Save the date !
September rentrée event
University Application masterclass for parents of lycéens
Business Boot Camp series - Quarter 4 2023
Past events
RBC Afterworks – Sophia Antipolis
A great time shared by all at the Ergo Office Afterwork in Sophia Antipolis!
On June 29th, the sound of laughter and clinking glasses were heard throughout the evening as members and friends enjoyed discovering the wonders of the Ergo Office equipment. Many thanks to Julien (BPOY 2022), Valerie and their team for their wonderful welcome and enthusiasm in sharing their passion with us all!
Social Media Marketing workshop
Our Social Media Marketing workshop was a huge success ! Many thanks to our panelists Flora Desbrosses, Mary Lumley, and Elodie Carsalade for their fantastic teaching tips and for making the evening so entertaining.
RBC Afterworks – Antibes
A great evening for our 1st Afterworks in Antibes! The sun was shining, and with no agenda, we had a beautiful evening of connection and support. This was a free event for everyone, members and non-members alike! Topics were wide-ranging and naturally flowed from everyday conversations about friends, family, food, and leisure time to recommendations for great restaurants and places to visit. And of course, we discussed many business topics too! From cross-cultural communication to sales funnel statistics, brainstorming new projects, and using techniques like Radical Candor, we covered it all. We talked about revenue streams, partnerships, collaboration, career steps, ghostwriting, literature, the property market, and much more. Many were also motivated to get back into yoga, so it was a wonderfully supportive and connecting evening overall.
RBC Afterworks – Grasse
Meet you at Appartement 24? This month's afterwork was in Grasse, at the Appartement 24 tapas bar
RBC Afterworks - Moxy in Sophia Antipolis
RBC afterwork #2 : another great afterwork meeting new people, and wow what a cool place ! Thank you Antonia for scouting this one out, the Moxy bar is gorgeous and fun. Once again we had a lovely mix of entrepreneurs working in finance, marketing, education, wellbeing, coaching and retail. Here's a salut to the end-of-evening survivors (pictured), and a shout-out to those who left early. It was nice getting to know you and your businesses in a relaxed environment. See you all next month !
RBC Afterworks - Brewdog Nice
RBC afterwork #1 : what a great evening meeting new people and catching up with old friends! We're supposed to call it networking but really it was a lot of fun. Thank you to BrewDog Nice for your warm welcome and amazing service. Looking forward to seeing you all next month !
2022 Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner
The Riviera Business Club in association with The CCI Nice Côte d'Azur hosted the annual Business Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner at the CCI in the Grand Salon.
The winner of the trophy for the RBC/CCI Business Person of the Year 2022 was Julien Bacon of Ergo-Office, and the winner of the trophy for the Start Up of the Year 2022 was Sibylle Sanchez, founder of Mootion.
Our Guest of Honour for the evening was Christopher Gamon, the President of the International Commission of the CCI. The trophies were designed by Andyana, and we enjoyed piano music by jazz pianist Charly Laz. Karine de Vahl Rubin was our MC for the evening, and Patrice Halley took photos and videos. See all the finalists here.
Toby Forman, President RBC, Sibylle Sanchez of Mootion, Start-Up of the Year Award winner, Julien Bacon of Ergo-Office, Business Person of the Year Award winner, Mr Gamon from the CCI Nice Côte d'Azur, Mélanie Olivié of Pine to Palm, Marlène Renaud of CQS, Karim Houry of Sundesk, Jean-Stéphane Genuit of Ox6gene, and Alexandre Gandon of Dans Les Pas d’Alexandre
Small Biz Strategy'23 Workshop
Well done and congratulations to the 12 entrepreneurs who booked essential CEO time into their diaries and took action this week ! Booking time to work ON your business not simply IN it is essential to meet your goals and gain traction by taking action.
On the agenda for this afternoon workshop at KidooLand in Vallauris : 3 hours + 5 leaders + a repeatable workbook with follow up actions = A business plan for 2023.
Kristian said after the event,
“It was fantastic, just what I needed ... I can’t wait to sit down this weekend and work on this ... thanks SO much for this event !”
Thank you to ourworkshop leaders : Antonia Beauvoisin-Brown, Tracy Leonetti, Pippa Maile, Catherine Aygen, and Emma Oldfield-Reeve
Wellbeing and Avoiding Burnout
Thank you to Gavin Sharpe of Riviera Wellbeing who moderated the discussion on wellbeing, burnout, and stress management. Our expert panel also included Louise Vaughan-Arbuckle of Holistic Approaches, Antoine Dutauziet Holistic Optimization Coach, and Caroline Healey of Santé Integrative Nice . They discussed how to optimize your physical, emotional and mental health so you can thrive at work and in your personal life.
