KEVIN MERTENS: 0:00

You have, indeed, people who sometimes woke up in the morning and decided that they wanted to have a side job or a full time activity as self-employed people, and we can act as a sort of security net to be like, wait, maybe a bit, did you check everything you need to check before starting? They are going to give more information about really what's going behind having an activity, selecting your products so that it answers a real need that exists. So it's basically helping people asking themselves the right questions. Most of the time, people are really focused on the activity in itself, and they didn't think about the tools they're going to have. We have people asking us, do you have a tool that you know that we can use to have a website? It can be an easy one. Do you have something that will, uh, make it possible to send newsletters to my client, or do I handle my invoices? Odoo was able to provide this service to lots of people starting the company.

RICHARD SHALL: 1:04

Hello Oodoers, and welcome to another episode of Planet Odoo. I trust you are ready to kick off your day on the right note, fueled by an irresistible curiosity to learn something new. I am Richard, your host, and I'm excited to have a fantastic guest with me today. Kevin from Partner Professional. For those of you that have entrepreneurial aspirations and are looking to discover the world of business ownership, this episode is for you and you will not want to miss it. Joining forces with Kevin. We're here to share tips and tricks to help boost and strengthen your startup experience. So grab your favorite beverage and snack, settle in and let us embark on this journey together. Hello, Kevin.

KEVIN MERTENS: 1:40

Hello, Richard.

RICHARD SHALL: 1:41

Thanks for joining us today here in Louvain-la-Neuve.

KEVIN MERTENS: 1:48

Thank you.

RICHARD SHALL: 1:48

Uh, why don't we begin with telling our audience a bit more about Partena Professional? Who are you exactly?

KEVIN MERTENS: 1:48

Yeah. So Partena Professional is a social group here in Belgium. And to help people understand, it's basically divided in three main activities. So you have the Social Security part where we collect social security that self-employed people pay in order to have their Social Security guaranteed. So their retirement, health, health insurance and so on. You have the Social secretariat, the biggest part of Partena Professional as far as the number of employees. And what they do is basically calculate payslips, lots of HR related advice, activities, legal advice. And then you have the smallest department, mine, the business counter. What we do is we are sort of the opening door to the world of entrepreneurship, because everyone who wants to create an activity, a business in Belgium, has to go to a business counter and we create a business number of all the self-employed people in Belgium.

RICHARD SHALL: 2:49

Okay. So do you have any competitors who do the same thing or are you just the main one?

KEVIN MERTENS: 2:53

No, we have competitors. Uh, there is around like six, six, seven of them. We more or less like banks do the same activity but with, uh, focuses on specific groups of entrepreneurs or, yeah, specific fields of activities. But we do the main sort of, of job.

RICHARD SHALL: 3:11

Okay. So Partena Professional is the small department that you're in. Is that correct?

KEVIN MERTENS: 3:15

No, Partena Professional is the whole group.

RICHARD SHALL: 3:17

Okay, the whole group.

KEVIN MERTENS: 3:18

And within Partena, which has competitors, we are the smallest entity.

RICHARD SHALL: 3:22

Okay. And did you just the smallest entity begin from the very beginning or was it something more?

KEVIN MERTENS: 3:27

Uh, it has been created when the Belgian state decided that registering companies would not be handled by official State Department anymore, but would be delegated to private entities like partner professionals. So that's when business contours were created.

RICHARD SHALL: 3:43

Okay. And so kind of what is the history of Partena as a whole.

KEVIN MERTENS: 3:46

So Partena is a old player in the economy of Belgium. It has links to Partenamut as well, which is which is a health insurance company. And it has been helping and gravitating around independence entrepreneurs in Belgium for quite a long time. We have hundreds of thousands of people who have their payslips, for example, handled by Partena Professional, and you have thousands of self-employed people who pay their Social security, uh, via Partena.

RICHARD SHALL: 4:18

Okay, excellent. And so then if I understand correctly, if whenever someone wants to start a brand new business, they come to you. And what kind of help or guidance would you give them?

KEVIN MERTENS: 4:28

So there is a legal part of in the process that we do, which is so creating the business number, we have to check some elements to see if this person has the right to be self-employed here in Belgium. But this legal part, as far as added value for our customers, is rather limited. It's a sort of thing they have to do or, well, I have to go to a business counter to create my business number, but we try to add more value, more information. So for example, we will explain to them how it works Social Security, how much they will have to pay, how it's calculated will say, well, did you think about having an insurance for for your activity? You have to have a specific bank account. Did you think about that before and so on. So basically covering the basics of what they need to do to open a company as a sort of first line advice.

