Charlotte Gaillard (SK 1997), founder of Mégara, received the Femme Chef d’Entreprise (Female Business Owner) award for the PACA & Monaco region.

On Friday 29 April 2016, the founder and CEO of the Mégara group, which owns and runs the e-commerce site Berceaumagique.com among others, was awarded a prize by the Trophées Femmes de l'Économie (Women in Business Awards) jury.

Charlotte, in what way is this award different?

The Trophée Femmes de l'Économie is a highly coveted award that rewards women for their professional success and their investment in their region’s economy. Because 2015 was a real turning point for Mégara, a company which I founded and have been running for 12 years, I applied for the award with the desire to promote female entrepreneurship. Being selected among 87 candidates and then named winner of the Gold Femme Chef d’Entreprise award is therefore something I’m really proud of for myself and for the teams that contributed to the project. The next step is the national final, which will gather the award winners of all regions in Paris in December 2016.

This trophy rewards your exceptional path and your courage in starting a business in the field of new technologies. What steps led you to where you are now in your business?

In 2002, when I was 5 months pregnant and had been ordered to stay home and rest, I noticed the lack of products available online for my future baby. I was then offered a severance package by the company I worked for at the time, Gemplus (now Gemalto), so I was able to leave my marketing manager position and try a new adventure! In 2003, I created Mégara alone. It is a 100% web-based business that now runs 8 websites dedicated to early childhood.
Berceaumagique.com, the company’s flagship website, now sells 30,000 products for future mums, babies, and toddlers, and gets 550,000 visits per month. Last year, the online shop even experienced a record growth of 25%, reaching 4.5 million euros in turnover.
Since I had no expertise in e-commerce, infant care or business management in the beginning, I learnt the skills I needed as I went, thanks in particular to support from regional institutions. I think it’s this ambition and this courage to start a new business in new technologies that were rewarded through the awarding of this trophy.

Can you give SKEMA Alumni a sneak preview of the challenges you’re facing in 2017?

We still have many challenges to rise to! We’d like to continue to develop the business in a self-funded and profitable way, to exceed the 8 million euro in turnover mark within 3 years. To reach this target we will need to create a number of new positions and explore new areas of activity.
We also plan to have an emblematic 1,500 m2 building built in Toulon or nearby, so that our whole team, including logistics, can be under the one roof and we can be closer to our customer base by hosting events and by offering a collection point for purchases.

Charlotte Gaillard (SK 1997)
Founder and CEO of Mégara
+33 (0) 4 26 03 04 42
c.gaillard@berceaumagique.com