La Rentrée Evening
To launch the 22/23 programme of RBC's events, 36 entrepreneurs and business owners gathered at the Novotel Nice Arenas for an evening of networking and activities. Our new programme includes monthly virtual "hot seat" business clinics, monthly business-issue themed events, and social activities. We demonstrated the Hot Seat, listened to the future plans for the club, and had a very energetic business speed-dating !
Listen to what our members and guests had to say about the evening
Town Hall meeting
Our new President Toby Forman and the RBC board conducted an online town hall style meeting to canvass you, our key stakeholders, on what you would like to see from your club. The objective was to define the mandate for the Club. This helps to build an association that truly serves the needs of its members and that provides the opportunities, services and support necessary to encourage and build international entrepreneurial activity on the French Riviera.
Simplifying communication can simplify your life : a presentation by Sherwood Fleming
In today’s fast paced world communicating concisely and effectively is not a luxury – it is a necessity. Sherwood Fleming shared with us a different perspective on the role communicating plays in all domains of life. As a certified communication coach and intercultural communication seminar leader for the past 30 years, she presented an overview of what you can do to simplify communication. Her presentation was at the JOYA Business Center in Nice.
Discovering craft beer at Allez Hops cave à bière
Did you know that colour, aroma, and mouthfeel are all essential parts of tasting beer like a pro ? During this "Thursday Apèro" at Allez Hops in Nice, Annamaria led us in a tasting of the 5 classic styles of beer and we discovered the characteristics that make each of them so distinctive.
Networking cocktail and informative presentation by the CCI
Our first event in 2022, in association with our partners the Chamber of Commerce & Industries Nice Côte d'Azur, was a Networking Cocktail Dinatoire hosted by Corporate Members Toby Forman & Catherine Hemingway, co-founders of Smart CIC Global Services at their headquarters in Cannes.
The Keynote of the evening was Gersende Giordano, Responsable Partenariats Privés & Associatifs at the CCI, who presented the latest services they have in place to help local entreprenuers, especially small businesses and start ups, to grow their business.
Thank you Gersende and the CCI for this valuable information !
2021 Awards Ceremony
The Riviera Business Club in association with The CCI Nice Côte d'Azur hosted a grand Awards Ceremony followed by a Cocktail Dinatoire to celebrate the finalists and the ultimate winners of the RBC/CCI Business Person of the Year Awards 2021.
The winner of the CCI Trophy for the RBC/CCI Business Person of the Year 2021 was Veronique Langer Founder & CEO of Linguapolis and the winner of the CCI Trophy for the Start Up of the Year 2021 was Guillaume Bonnefoi of Dare + Drink ! The Guest of Honour for the evening was Christopher Gamon, the President of the International Commission of the CCI. The trophies were designed by Andyana.
2021 Breakfast workshop at the CCI
The Chamber of Commerce & Industries Nice Cote d'Azur Hosted the members of the Riviera Business Club to a Breakfast Workshop at their headquarters in Nice.
The Workshop was conducted by experts from the CCI led by Gersende Giordano - Responsable Partenariats Privés & Associatifs and included Elodie Carsalade - Chef de projets Réseaux Sociaux et Communication Multicanale, Jonathan Gabillard and Manon Boissieres, covering every aspect of doing business on the Côte d'Azur with special emphasis on facilities and services available to local entrepreneurs to assist them to recover from the difficult situation which most local businesses find themselves in after nearly 20 months of the pandemic. It was followed with great interest by the members present in addition to the working paper of the workshop being distributed to all the members who were unable to be present as well!
On behalf of the Riviera Business Club a huge thank you to the team at the Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Nice Côte d'Azur for all their efforts to present a great Workshop for our members today! Thank you for all the support and services for local entrepreneurs as we start recovering from the ravages of the pandemic!
2021 Cannes Beach party
Another casual gathering Riviera style - on the beach in Cannes !
With Catherine Hemingway, Julie Senour Deganutti, Toby Forman, France Labbe, Richard D V Rubin, Delphine Espoir, Dominique Freulon, George Kasiliyake, Karine De Vahl Rubin, Régina Nguyenduc-Sèvegrand, and Ruth Foster.