RICHARD SHALL: 5:26

Okay, right. So many of these people might not even know what the basics are. And you essentially guide them, hold their hand through this whole process from start talking about the business to actually making it a reality. Is that correct?

KEVIN MERTENS: 5:38

Or contact with a self-employed people, as far as the Business Council is concerned, is rather limited as far as time is concerned. Because you come into our offices, you stay for like 50 minutes, one hour, and most of the time you're good to go. The long term relationship between self-employed people and Partena Professional will be with the Social Security department, because they will have to pay their Social Security for the whole time of the activity. As far as we are concerned, we have a department, a smaller team in our in our department that's called the Dreams Lab. And if people have hesitations about how to start their activity, who would be their clients, where they have to go, how does it work as far as marketing is concerned, and so on. They can book this this workshops with the The Dreams Lab team. As far as we are concerned, the contact is rather limited, limited. But you have indeed people who sometimes weirdly woke up in the morning and decided that they wanted to have a side job or a full time activity as self-employed people, and we can act as a sort of security net to be like, wait, maybe a bit, did you check everything you need to check before starting?

RICHARD SHALL: 6:52

Okay, so you're more or less a one stop shop for anyone who wants to start a business...

KEVIN MERTENS: 6:57

Absolutely.

RICHARD SHALL: 6:58

...to get off the ground. And what are the biggest challenges that these entrepreneurs face when it comes to getting the business off the ground?

KEVIN MERTENS: 7:05

It can be hard to answer that because it really depends on the type of people type of project they have. You have, for example, uh, well, if we divide, uh, people coming into our offices into two main groups, you would have people who want to start a main activity. They will be self-employed, and it's going to be the the only activity. And you have people who have that sort of side job. If it's on the side and you're employed during your, your, your weekdays, then it's easier than most people think. There isn't that much of a challenge. There isn't that much of a risk that you're taking, because your Social Security will still be a guaranteed via your status of employee. And as far as the social security system of Belgium is concerned, you pay Social Security based on what you make. But if you are employed and you don't make that much, then you don't pay anything or not that much. So what we always say to people who want to start a self-employed activity, well, not really self-employed because it's on the side. It's like, go ahead, you have nothing to lose. Not that many challenges you can try, you can make mistakes. You can take your time to find the perfect product, the perfect client, the perfect place to do that doesn't really matter because you are not taking that many risks. However, if there is someone who wants to, wants to have be be self-employed as their main activity, then they need to take a bit more time before starting it in order to know that they are really doing something that makes sense. And in Belgium, you have a galaxy of of structures that are linked to the city you in, the region, non-for profit organizations that work to help people having a good start as self-employed, as a self-employed person. And most people don't really know that. So they think that they can't be helped or that there is no specific structure to help them. And so, for example, they want to open a bar or restaurant. They start not even knowing that there is help provided to them. So the main challenge for many people is to know where to look for information, who to contact and where to get help, to know what they need to do before starting.

RICHARD SHALL: 9:32

And how do you increase their awareness of the services that you provide?

KEVIN MERTENS: 9:35

We are telling them that there are lots of actors because sometimes they don't even know. So for example, if they are in a certain city that we know because all our offices are located in, in main cities here in Belgium, we'll be like, ah, did you, did you know that there are there is help offered by the city to to open a shop to renovate the interior of the shop. Did, you know? And most people don't even know. Sometimes you have people that are unemployed and at some point they think, well, maybe employment is maybe not for me. Sometimes I think it's going to be better if they are their own boss. There is help for people who want to be to create their own job, and it's linked to the fact that they are unemployed and if they start their status of self-employed before activating these helps, then they may not be able to access it anymore. So sometimes when they come into offices and they say, right now I'm unemployed, I want to start a business. We activate like the warning button. Did you contact the authorities? Do you know if you are eligible for help, financial help or guidance because you want to create your own activity?

RICHARD SHALL: 10:51

Okay, that's really nice. A good safety net, as you said. Yeah. Uh, so I imagine this any random person who wakes up this morning and says, you know what, I want to start my own business. They might not have even gone to business school. So what kind of assistance does Dream Lab help them with? These people who don't have any experience running a business?

KEVIN MERTENS: 11:09

Uh, they are going to give more information about, really what's going behind having an activity, selecting your products so that it answers a real need that exists with your clients. So basically, you have some people who say, oh, maybe I'm going to open a pizzeria and I can repair computers, and it could be a fine idea to repair computers and serve pizzas to people at the same time. Dream Slam will challenge them by saying, okay, but do you do you think they have you asked people, do you think that there are people who want to grab a slice of pizza and have the computer repaired at the same time by the same person? Don't you think that it's going to have repercussions, repercussions as far as, uh, health is concerned or the, the quality of your pizza or whatever. So it's basically helping people asking themselves the right questions.

