Presentation - Objectives

The Club is a transfer from a successful French model called Club XXIe Siècle (http://www.21eme-siecle.org).

The Club XXIe Siècle is an association created in 2004 by high-ranking officials and business managers with an immigrant background, with the mission to promote the French Club diversity policy through the promotion of equal opportunities.

The members of the French Club were members of the French elite, like Mr.BéchirMana, secretary of the Minister of Defence and adviser to Jacques Chirac; Mrs.RasidaDati, member of the European Parliament, and who, among other positions, was adviser to Nicolas Sarkozy; and Mr. Hakim El Karoui, technical adviser to the French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

Currently, the French President in charge is Mr. Haiba Ouaissi. The Club has over 300 members among bankers, business leaders and high-ranking officials, and more than 60 large internationally known companies (L’Oréal, BNP, Peugeot-Citroën…) are also part of the Club.

The French organizational model of the Club XXIe Siècle leverages the enrichment of values provided by the immigration and the spirit of entrepreneurship, allowing the recovery and the boost of entrepreneurial values and also supporting immigrants and their children in situations of social exclusion.

Given this French model of success, the Delegation of the Government of Catalonia to France took the first steps with the desire to adapt the French Club XXIe Siècle to the own characteristics of Catalonia.

The study of the French model began with the cooperation between:

• The Delegation of the Government of Catalonia to France.
• The Federation of Sea Employers, IVEAEMPA.
• The business organisation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of Catalonia, PIMEC.
• The French Club XXIe Siècle.
• The financial institution FinanCités.

As a result of this study, it was considered appropriate to establish an alliance with the Club XXIe Siècle, which has been a successful catalyst and facilitator of diversity and entrepreneurship in France, in order to create the Club XXIe Siècle of Catalonia. The Catalan Club XXIe Siècle has similar characteristics to the French Club, and has the aim to take advantage of the enrichment of values that diversity brings in and the entrepreneurship in Catalonia.