Money can’t buy happiness, but it does. Guillemette Faure examines how the French manage their budgets. Feed boss Anthony Bourbon, 30, took part in drills this week
“That’s the first milestone, a million. You really start from below…” Anthony Bourbon wouldn’t tell us how much he added later. It’s just that he’s on his way to the second milestone he’s set for himself: 100 million euros. And then there’s the third case, a billion. It’s part of his plan. “It unfolds when you have the first million.»
Anthony Bourbon, 30, is the founder and owner of Feed, a company that sells meal replacements. He is currently immersed in reading Enfances de classe (Le Seuil, 2019) under the direction of Bernard Lahire. Her childhood class took place in the Bordeaux region, with a depressed mother and a violent father, a train controller. From them, he heard encouragement to “work at McDonald’s and make a little money”.
What makes him always dream bigger? “Why can’t I have the same career as Xavier Niel, I won’t get married, and I don’t know who my daughter is?…” He remembers sitting in the back of a bus at age 16, leaving the journey wondering to him where to sleep and where to eat at night. He’s on the street “with [his] savings” because he’s always had a sense of savings. He struggled, but quickly got started with friends in small business, scooters, real estate, while pursuing a master’s degree in business and real estate law… until the launch of Feed in 2016.
“Today, compared to young people my age, I am rich. Coming from a disadvantaged background is still part of his identity.” Now I happen to be invited to Bercy with ministers, and when I see wealth… completely out of touch…… I told myself they would freak out if the “yellow vests” paid 1,200 balls! »
‘Everyone who inherited doesn’t look happy’
Obviously, born frustrated, “It’s so unfair, it’s just born done…” But those who were born good didn’t envy him. “In the circumstances around me, all the people who inherit seem unhappy and don’t appreciate anything… When I invite people to restaurants, the bourgeoisie never says thank you. I asked them: ‘Is it delicious? ‘Did you like it? So what do we say at the end? “They’re used to their comfort zone, they’re used to having everything, which I find shameful. They’re disabled.»
