It is hard to summarise such an eventful day in a few words or photos however February 2nd 2024 will remain memorable for a number of reasons aside from the obvious rugby victory ! The day began with the most interesting, impressive and informative visit of the Marseille-FOS port by boat organised by Rising Sud, the business development agency for the South of France. Participants were then whisked off to the Rugby Club Toulonnais where they were welcomed by Mr. Bernard Lemaitre, President of the club and where they also heard from Marie-Cécile Tardieu of Business France and Mr. Francois de Canson, who highlighted both the attractiveness of France as a business destination in general and the Région Sud/Toulon in particular.
NetworkIrlande members were then warmly welcomed by Guillaume Girard-Reydet, President of Pernod Ricard France and Southern Europe at the wonderful Pernod Ricard headquarters at the docks in Marseille for a pre-match networking reception. Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD and Ambassador Niall Burgess honoured guests with their presence and the tone was set for the clash that followed in a good-natured competitive spirit.
We would like to thank all our partners and sponsors of this event, in particular those individuals that were key in making this day such a successful Franco-Irish collaboration with a special mention to our Board Member Niall Gately. Thanks also to all our members who participated: Amarenco, Axway, Ecocem, Grand Port Maritime de Dunkerque, Groupe Adéquat, IDA, Kingspan, Paragon ID, Primark, Smurfit Kappa, Staycity, Transdev were among our pioneer members represented on the day along with many small business members and individual professionals.