RICHARD SHALL: 12:02

So you're essentially going to challenge them a little bit to understand more about the the market that they're trying to do, coach them through the thought process of, okay, is this the right product? Is this the right market, maybe even the right location? Right.

KEVIN MERTENS: 12:15

Yeah, absolutely.

RICHARD SHALL: 12:16

And, uh, is there anything more about the challenges that they face, like marketing or getting into like expanding that further?

KEVIN MERTENS: 12:22

Yeah. So you have you there are also going to ask them how they are planning on being visible to their clients if they are going to use social media or not, and if they are going to, how are they going to take some time to create the content they need to show their potential clients and so on. There is also a basic tool that they can use, and it's the it's a Canva canvas where you basically will state everything that's the starting point of your activity. Who will be my clients? How am I going to reach them? Via which channels? What will be my value proposition? How will I be different than my than other other companies doing the same thing in my in my field of activity? How much will it make? How much do I need to live from this activity? Some people don't even know. That's the the starting point of how to start a business.

RICHARD SHALL: 13:18

Okay, so it's just like a thought exercise to kind of pinpoint every single different topic they need to consider and think about in order to make the business successful. Right? Yep. And, uh, I guess how long does this process usually take? Is it very quick?

KEVIN MERTENS: 13:32

Uh, it's free. It's three mornings or afternoons, three half days, and you have several weeks between them so that you can fill in some exercises. Think about it, coming prepared to the workshops and at the end of it, if you want, you can also have a dream test, um, where you can have you can be challenged by someone who's active in the field, people from Partena Professional, you present your project, and you have then feedback.

RICHARD SHALL: 14:01

Okay, great. So it's mostly just the beginning process of it. And after they're done with this program, they're they leave the nest and they fly off on their own.

KEVIN MERTENS: 14:08

Yeah, a dream lab. There's there's also a shop. Well it's a, it's a project they've already been doing, like in Brussels and in another city that I can't remember. So basically they, they have a space in a shopping street and you can have access to this shop for a week, two weeks, a month to propose your products to potential clients. And in this space that partner professional is renting, you have you can have four, five, six people that are working with partner professionals. And it's a way for them to to to test and to see if clients are receptive to their products.

RICHARD SHALL: 14:47

Okay, great. And how is like the success rate of this been so far? Do you have that kind of information?

KEVIN MERTENS: 14:53

I don't personally, because I'm not working directly for Dreams Lab, but I know that as far. Here's how it works. And if participants were happy about it, it was a great success because it offered them the possibility to have contact with their clients in a shopping street without having to pay for this space. So it's what one of our main goals is to make that starting your activity, trying it and see if it works is least risky and the most accessible.

RICHARD SHALL: 15:27

Okay, so giving everyone a real leg up when it comes to starting their own business. Okay, great. And what are the costs a startup usually face when starting their business?

KEVIN MERTENS: 15:37

So if you want to start your company, your activity as a natural person. So basically yourself, it doesn't cost much. You have the legal fee of €105.50, so that the Business Council creates the business number. We fill in the activities you're going to do, the address where you're going to work, the bank account that's linked to the activity. Then if you want us to register you to the VAT, you add 70 something euros. So with €183, you're good to go. Uh, afterwards you may have an insurance that you need to to to take. You may have extra cost linked to, for example, your accountant. But creating the business number, uh, as a natural person is €183 if you want to create a company and so that you become the administrator of a company. It costs more because you have to go to a notary. There has to be the statutes of the company that are registered and so on. So you are more like in the €2,000. But most of the time when people start, they start as natural persons, and if they are successful, they switch to a company.

RICHARD SHALL: 16:53

So it's quite affordable to start a brand new business in Belgium. Correct? That's good news for all of us out there. Now how about the continued costs? Do you help them find like financing if they I mean, if they want to build a restaurant, they maybe need to do some construction work or how does that how do you help them do that?

KEVIN MERTENS: 17:10

Uh, we have, for example, a partnership with microStart. So if someone needs to have to, to access a loan and for whatever reason, it's hard for them to, to take this loan, uh, microStart will be able, in most cases, to offer them micro credit in order to, you know, to, to to get the start that they wouldn't have access to if they hadn't sought this loan. We don't help people accessing financing. We can, as I said, direct them to, for example, the Walloon region, Brussels region, Flanders, to tell them, well, that's where you're going to find this help. But as far as the continued cost linked to Partena, the only one there is is the social security contribution that they need to pay. And as I said, this is a percentage of what they make. So if they don't make much then they won't have to pay much. So it's it's a continued cost that's affordable in some point because it's, it's linked to how much they make.

