Toulouse's appeal is undeniable. With a population of almost 500,000, the capital of the Haute-Garonne region boasts over 65,000 corporate head offices in all business sectors, with a particular focus on the aeronautical sector. Arthur Loyd ranks Toulouse as the 2nd most attractive city in France, behind Lyon. "Toulouse had serious ambitions to steal the top spot from the City of Lights, but it holds on to a very respectable second place. According to Arthur Loyd, the city is suffering from a lacklustre commercial real estate market. That's why so many entrepreneurs have chosen the Ville Rose as the location for their company headquarters.
Let's discover all the advantages of Toulouse as a location for your company.
Toulouse is favored by many entrepreneurs for its peaceful, everyday living environment. It's easier to settle here than in Paris, where real estate prices are significantly higher. So you can take advantage of quality business opportunities at lower cost. Located close to Spain and the Pyrenees mountain range, the city's geographical position places it at a crossroads for economic development. And it shows: between 2013 and 2018, Toulouse was ranked France's number 1 city in terms of demographic growth, according to INSEE.
Toulouse is a city with a bright future, thanks to its 130,000 students, including 15,000 foreigners.
Numerous companies of all sizes have decided to locate their operations in Toulouse, offering a wide range of job opportunities throughout the metropolitan area.
Airbus is an emblematic employer in the Toulouse metropolitan area, attracting a large number of subcontractors in the aeronautics industry. It is also home to specialized engineering schools (Sup'Aéro), public scientific and technological establishments (CNRS, INRA, INSERM, etc.) and public industrial and commercial establishments (CNES, ONERA, CEA Tech, etc.).
Other major groups, such as Thalès and Safran, have decided to locate their headquarters here.
This ecosystem is supported in particular by the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), which assists entrepreneurs and micro-entrepreneurs in the creation, development or transfer of their projects. Other local organizations support economic players with a wide range of assistance (subsidies, strategic support, search for financing, etc.).
In addition to its Compans-Caffarelli business center, located in the heart of the city, Toulouse boasts numerous coworking spaces throughout the city.
If you want to set up your company's head office in Toulouse, which type of domiciliation should you choose? It's a question of carefully considering your own project in order to identify the advantages and disadvantages of each domiciliation option.
However, the best value-for-money solution is to use the services of a domiciliation company.
While less costly than renting or buying business premises, the latter enables you to separate your business address from your personal address, gain credibility by having a strategic address, and limit your administrative work by having access to a wide range of complementary services.
What are these services?
First of all, in addition to an advantageous head office address, a domiciliation company offers the possibility of taking advantage of a corporate mail management service. The latter, while keeping business life separate from personal life, provides a fixed location for receiving mail.
Mail can then be held until it is received by the executive directly on site. However, domiciliation companies also offer forwarding to a specific address .
A scanning option is also available. This enables company directors to receive their mail just-in-time, directly into their e-mail inbox.
Secondly, through a domiciliation company, you can obtain a duty office or telephone secretarial service. This is often a significant boost to a company's credibility.
A secretary is in charge of filtering calls according to your instructions, redirecting calls or taking messages... All this without forgetting a presentation of the company and its manager.
Last but not least, a domiciliation company often offers a rental service for meeting rooms and offices, so that important meetings can be held to develop the business. These are of course fully equipped. This represents a gain in professionalism.
In conclusion, preferring the provinces to the capital can be a strategic choice, depending on your project. That's why it's important to have a clear idea of your project, so you know where to locate your business.
Written by our expert Paul LASBARRERES-CANDAU
November 25, 2021