2021 Our traditional Summer Brunch Outing at the fabulous Manoir De L'Étang
A great afternoon at the fabulous Le Manoir de l'Etang in Mougins (easily the best Summer Brunch Buffet on the Côte d'Azur) with a few members of the club still not gone on holiday! It was as always a fabulous feast – great food, prosecco, wine, mineral water and coffee with Fabricio Carminati, Patricia Soda, George Kasiliyake, Karine De Vahl Rubin, Natasha Wardle, Claude Deslandes, and Emyr Wardle.
2021 Dinner outing at Utopia restaurant
Our second post covid event was a very enjoyable Networking Dinner outing to the very popular Utopia Vegan & Italian Restaurant in Nice. Utopia was founded by the RBC Start Up of the Year 2020 Winner Francesca Lazarro and which keeps generating consistent rave reviews ! The evening started with welcome Prosecco Cocktails followed by a very special three course dinner with a choice of entré & plat inclusive of a half bottle of wine per person plus coffee and mineral water.
Two of our newest corporate members attended for the first time - Fabricio Carminati and Patricia Soda along with corporate members George Kasiliyake and Julie Deganutti members Lyudmila Parshukova and Rainer Von Recum and guests Dorothy Foster, Daniel Deganutti, Ruth Foster and Sophie Kilian.
It was a super evening - great vegan food and great fun company! If you haven't tasted the food at Utopia yet add it to your bucket list now! By far one of the best on the Côte d'Azur!
2021 Networking cocktail in Cannes
Finally! A very small gathering to test the water before we re-launch our regular events programme of the Riviera Business Club! Hosted by Toby Forman - The RBC Business Person of the Year 2020 at the very spacious office of his company SmartCIC Global Services in Cannes!
A select group of only 15 to conform to health and safety measures was further reduced due to the horrendous traffic jam in Nice and on the motorway on Friday evening but those who made it had a very enjoyable evening with plenty of prosecco and great beer with the compliments of new corporate member Brasserie BLEUE and some excellent finger food from Curry & Spice !
Among those who made it were our hosts of course, corporate members Toby Forman & Catherine Hemingway, corporate members George Kasiliyake, Mark Talbot Holmes , Julie Deganutti , members Karine De Vahl Rubin (Host-RBC Radio), Lyudmila Parshukova, Rainer Von Recum and guests Antonio Barona, Winner RBC Business Person of the Year 2018, Sandra Richez Member of BPOY 2021 Jury, and Melaniya Georgieva (SmartCIC).
It was so nice to actually stand next to each other and network and talk business again after nearly 18 months!
2020 Awards Ceremony
Due to on-going pandemic and lockdown we regret to announce that the Gala Dinner was cancelled. We presented the winners in a virtual ceremony conducted by George Kasiliyake and Nicole Ruskell, Journalist Editor of Riviera Insider and ambassador for #cotedazurfrance and #UnJourUnTalent.
Congratulations to the Business Person of the year winner, Toby Forman, co-founder and Director of SMARTCIC Global Services. Our Start Up of The Year winner is Francesca Lazzaro, Director of Utopia Vegan Restaurant in Nice.
2019 Networking Dinner on the theme 'Women In Business'
The fabulous Scandinavian Terrace on the Croisette in Cannes was the venue for our Networking Dinner which was attended by a mix of members, guests, special invitees and other local entrepreneurs. Barbara Kimmig who runs the Hotel Villa Rivoli in Nice and Niamh Cogan President / Sales & Marketing Director of Nunii Laboratoire delivered two very well received and informative talks on their journey to the top and the situations they faced 'being women' in business. We also had the pleasure of having with us our partners the CCI represented by Elodie Carsalade - Project Manager in Communication and Community Management, Gersende Giordano - Responsable Partenariats Privés & Associatifs and the Business Adviser to the CCI, Valeria Mazzucato who spoke on the ways and means the CCI assists the development of local business organisations which proved to be so useful to the entrepreneurs present. We also had the honour of having as our guest the Consul-General of the Republic of Indonesia Asianto Sinambwela who spoke on building business relationships between the south of France and Indonesia. To wind up what was a great networking evening, representatives of Women Hackers Action Tank (What06) kept us informed about their activities. Thank you to all our participants for joining us for a memorable evening!
2018 Gala Dinner & Awards Ceremony
This year's awards ceremony took place on Friday 30th November at the Radisson Blu, Cannes.
