Our connections to our industries and Regions Promoting economic dynamism One of LINK’s key priorities is the special responsibility that VIVESCIA has to its region of origin. This is a role that is particularly dear to our hearts, and which gives us a responsibility in terms of the agro-ecological transition, the sustainability of farms and solidarity. Entrepreneurship and the desire to open new avenues for growth have been in our DNA for a century. We have decided to go a step further and widen our reach to other communities and regions by taking part in projects to help vulnerable groups, helping business creators, supporting training and career change programmes, partnering schemes to get young people into work, coordinating projects and opening up our doors to our stakeholders and sharing information 276 with them. ➜ Contributing to the local economy - In the Cooperative’s land, in APPRENTICE BAKERS the Grand Est region, VIVESCIA Group’s contribution goes well behind trained. beyond the excellence it promotes in value chains (see pages 46-47). To accurately quantify the total impact of our business, we launched a socio-economic study in autumn 2022 with the help of French start-up Vertigo Lab. Finalised in May-June 2023, it helps us measure the impact of our business on the region, in particular in terms of the number of jobs created (see opposite). This work will help us calibrate and better target our future action. In 2022, VIVESCIA signed a three-year partnership with the French 125 Federation of food banks to 昀椀ght food insecurity in the cooperative’s region. As well as extending the partnership launched in 2020-2021, this ARTISAN BAKERS agreement aims to cover the annual 昀氀our needs of the most vulnerable helped to start their populations in the Marne, Aube, Ardennes, Meuse and Haute-Marne own business administrative departments of France. A second edition of the wheat donation initiative was organised until October 2023 (see inset), and a great wave of solidarity swept over the region with employees from all over the group helping local food banks. 48