6 months to create and experiment the agricultural business models of tomorrow
The French agricultural sector is at a crossroads. It must produce more but better, improve the living conditions of farmers while their income has been afflicted by consecutive crises, and be more competitive in a globalized market. Agricultural cooperatives have a major role to play in this transition.
InVivo Group is the French leader of agricultural cooperatives (€6.4 bn turnover). Alongside its GigaServices Purchasing Department, we designed a new business model enabling 300,000 farmers and their cooperatives to buy more goods at the most competitive price. This new model also generates new revenues for farmers by developing collaborative services targeting assets optimization.
Within 6 months, Ouifield emerged as a start-up within In Vivo Group and became a new subsidiary in charge of developing and operating a dedicated platform for these new services.
Increase the strength of the cooperatives’ local network and enhance the value of farmers’ assets through digital technology
Ouifield is a collaborative platform that offers cooperatives and farmers innovative and cost-effective purchase offers for goods and services in a few easy clicks. It preserves the link between cooperatives and farmers while providing them with Ouifield’s purchasing expertise.
As farmers’ assets are structurally under-optimized, the platform also offers them the opportunity to generate additional revenue: farmers can directly provide their skills, time and equipment to the rural community to ultimately improve their living standard.
By promoting shortcuts, connections and solidarity within territories in difficulty, Ouifield has first and foremost the ambition to “re-enchant ” the countryside.
Accelerate the launch of disruptive concepts through Bengs’ Start-up Studio
Bengs worked with Ouifield right from the very outset. We set-up a Start-up Studio approach aiming at creating a new work experience, quickly spreading an entrepreneurial culture within the teams and shortening the business creation cycle by:
- Analysing the major mutations in the sector and the changes in purchasing behaviours using Bengs’ Six Forces© framework to identify value creation opportunities
- Confirming opportunities identified by cross-checking them with the findings of Bengs’ open innovation laboratory’s (Bengs’ Lab) on the sharing economy’s business models
- Performing a market experimentation to refine hypotheses and materialize first sources of income
In less than 6 months, this innovative approach led not only to the creation of a subsidiary and organization, the development of a digital platform, the creation of a service offering and their launch on the market but also to the creation of an internal start-up studio.
Today, Ouifield is fully operational, carries strong ambitions and begins to reap its first benefits. It is a living demonstration of the ability for major economic players to seize arising opportunities with the agility of a start-up.
