“You leave your status outside when you walk through the door of our third place,” says
Francesca Boniotti, setting the tone. The Participative Concierge Service, which she has been running with Christel Grimaud since the end of 2021 in Montpellier’s Eureka district, is designed as a participative third-space where companies and their employees can forge links while sharing and discussing best practices in the professional world.
The values of solidarity, participation, and inclusion are at the heart of the service’s operations, creating a neighborhood dynamic, elaborating a program based on the area’s needs, developing collective intelligence training, promoting well-being and professional fulfillment, and more. Companies are also attracted by the approach.
After launching its project through a public procurement contract via Altémed, the Eureka Participative Concierge Service is taking off with the creation of Eurek’Act. It is now gaining independence by setting up its own structure, after having been supported by the company Récipro-Cité from the outset.
“Eurek’Act, which is responsible for our third place, allows us to strengthen our local roots even more,” says Francesca Boniotti, whose organization hopes to obtain accreditation in 2025 to become a training center and then be certified by Qualiopi.
While keeping up its good relations with Récipro-Cité, which remains a founding member, the new association has adopted a participative governance model, consolidated by a network of local companies and companies established in the region.
The president of Eurek’Act is Pierre-Olivier Latrille, Managing Director of APF Entreprises 34, with the job of treasurer handled by Mireille Courtial, founder and CEO of Eygide. By the end of 20245, Eurek’Act already had about twenty member companies, including Aromandise, Quantum Surgical, Opens, Eiffage, Retouch’Up, Annealsys, Mint, BtoB Design, Les Halles du Verger, and Gedeas.
This third place meets the needs and expectations of companies in terms of CSR and Quality of Life and Working Conditions. Last year alone, it offered more than 89 activities, including workshops such as La Fresque du Climat (Climate Fresco). It also organized 23 events, notably on the themes related to disability inclusion, the social clause in public procurement contracts, and the role of failure in business. There were also after-work events with member companies, socially-oriented coffee get-togethers with France Active Airdie Occitanie, Face Hérault, La Fabrique des Possibles, La Maison de l’Impact, and more.
Events were also co-organized with Adoma (CDC Habitat group), which hosts the Participative Concierge in one of its buildings. The Participative Concierge organizes workshops for the young people that Adoma houses in the same building. Académie Karuna, created by Sandrine Minodier, occupies a space on the premises to provide training. Last but not least, while Montpellier Métropole and the city of Castelnau-le-Lez have been partners from the start, they are now joined by Montpellier Management, through the Écocirculab chair, and France Travail, among others.
The Eureka Participative Concierge project will therefore continue to evolve according to the needs and expectations of local businesses. This means that it will have a new website, which has not yet been created, to replace the current one in the near future.
The Eureka Participative Concierge is a genuine place for mixing and bonding.