2018 BPOY Launch Cocktail
The Riviera Business Club Business Person of the Year 2018 Awards Launch Cocktail in association with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Nice and Côte d'Azur, was hosted by the Edhec Business School at their Nice Campus last week. Sponsors, Members, Past Winners, the BPOY 2018 Panel of judges, representatives from our sponsors & hosts, Edhec Business School and guests graced the occasion. Sandra Richez, Head of Global MBA Career Services at EDHEC, made a presentation of the school and and it's services while Chairperson of the BPOY 2018 Jury Jean-Francois Boutin introduced this year's panel to the gathering. Also present was Isabelle Graniou-Marniquet - Relations exterieures EDHEC Business School.
Photo by Emmeline Boutin - RBC'S In House Photographer/ E-Marketing & Sales
Click the link below to see more photos on Facebook
2017 Gala Dinner & Awards Ceremony
The event was hosted and co-sponsored by the leading business school in France - Edhec Business School at their Nice campus with the support of and participation of the CCI - Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie Nice Côte d'Azur.
2016 Gala Dinner & Awards Ceremony
The proud winners of the RBC Business Person of the Year Award 2016 were Jennifer Rocher & Kerry Bracken Lacquement of Lavender & Rose with the Best Start up Award going to Andy Colgan of Colgan's Brewery.
The Trophies were designed & presented by ANDYANA and the evening was hosted by Sarah Lycette from Riviera Radio with Sylvain Rouget representing The CCI Nice Cote d'Azur. Thady Nolan of Ma Nolan's, the previous Business Person of the Year, was also present to congratulate his successors Lavender & Rose.
2016 Networking Cocktail Cannes
Over 40 members, guests and local entreprenuers from the region were present at the Quai 21 Business Center in Cannes.
Four Corporate Members of the RBC - Tracy Leonetti (LBS), Laurent Delcourt (Centre Delcourt Aides Auditives), Andy Swann (Andy Swann Voyage) and Isabelle Pieterman (Doggys Cool) made presentations of their respective entreprises while new Corporate Members Bruno Mallet (New Property Riviera) and Sylvie Fumiere (Andyana) were introduced to the gathering. Elodie Carsalade - Chef de projets communication multimedia - of the CCI - Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de Nice et Cote d'Azur was also present to offer advice, assistance and information to the members present.
Dorothy Foster - Chairperson of the Business Person of the Year Awards 2016 Panel of Judges was also present. Among others present was the current Business Person of the Year Winner Thady Nolan of Ma Nolan's, Mela Nolan and Laura & Jamie Pike from the Riviera Polo Club.
A recent start up on the Riviera - The New Caterers - offered an excellent Cocktail Buffet - It was a great evening and another successful event for the RBC! Our thanks to Nicholas Angel & Quai 21 - unquestionably one of the best event venues in Cannes!
Click the link below to see more photos on Facebook
2016 Networking Cocktail Dinatoire - Hotel Villa Rivoli
The Riviera Business Club Networking Cocktail Dinatoire in the elegant salon of Hotel Villa Rivoli was hosted and sponsored by RBC member and owner of this gem of a hotel in the heart of Nice, Barbara Kimmig. It was a great networking evening for RBC members & guests. In the spotlight was Andy Colgan of Colgan's Brewery, a corporate member of the RBC, whose presentation on his experience of starting a new business on the Cote d'Azur was both interesting and useful for the entreprenuers present. Barbara Kimmig shared her experience of starting up her hotel business and the Chairperson of the panel of judges for the RBC Business Person of the Year Awards 2016 Dorothy Foster of Skema Business School gave a brief outline of judging criteria etc., for this year's nominees.
Click the link below to see more photos on Facebook
2014 Gala Dinner & Awards Ceremony
Thady Nolan of Ma Nolans was selected as the RBC Business Person of The Year 2014 while the Best Start Up Award was won by Alice Andrusca of Aquarelle Cafe.
This year's awards had the support of the CCI Côte D'Azur with the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation coming in as the title sponsor. Among the other sponsors were deVere France, The Riviera Times, AngloInfo, The Marriott Riviera and Events by George. Amy Blake held the audience spell bound with her magical performance.
2013 Gala Dinner & Awards Ceremony
Greg & Marion Harris of Cote d’Azur Villas were the winners of this prestigious award of Bohemian Crystal The Crystal Caviar Trophy valued at 6000 Euros and their entire team were present to celebrate the success of the company. The Start Up of The Year Award winners, Ewan Bird & Bertrand Petit of Vin De Terre, were the worthy winners of the Waterford Crystal Trophy designed by John Rocha which was presented to them by the Agent for Crystal Caviar in France 'Fiona Weldon'.