilizing citizens, landowners, and farmers to preserve agricultural land in rural areas. Comparable in rural development mission and accompaniment of project holders, though focused specifically on land access.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/adefpat

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Adefpat