Édouard Bardon and Jean-Gaël Try created the startup Le Bon Mojo, whose objective is to create educational content around sexuality, but also to offer healthy products on the subject. Édouard, an ESDES graduate, looks back on the adventure and the positioning of the company which wants to put an end to taboos.
Édouard Bardon’s journey, from finance to entrepreneurship
Can you look back on your academic and professional career?
I trained at ESDES 13 years ago. I chose a business school because, after high school, I was lost. There is very little guidance support and I therefore chose a 5-year post-baccalaureate business school, because it seemed to me to be a fairly general training course. I chose ESDES because it allowed me to go abroad twice during my studies. During my career, I spent eight months in Shanghai and eight months in Brussels.
In my third year I specialized in finance. At the end of my studies, I had the opportunity to do my final internship in Brazil, in a startup specializing in tax consulting for imports. I stayed in this company for a year, then I was approached by JCDecaux to take care of the control part in Latin America. In the end, I stayed six and a half years in Brazil.
I went to China, to Shanghai, for 8 months and to Brussels. In the third year, I specialized in Finance and at the end of my studies, 2013-2014, I had the opportunity to do an end-of-studies internship in Brazil, in a startup that provided tax consulting for imports.
What made you want to pursue entrepreneurship?
At the end of my studies, I asked myself the question of setting up a company in the sexuality sector. Then, in 2019, just after my return to France, COVID arrived. I was therefore in partial activity because my job forced me to travel outside France. We had to take care. So I made the decision to return to my project at the time and that’s how I created Le Bon Mojo.
Everything you need to know about Le Bon Mojo
Why embark on a project related to sexuality?
The observation is simple: sexuality is a subject that concerns everyone, which is a source of complexity and frustration and on which there are very few brands which address the public in terms of education and awareness. Recently, we have been talking more and more about female sexuality, but the subject is very often addressed by women, for women. But men also need to be trained on these topics.
With The Good Mojowe wanted to create a brand that is aimed at men, but which is not reserved for men. We want to be inclusive in communication and talk to everyone. There are a lot of things to discover about female sexuality, but also about male sexuality.
What is Good Mojo?
Our mission is to support the French in the discovery of sexuality. We position ourselves on three pillars:
- Education.
- The lifting of taboos, by discussing subjects that concern everyone and which are part of the daily lives of the French.
- The democratization of access to pleasure. And that’s why we produce our own products.
The particularity of the sexuality sector is that the market has not evolved at the same speed as that of classic cosmetics. We still find controversial ingredients that have disappeared from normal cosmetics. Le Bon Mojo modernizes the world of sexuality and addresses these subjects, with natural products, made in France.
How do you work on lifting taboos and education?
Today, we go through a lot of content production on our site and our social networks. But we want to go further by surrounding ourselves with professionals. We have no particular credibility on these subjects, so we surround ourselves with sexologists, gynecologists, sexologists, psychologists… We want to offer a platform on which you can book consultations, participate in workshops and go further in the accompaniment.
On all our products, we offer unique QR Codes which allow you to obtain content in order to give it a personality and to create fun and educational content around subjects related to sexuality.
Why did you choose to start with lubricant?
It is a product intended for everyone, women and men. In France, lubricant still has a very bad image and this illustrates quite well the general ignorance surrounding sexuality. When we talk to women and men about lubricant, we find that men consider that they don’t need it and that women are embarrassed.
In addition, we have developed our own formula. Most players will pay for existing formulas from laboratories with products removed from traditional cosmetics or whose effects are sometimes harmful, such as glycerin. We want to offer a healthy product, made in France, which meets our demanding specifications.
The future of Le Bon Mojo
Do you plan to launch other products?
We will probably position ourselves on the sex toysbecause it is a tool of pleasure which allows one to diversify sexuality, but which is still the object of embarrassment. When we talk about sexuality, we must not neglect the pleasure part. This is the project on which we have given priority, even if it is still complex because everything is manufactured in China.
We also imagine other products around the world of sexuality such as condoms, ambient products, lighting, sheet perfumes, massage oils, intimate gels, etc.
How do you imagine the future of Le Bon Mojo?
Ultimately, we don’t want to be just a brand that sells products. We want to be the reference in France in terms of sexuality. Whatever question we ask ourselves, whether it’s pleasure or anatomical, we want you to be able to turn to Le Bon Mojo. To do this, we will develop the specialist side with an ecosystem of professionals and a platform on which users could exchange with them.
We also want to offer experiences around sexuality with, why not, partnerships with hotels, restaurants, etc. Finally, on the product side, the market is booming and we want to continue to release quality sexuality products and get away from clichés linked to sexshops.
