The challenges of a young industrial company

I’d get “go back to your pots and pans,” “a woman doesn’t belong here,” but like the Capricorn that I am, when something like that happens to me, it gives me strength and tells me “if it’s bothering them, maybe I do have my place here.”

The challenges of a young industrial company

Marie-Christine Mariani, founder and manager of MCM STEEL since 1998

Barriers to launch?

The main barriers, at the time of the company’s incorporation, were in finding a bank to follow me. It was an obstacle because I was 29 at the time, so I was too young for them, and on the other hand, I didn’t have enough experience. So naturally enough, it wasn’t easy. Next, the fact that I didn’t really have a name or experience in the field. That complicated things. Beyond that, the mistakes you make starting out in general. And also knowing how to manage the business, even if it’s small. The fact that I was a woman didn’t make things any easier. And it’s true that in the beginning when I started the company and I’d go see certain clients or suppliers, maybe it bothered some competitors, and I’d get “go back to your pots and pans,” “a woman doesn’t belong here,” but like the Capricorn that I am, when something like that happens to me, it gives me strength and tells me “if it’s bothering them, maybe I do have my place here.”

The question of funding

I started the company with a certain amount of capital, I tried to keep within what I could. Then I found funding through the bank little by little after the first year, the second year, as we grew. I had left my earnings in the company to be able to grow as we went along. Also, customers who sometimes paid in advance to be able to get material. It allowed me to cover the register. I must say I’ve been through some pretty tough times. Really, in the early years. Overall, I think the first eight years were pretty hard. It was long, long, long, because as the company grew, there was a need for more. There were more and more suppliers, you knew more people, more customers… so everything was more. And things weren’t following. It was always more, more, more. But another important thing, and maybe it’s an asset too, is that I never bit off more than I could chew. So, if I knew I could build this building and company in 2010, I wouldn’t have done it in 2007.

The first challenges?

At first, it was really trying to find merchandise, figuring out how to go about selling it, how to sell and to whom. And it’s true that I went international right away because the material I was offering wasn’t always the material used in Europe.

How to absorb changing costs?

You have to know how to manage it through direct purchase and sale without too much stock. Use your stock to cover certain markets that need it, but without overdoing it. And above all, try to look to markets that accept the increased prices.