Entreprise à Impact, why adopt the status of an SSE commercial enterprise?

Start Up à Impact, you put your Social and Ecological Impact at the heart of your strategy: to benefit from advantages and greater recognition, you can become a 'SSE commercial enterprise': but why? But why? And how? We tell you all about it here!

Why become an SSE business?

For an Impact start-up, becoming an SSE commercial enterprise has many advantages. As Makesense reminds us, it's first and foremost an effective way of reflecting its impact in the project's articles of association.  

Being part of the SSE also enables you to anchor your company in a culture based on sharing values and power in terms of :

• Ethics and corporate culture: Becoming an SSE company means enshrining a number of ethical principles in its articles of association, making the social dimension of its activities both visible and unalterable;
• Financing: becoming an SSE business gives you access to dedicated financing from players such as Bpifrance, the French government (through the Caisse des Dépôts) and private players (via crowdfunding platforms, for example);
• Listing: Becoming an SSE business facilitates access to certain public tenders. For example, certain public procurement contracts are today reserved for SSE companies, or certain tax exemptions (private copy tax, for example, for players in the refurbished sector).

In fact, there are many advantages reserved for SSE commercial enterprises. They are listed by FINACOOP in this document.  

How to become an SSE company?

Unlike associations, cooperatives, mutual societies and foundations, which are part of the SSE "by right" (they don't have to take any steps), commercial companies wishing to qualify as SSE enterprises must comply with certain criteria, notably those set out in their articles of association.  

In general, these companies must meet the conditions listed in LOI n° 2014-856 of July 31, 2014 relating to the social and solidarity economy and state this in their articles of association. The mandatory statutory mentions are listed by FINACOOP in this document and on these slides.  

Becoming an SSE business involves taking the following steps:

• Hold an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to amend the bylaws in accordance with legal requirements;

• File the new articles of association with the Registrar of the Commercial Court.

Good news for all companies wishing to become SSE enterprises: these steps are not particularly time-consuming or costly. It's up to you to get started, by going directly to this link  

Read testimonials from SSE companies such as PHENIX, Gestia Solidaire, Digital4Better andInformatruck.

The fight of the Impact France Movement: to ensure that impact start-ups receive as much support as French Tech start-ups, by building on this status and granting it new advantages in terms of investment, public procurement and support for ecological and social innovation.