Starting a busines in Dio et Valquières?

Harry Morskate |  30 November 2010

In his election manifesto 2008, our mayor declared that each new entrepreneur in the commune should be offered a € 2.000,- subsidy. Thus, in September 2009, our municipality wanted to pay this € 2.000,- subsidy to a new entrepreneur.  Fortunately the prefect has prohibited that.
 
There is plenty of evidence that subsidies for new ventures do not work. Most ventures which received subsidies to establish themselves disappeared after a while, or even worse, went bankrupt.
 
It is not the task of the Government to redistribute money through grants. Its task is to create good conditions for citizens and companies. Citizens and companies need legal security, transparency, moderate taxes and a good infrastructure. Enterprises and the Government are potential employers.
 
Unemployment in our department, the Herault, is consistantly terrifying high: 13,1% in 2010 overall, 9,7% in rural areas. This is the second highest percentage in the whole of France. The department lacks employment. But is it possible to establish an enterprise and provide employment in our own commune, for instance?

With a good business friend I have been working for some years already for an e-shop: www.ellure.nl in the Netherlands. In November 2008 we decided that we would extend in France. We had to register our trading name under www.ellure.fr. This is only possible if we have a home or business address in France.

It appeared difficult and almost impossible to register in Dio et Valquieres. Every time we applied, which could only be done through internet, our application was rejected because it lacked a street name and house number.

 This same problem also frequently occured when buying through internet but eventually the address was registered when recording the field name: hameau Valquieres accepted.
 
The e-shop in the Netherlands is a success and presently offers a good job to 6 people. In October 2010 we set up a test with TNT services in order to start in France. And there the problems repeated themselves. «Our delivery men are not detectives, thus we only accept consignments with a complete address, street and house number!»
 
For the test, we needed to have a complete address and it is unfortunately not likely that street names and house numbers will come in our commune in the short term. Yet, there is always a solution that can be found.
 
A good French friend still had a nice old street nameplate. After it had been assembled, I could provide a real actual street name and house number. Fortunately, TNT accepted that and the test parcel was neatly delivered within 2 days.

Moreover, the French Post Office are in the habit of sorting out the mail by street names. So there is apparently a need at La Poste for street names and house numbers in Dio et Valquieres.
 
We continue to invest in the e-shop www.ellure.fr for France. The world is changing, and it is a choice to respond to the changes. That is a task and a challenge for our community.
     
La commune de DIO ET VALQUIÈRES, située dans le département de l'HERAULT, au pied des Cévennes, réunie trois hameaux DIO, VALQUIÈRES et VERNAZOUBRES, d'une importance quasi égale, et abrite 139 habitants sur une superficie de 1.877 hectares. La Gazette de Dio et Valquières est une initiative de citoyens concernés qui surveillent de façon critique la politique municipale.
Gazette de Dio et Valquières