Talent in our neighborhoods: five entrepreneurs on the road to success

"Businesses and the city” award: Nadia Akil and her “Empire des Sans”

Talents des Quartiers also gave awards to two project leaders. Johanès Adedemi and his partner Chamilat Daoud won the “Emerging” category. Their idea is to use wax print cotton fabrics, very popular in Benin and many African countries, for interior home decorations, household linens, and ready-to-wear clothing.

The model creators are preparing to launch their website and have plans to open a store. Earning a special mention in the same category, Ayoub Yani is passionate about hydrographic (water transfer) printing techniques that can be used to decorate everything from large vehicles to small objects. All he  needs now is to find a facility to launch his business.

Nadia Akil won the prize for the City’s Best Female Entrepreneur, awarded by the Nexity Foundation, for her plant-based catering-pastry project, “Empire des Sans” (gluten-free, lactose-free...).

“I fought and climbed the professional ladder,” says Nadia Akil, a resident of Montpellier’s La Mosson district. She wants to help invent “our food for tomorrow – healthy and respecting the environment.”

* Partners: French government, Occitanie CCI and Hérault CCI, Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole, City of Montpellier, Hérault Department, Bpifrance, Fondation Nexity.

Mohamed Nassiri, young founder of D3 Nettoyage in La Mosson, received the company creation prize in the Talents des Quartiers competition, presented by Chantal Marion, vice President of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole in charge of economic development and attractiveness.
Nadia Akil, a La Mosson resident, won the prize for the City’s Best Female Entrepreneur, awarded by the Nexity Foundation, for her plant-based catering-pastry project, “Empire des Sans”