The Youngbloods

Jacques Christophe Branellec and are the new guards behind the French- Filipino wave of progress. Shauna Jay Popple Williams gets the 411

hey have been friends since birth, Jacques Christophe Branellec and Erwan Heussaff, who cheekily interjects, “Well, I came first.” The unstoppable FrenchFilipino businessmen have persistently pushed for the Francophile connection and viceversa—Heussaff chiefly in the F&B and agriculture sectors; Branellec in the jewellery sector as well as the arenas of fashion, culture, and music.

Understandably so, as both are board members of the French Chamber of Commerce Philippines—Branellec for three years and Heussaff for almost two. The Chamber was founded, in fact, by their illustrious fathers, Jacques Branellec and Louis Heussaff, together with another family friend and prominent French figure in society, Philippe Gauthier. It will be celebrating 35 years in 2018.

The younger Branellec and the younger Heussaff have been dynamic and staunch supporters of all that the chamber fosters and endorses. A non-profit organisation, its main thrust is to develop business opportunities between the two countries, being linked with the activities of the French Embassy and its business arm, Business France. “That is the main part of the job for Erwan and me—to be the ambassadors of the Philippines to France and to showcase the best of what the country has to offer,” says Branellec.

The organisation is also part of a global network of French chambers called the CCI (Chamber of Commerce and Industry).