"I Don’t Want to Travel Just to Consume. I Want to Give My Time."
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On 11 January, Félix Debrosse (E28) will fly to Latin America with Maxence Plovier, his best friend since secondary school. Their plan: to cycle from Bogotá to Buenos Aires, meeting microcredit NGOs and the people they lend to along the way.
How did the project come about?
During my bachelor’s degree in Rotterdam, I spent two months travelling alone in South-East Asia. In Cambodia, a guide told me how his family had lived through the arrival of the Khmer Rouge. I realised that, as tourists, we miss out on what people actually go through. I had travelled “like a suitcase”, ticking off stops. I wanted to set off again, but differently: I didn’t want to travel to consume; I wanted to give my time. Maxence was on board straight away. The bike was his idea: two years ago, we did a touring trip in the Pyrenees.
Why microcredit?
We are both from Lille, and Maxence’s cousin, Cyril Roquette, founded an association with a strong presence in the north of France. It sends students to microfinance institutions for six months to train borrowers in how to use their loans. Without financial education, microcredit can lead to over-indebtedness. The association put us in touch with NGOs in South America.
Why Latin America?
My cousins are Colombian: I grew up with the culture. Maxence, for his part, spent a month on his own in Guatemala. The continent appealed to us both, and the needs there are real. Many people have no access to credit because they live in precarious conditions, cannot read or write, or have no identity papers to sign a contract.
What is the aim of Cyclo Crédit Tour?
Over six months, we want to understand the journey of microcredit, both from the side of the NGOs that provide it and from that of the borrowers. What are these loans used for? Are they hard to repay? Do they really make people more self-reliant? We will turn this into a documentary film combining life on the road by bike with the reality on the ground. Finally, we want to support these NGOs financially.
Who are your partners?
We have three partner NGOs: Voces Libres in Bolivia, FINCA Perú in Peru and Nuestras Huellas in Buenos Aires. We hope to find a fourth in Colombia, at the start of the trip. Partners like these are rare: few NGOs make no profit at all and provide genuine support. We will stay a week to ten days with each one, hosted by the NGO. We will visit the communities and stay with local families, without presenting ourselves as donors.
You have launched a fundraiser. What is it for?
Our target is €15,000, to go to the four partner NGOs. In our own small way, the fundraiser shows our commitment. Donations qualify for a 66% tax reduction and will be used to create new microloans or to support borrowers, depending on needs. For example, Nuestras Huellas struggles to raise enough money to fund its loans. With a few hundred euros raised in Europe, we can fund several loans there.
Who can you count on out there?
In Colombia, on our family and friends. The project is hosted by Mission Potosí, the ESSEC association that runs a two-month mission to Bolivia every summer, and of which Voces Libres is a partner. We would also like to get in touch with the ESSEC Alumni chapters in the countries we pass through, and we would welcome any alumni contacts along our route.
How will you share the adventure?
Day by day, on our Instagram account @la_bascule__. The film will need at least six months of post-production, with a release planned for spring 2028. I’d like to show it to the ESSEC community and to students, and perhaps put on a photo exhibition. The project is also backed by several partners who have placed their trust in us, including Imago, the adventure incubator founded by French sailor Benjamin Ferré, and CROUS Cergy, which is helping to fund the film. Above all, we would like the project to live on: to pass on our partners, our route and our advice to students who might want to take up the torch.
Follow and contact Cyclo Crédit Tour on Insta.
Support the project.
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