They would never have had to meet. They are left with regret. Thursday, June 21, Navin, Heidi and the others made their goodbyes to Fabian, Mary, or Armonia. Sixteen bankers JP Morgan had landed in Paris on June 4, from New York, London or Singapore. Their mission ? Bring your expertise to the financial top flight of ADIE (Association for the right to economic initiative), a Group Ares, Simplon and Article 1, four French associations fighting against exclusion. What appeared a priori to be a dangerous large cultural gap has proved to be a great success, according to the unanimous opinion of the participants.
This program of skills-based sponsorship has been inaugurated in 2014, in Detroit, by the us bank, which is highly involved in the rehabilitation of the former capital of the automobile. Chicago, New Orleans or hong Kong have then benefited. In 2018, the six delegations are planned. However, it was the first time that the “service corps” – the name of the programme ventured into a non-English speaking country.
“When we applied, we didn’t know where we would be affected. But help is help, ” says Jennifer Ryan, a banker of Columbus (Ohio). “For us, it is an important investment. For three weeks, we have completely disconnected from our work “, explains Emmanuelle Baillot, a French-headquartered in Geneva.
The concrete
Far from the place Vendôme where the most French of american banks is installed in Paris, the sixteen samurai travelled for three weeks the 13th district, Montreuil or Asnières (impossible to pronounce for Americans !). They did not know each other. “We come from different environments, we do not have the same culture, but we are gathered for a common cause,” says Ronnie Sequeira, banker commercial in Bangalore in India, who had never set…