RICHARD SHALL: 18:15

So you're more of a facilitator, pointing them in the right direction to find people or organizations and businesses to help them launch their business as well. Right.

KEVIN MERTENS: 18:23

The business counter is a sort of signpost. Uh, people have questions. Most of the time. We are not the one who will be able to make the whole process with them, but part of our job is being able to point them in the right direction.

RICHARD SHALL: 18:39

Okay, so you'll even facilitate the networking process, maybe find another business owner who's doing something similar or has experience in it to get their guidance from. Mhm. Okay. Excellent. That's good to know. And then how does uh Odoo fit in the picture.

KEVIN MERTENS: 18:52

Um so we have partnerships because as I said a part of our job is to direct people in the right direction. And when we talk with people who want to start their business, we listen to their questions. And if we can't provide the answer ourselves, we try and find partners who will be able to do so. And quite often we have people asking us, uh, do you have a tool that you know that we can use to have a website? It can be an easy one. Uh, do you have something that will, uh, make it possible to send newsletters to my client, or do I handle my invoices, how do I control my stock? And so on. And we saw that Odoo was able to provide this service to lots of people starting their company. So our partnership with Odoo is while people are in our offices, um, at some point in the conversation, if we see that they are going to need this kind of tool, um, we're like, did you think about an IT solution for your your activity? Uh, do you did you think about your invoices or going to, to create them, to manage them? Sometimes they did. They have an option, but most of the time they are really focused on the activity in itself. And they didn't think about the tools they're going to have. So during the conversation we're like, do you want to book a call with someone from Odoo? And they're going to explain the their, their tools, how it works, how it can be useful to you. And so if they are interested, we book the call with them. And. And Odoo can explain. They're going to help them.

RICHARD SHALL: 20:30

Okay. So then why do you recommend a tool so quickly in a process when they even haven't started a business yet?

KEVIN MERTENS: 20:37

Because if you start with the wrong tool, or at least basic tools that won't, that you won't be able to to keep. If your activity grows up, then you're starting on the wrong foot. For example, you've been thinking about your idea and you didn't think about the tools. So when you start, you'll be like, ah, I can go ahead with a basic chat app to to contact my clients. I can work fine with Excel and send emails and it can work for a bit if it's a small activity, a couple of work per per month. But if the activity grows and you start having hundreds of clients, hundreds of projects, then you won't be able to work with an Excel, an Excel file, and at some point you will have to switch. But you may have chosen a tool for a specific part of your activity, so you've already paid for that. But you need to take another one and then another one. And then you have to copy paste the information that was on your Excel to another tool. It's going it's really time consuming and not that efficient. If people start directly with a suite like Odoo, where they will be able to add tools on the go when they grow up, then it's it's easier for them.

RICHARD SHALL: 21:51

And how many people do you see on any given day or week?

KEVIN MERTENS: 21:55

We have up in our offices, we have up to five appointments that can be booked a day, and then in the morning you have sometimes people coming in to try and see if there is access to a sort of appointment for short question and so on. So live, it could go to up to five people a day, but via emails, calls and so on, and it can be 100 people a week, something like that.

RICHARD SHALL: 22:19

Okay, great. It's good to know there's always someone there to back you up when you want to reach for your dreams. Well, thank you so much, Kevin. I really appreciate it. It was fascinating to learn more about it.

KEVIN MERTENS: 22:28

It was a really great for me too.

RICHARD SHALL: 22:30

If you have anything else you want to say or add to our listeners, feel free.

KEVIN MERTENS: 22:34

If I could add something, it's really that if someone is already employed and if the parts, the Social Security part is, is covered, if they have any sort of idea and they think, like, maybe I could be self-employed, but I don't know, is it risky or not? Am I going to lose money with that? Go ahead, create your business number. It's fine really. There is nearly no risk taken if you want, I don't know, to create dried flowers, bouquet and sell them to your friends or neighbors or whatever. It's fine. Go ahead. You are not taking any risk.

RICHARD SHALL: 23:09

Okay? So just do it.

KEVIN MERTENS: 23:10

Yep. Absolutely.

RICHARD SHALL: 23:12

Well, fantastic. Thank you again, Kevin. Thank you for being here.

KEVIN MERTENS: 23:15

Have a nice day.

RICHARD SHALL: 23:16

Well that's it for today's episode and we hope you enjoyed our discussion. This episode was the first of a two part series on entrepreneurship, so be sure to tune in next time and hear more about Joule's startup journey with Odoo, and we're excited to share their insights with you. Until then, keep exploring, stay curious, and as always, stay awesome.