During the Covid-19 pandemic, many solidarity actions emerged in France to address the socio-economic impact many had to deal with. In this context, staff members of ENGIE decided to help-out students, by carrying out local charity actions, with student associations and university foundations throughout France. In Lyon and Saint-Etienne, ENGIE partnered with the solidarity caterers Prestal and Ethic Table, to provide food to students of emlyon business school who were in dire situations.

2,570. That is how many food-baskets were distributed in Lyon and Saint-Etienne to students in precarious situations, thanks to the partnership ENGIE initiated with emlyon business school, and the solidarity caterers Prestal and Ethic Table.

First and foremost, this operation allowed to support students heavily impacted by food emergency with whole and balanced meals meeting their needs. People from the 4 partner companies relayed on several occasions to organize food delivery.

« The sanitary crisis generated heavy economic consequences, digging even more the gap of social inequalities within the student community. Students from emlyon were not spared and had to face more and more precarious situations. I want to thank each and every one of the staff members of emlyon, ENGIE, Prestal and Etic Table. Their sense of solidarity allowed our students to get quality food essential to maintaining their physical and mental health ».
Bénédicte Bost, Corporate Social Responsibility Director of emlyon business school.

Secondly, this scheme also aims at sustaining in a jobs, employees in a professional integration track. Indeed, the food baskets were prepared by a network of solidarity caterers La Table de Cana, among which Prestal, located in Vaulx-en-Velin, and Ethic Table, located in Saint-Etienne. This network has been supported for many years now, by the FAPE (Fondation Agir Pour l'Emploi) ENGIE, which contributes to the professional integration and return to employment of people who have been away from employment or in situations of exclusion.

Marine De Linage, Founder and Director of Prestal & Louise Cerezo-Lahiani, Director of Ethic Table

« We are grateful for and proud to be able to take part in this doubly supportive operation. While sustaining our social vocation with the economic activity of people away from employment, ENGIE is giving us the opportunity to distribute free whole meals, homemade, with fresh products, to students affected by the crisis ».

Financing these solidarity actions was made possible thanks to the generosity of ENGIE's staff members (the group employs more than 9,000 people over the Auvergne- Rhône-Alpes region). The total of donations was matched by ENGIE. On the whole, close to forty solidarity operations were rolled out in France

« This solidarity operation shows how committed to students our staff is, a population who was especially hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. By supporting this action, the Group stands true to its raison d'être, responsible and supportive.” »
Claire Waysand, Deputy Director-General in charge of Secretariat General, Strategy, Research and Innovation and Communication of ENGIE

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About ENGIE

A worldwide group of reference in low-carbon energy and services. With our 170,000 staff members, our customers, our partners and our stakeholders, we are dedicated every day to accelerating the transition to a carbon-neutral world, thanks to more energy-sober solutions, more respectful of the environment. Guided by our raison d'être, we are reconciling economic performance and positive impact on people and the planet, by drawing on our key occupational lines (gas, renewable energy, services) to provide competitive solutions to our customers. 2020 annual turnover: €55.8 billion Listed in Paris and Brussels stock-exchanges (ENGIE), the Group is represented in the main financial indexes (CAC 40, Euronext 100, FTSE Eurotop 100, MSCI (Europe) and extra-financial indexes (DJSI World, DJSI Europe, Euronext Vigeo Eiris - Eurozone 120 / Europe 120 / France 20, MSCI EMU ESG, MSCI Europe ESG, Euro Stoxx 50 ESG, Stoxx Europe 600 ESG, and Stoxx Global 1800 ESG).

Press contact ENGIE: Anne Archambault – anne.archambault@engie.com - 06 84 32 26 16

About emlyon business school

Founded in 1872 by the Lyon CCI, emlyon business school has an enrollment of 8,900 students of 121 nationalities over 7 campuses worldwide (Lyon, Shanghai, Saint-Etienne, Casablanca, Paris, Bhubaneswar and Mumbai). emlyon draws on a Faculty of 170 international professors and researchers, and a network of 190 global academic partners, to provide learning tracks of excellence and open to the world. emlyon runs a community of 37,500 alumni spread out in 130 countries. As a Société à Mission since July 2021, emlyon's raison d'être consists in: “providing life-long training and support to meaningful individuals able to transform organizations, for a fairer society, with more solidarity and respect for the planet.” In its early makers pedagogy, action and reflection are closely intertwined. Skill hybridization and social responsibility are at the heart of its training programs, where the best of both socio-economic and academic worlds meet.
www.em-lyon.com

Contact Presse emlyon : Julie Guillot - guillot@em-lyon.com - 06 45 23 23 04

About Prestal

Prestal, member of the network La Table de Cana in the metropolis of Lyon, is a restaurant and catering service unlike any other. Founded in 2020, Prestal's vocation is to favor professional integration in the food service industry, of people who have been away from the employment market. At Prestal, we are confident that economy and social issues can be reconciled by placing man at the heart of our project. With a turnover beyond €2 million, Prestal counts about 40 staff members, including about 20 of them in a professional integration track in either activity: • Catering: cocktails, buffets, food trays, and table meals (70% of the turnover). • Corporate restaurants: two sites, one in the Agrapole (Lyon 7th district) and the other one in Vaulx en Velin Village (Prestantine). For each of our job positions (kitchen, dishwashing, delivery, administrative) we provide integration contracts, which can last up to 2 years. Guided through by professionals on a daily basis, backed by the support of integration managers, each employee builds his/her personal track for a sustainable return to employment. At the end of their fixed-term integration contract, close to 70% of them find a job or register to a vocational training. Over the past 20 years, more than 500 people started working again like that.

Press contact Prestal: Mélanie Boulay - melanie.boulay@prestal.fr - 04 72 97 09 34

About Ethic Table

As the single caterer in social and solidarity economy of the Loire region, a professional service recognized as such, Ethic Table is a bridgehead to stable employment for people with great social and job difficulties.

Press contact Ethic Table : Louise Cerezo-Lahiani - direction@ethic-table.fr – 04 77 34 19 61