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Our approach > Case studies > Le Chemin des Fleurs

Le Chemin des Fleurs

16

full-time workers

70%

women

400k

organic flowers per year

52

tonnes of organic vegetables per year

Le Chemin des Fleurs overview

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We have been working alongside Le Chemin des Fleurs (formerly Fleurs de Cocagne) since its very inception. The charity, an organic horticultural farm in Avrainville (c.40 km south of Paris), was established in 2014 to help excluded and vulnerable individuals, primarily women, rebuild confidence and self-esteem through worthy and rewarding agricultural work.

Le Chemin des Fleurs redeveloped an abandoned farm, first growing flowers and providing high quality bouquets which its employees sell locally and to businesses, complemented by the production of organic vegetables in 2019.

Why we decided to support Le Chemin des Fleurs

PAI Community supports Le Chemin des Fleurs with yearly donations and fundraising events – including two sponsored races, raising more than €20k each time, but through regular contacts and interactions, and sitting on the board of the charity, PAI Community also supports the charity as if it were a portfolio company, bringing more than financial donations, PAI Community is advising, mentoring and helping a talented and dedicated management team in making connections that will further strengthen its mission.

Le Chemin des Fleurs transformation journey

In 2019, it expanded into organic vegetables, and it now employs the equivalent of 16 full-time workers, offering training and, where necessary, support with health, housing and addiction with the help of a full-time dedicated social worker.

Its performance would make any portfolio manager proud: over the last five years, Le Chemin des Fleurs’s turnover has grown 10-fold. In 2020, despite the pandemic, it increased turnover by 26%.

PAI Community played a key role in helping Le Chemin des Fleurs conclude a transformative transaction with the acquisition of the site (land and building) which it operates.

The site has been bought by a SPV with financing made available by a significant one-off donation from PAI Community together with amounts provided by some individuals that Le Chemin des Fleurs will repay over time, therefore becoming the sole owner of the site.

Leading the negotiations that took place with the landlord, PAI Community played a crucial role in the site acquisition which is now the cornerstone of the next development stage of the charity as it will give it sole control over the site and the ability to invest in developing the property.

This is unlocking potential to broaden the reach of the charity, adding opportunities to enlarge the local impact and attraction of the site, adding new skills to employ more people (maintenance man, cook), but more importantly, on the back of investments, the charity will become a reference in mastering the ability to grow organic flowers: Le Chemin des Fleurs is now in a position to build upon an ambitious development plan with such planned investments allowing it to widen its reach in France, franchising its horticultural know-how to third parties, among which some will hopefully become copycats in other regions.

What’s more, we’re also favouring connections between Le Chemin des Fleurs with PAI’s portfolio companies (MyFlower and Armacell).

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© PAI 2026 | PAI Partners 2019 | PAI SAS: Registered in France No. 904 479 649, PAI SAS is a fund management company approved and regulated by the AMF in France (approval number GP-20240001). PAI Partners S.à r.l. : Registered in Luxembourg No. B136689. PAI Partners S.à r.l. is a fund management company approved and regulated by the CSSF in Luxembourg (approval number N. A00000625). PAI Partners (UK) Limited: Registered in the United Kingdom No 04015677. PAI Partners (UK) Limited is a financial advisory company approved and regulated by the FCA in the United Kingdom (approval number 984663). PAI and PAI Partners are registered trademarks.

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