interview by: Fatiha Idrissi
The Emirate of Dubai hosted the “Choose France” exhibition from October 17 to 24, where French brands were displayed,namely:Lastelier, Beliza, Aaluna, Canopea, Caramel au sucre, Risu Risu and the Nice Fleet,
During the exhibition we spoke to Ms. Christel Guidon, the CEO of CGHP Beespoke Consulting ,about this event .
1 First, we will be glad to know who Christel Guidon?
I live in France, I am married and have 2 boys (1/10y – 1/14y)
I worked for more than 17 years in the Fashion Industry as Sales Manager for French Group as Bogart Group (Ted Lapidus) – Zannier Group (Catimini, Kenzo Kids, …), always with the project to create my own business to help the young brands to expand the business all over the world.
I created CGHP Beespoke Consulting in 2018.
2 tell us about CGHP Consulting Company, the mission, services and goal?
The principal mission of CGHP Beespoke Consulting is to help the french fashion company to expand their business all over the world, with a focus in Middle East and Asia.
CGHP Beespoke Consulting is member of the OSCI federation which is the federation who regroups around 150 experts of international business all over the world.
Our services are bespoke and adapted to the current situation of the brand.
We propose :
– audit
– market study
– recruitment of BtoB partners
And since the beginning of this year, I organise collective missions, as in Dubai.
The goal of these missions is to bring several Fashion premium brands all complementary not implemented in the country or few to find BtoC partners and BtoB partners.
The planning of this week was :
– 1 day : discovery of the market – visit of shoppings malls, department stores, concept stores, …
– 3 days : meeting with potential btob partners (department stores, concept stores, online platforms, distributors, agencies)
– 2 days : pop up to talk and sell to consumers and to meet influencers / media
3 Why did you choose / focus on the fashion Industry?
When I was kid, i wanted to become stylist. As It was not possible and as I loved the Fashion Industry and the discovery of the different cultures, i decided to work in sales department, in the fashion industry and worldwide
4 Can you explain to our readers the mission ” choose France”?
Choose France is a French label who focuses on the savoir-faire of the French company.
This label permits to assure the quality / and the serious of the brands.
5 Which tools do you use to promote these French Fashion Brands?
I use all the tools of the Fashion brands :
– website
– Instagram account
– linkedin account
– look book
– videos
And in my company, we create specific tools for these missions :
– Catalogue with the presentation of all the brands
– Press release
– All my data base – thanks to it, i can target the best partners for the brands.
6 “Made in France” means luxury, finesse et qualite, how do you develop these brands?
My specificity : to develop niche brands in targeted countries.
I select the brands I work with. They have a DNA different of the competitors, a real savoir-faire in their sector, an innovation and they have to respect the environment.
I use the story of the brand, the savoir-faire, the quality of the products.
After an audit, i select the countries interesting for the brands and we work on it.
7 Any final comment?
Since COVID I decided to focus my business to UAE market even if it is not so easy 🙂
Why ?
The country is really new (only 50 years) and so flexible. All is doing really fast with a lot of opportunities for the niche brands.
As i work almost with new brand, they have to expand quickly so this country is perfect to set up a commercial strategy.
