Rachel Delacour - The quintessential CSR serial entrepreneur
“Woman In” is series of portraits dedicated to women who invest their talent into all areas of business and society through their experience, personality and commitment. We have decided to celebrate remarkable women on and beyond the symbolic date of 8 March to highlight their diverse backgrounds and their powerful impact on society.”
The series was put together in honour of International Women’s Day by the Au Féminin by SGPB club. The club began three years ago to help women with decision-making around wealth management and finances.
This is part of our role as a responsible private bank, as is playing our part as we transition towards a more sustainable and inclusive economy. We support actions with measurable impact, such as those dedicated to raising the profile of women in this sector.
Our Head of Business Development, Marceline Try, spoke to Rachel Delacour, co-founder and CEO of Sweep.
Serial entrepreneur Rachel Delacour is co-founder and CEO of Sweep, a carbon and ESG data management platform helping companies create CSR strategies in line with their business goals.
With her background in finance, Rachel co-founded BIME Analytics in 2009. The innovative SaaS (Software as a Service) business intelligence solution was bought by US company Zendesk six years later. Rachel held the position of Managing Director before turning her focus on the fight against climate change with Sweep.
As a prominent businesswoman in European tech, Rachel is a business angel and board member of several American and French start-ups. She was elected co-chair of France Digitale in 2018 and took part in the “UBS Global Visionary”1 programme. An advocate for female representation in the tech space, Rachel supports numerous startups founded by women in France and the US. In 2024, she was named "Founder of the Year" by Xena.
1 The UBS “Global Visionaries” are influential entrepreneurs using innovative solutions to tackle the world’s most challenging social and environmental problems. While many of them fall within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), our focus is on Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3), Quality Education (SDG 4) and Climate Action (SDG 13).”
Marceline Try, Business Development Manager
As an opener, what would you say are the watchwords of your career?
Team spirit. I’m not a trained engineer and I don’t know how to code. Yet I've set up tech companies — including Sweep — that depend on these very skills. But I have no qualms about it because my teams are extremely competent. With this technical excellence comes a great sense of loyalty, and that's the winning combination for moving ahead. Sweep was certified as a B Corp2, and this drives me to assist my teams both managerially and in terms of pay. I play close attention to their personal working environment, working alongside them through their projects, their ideas and their mistakes. In exchange, they encourage me in my role as CEO and founder of Sweep.
We all believe in working together; it makes us stronger, faster and more innovative. I must add that the world in which we find ourselves in today creates a lot of anxiety. It’s a real advantage to brave it as a team and stick together. You also make fewer mistakes than going at it alone.
Keeping your eye on the long game. While I agree this might seem at odds with the urgency of climate change, it's important to understand that we're part of a long-term process with frequent iterations of transformation. We need to be fast, but at the pace of a marathon runner. I know very well just how hard it can be to come to terms with such an extended notion of time, and that it’s frustrating for younger generations. My role is to encourage them so that we can make a long-term commitment.
Empathy, which means listening to and respecting my customers, partners and colleagues.
What were your sources of inspiration?
My father, an independent self-starter, most definitely had an impact on me. Independence and self-reliance are key characteristics of being an entrepreneur, and I live by them every day. My family has a farming background. Other than the profound connection between farmers and the land, which I feel I have inherited, I subscribe wholeheartedly to the values of hard work and effort. We touched on it earlier: you’re not a farmer every now and then, but all the time. Morning, noon and night. Yesterday, today, tomorrow. Weekdays and weekends. It's a calling, just like being an entrepreneur.
I'm always moved by family businesses and the values they embody. This brings to mind the long game we spoke about earlier, and those companies whose stories span generations, withstanding crises and paradigm shifts without ever disappearing. I find questions around handing down businesses on to new generations inspiring and fascinating — as much as sharing the values that family businesses, like tech companies, have integrated almost organically.
What are the big challenges ahead?
Artificial intelligence, of course. It’s been said before, but AI is impressively precise and efficient, and there are great opportunities for companies like mine. It's an invaluable tool for businesses who want to be more competitive and efficient.
And let's not forget the driving force of the GAFAMs3 and their ability to innovate, particularly in the area of managing energy resources. Like the major power utilities, they will play an important role, and we need to recognise this.
This brings me to the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) and how we can make legislators understand that democratic regulation is healthy for sovereignty, both in France and Europe.
Aren't you worried about backlash from those questioning the urgency of climate change?
I'm not naïve; I can see how this is increasingly in the public domain. But whatever the policy, “you can’t close the barn door after the horse has bolted.”
It wasn’t that long ago that the digital transformation of companies showed just how unavoidable it was. The same will be true of extra-financial management, a concern that is now front and foremost for businesses.
What are you most proud of over the last two years, Rachel?
Sweep manages 400 million tonnes of carbon. It’s huge, but we're only just getting started. We need to put our heads together to decide how we cross this threshold. It's an incredible challenge for me and my colleagues. We were also granted purpose-driven company status for our commitment to having a positive impact on society and the environment, alongside our business operations. This makes us all very proud.
On a more personal level, my role as a mother is to care for my children, help them feel happy with who they are, but also encourage them to play their part for the well-being of the eight billion other people on earth.
What is the biggest problem of the women of your generation?
The women of my generation still tend to be dedicated to the family/couple/children side of things. On top of that, the wealth is often accumulated unevenly in the couple and can make women vulnerable in the long term. Becoming an entrepreneur, or taking your career into your own hands, means not only creating your own independence, but also building your own wealth and financial freedom, whatever life throws at you. This is my message to the women of my generation.
What advice would you give to young people thinking about their future career?
Lifelong learning. Your first job is not the end of the apprenticeship. Young people entering the job market have access to an absolutely phenomenal range of training opportunities — especially with the world's leading universities offering free online courses. You have to make the most of this and use your time wisely to build who you are, outside of social networks. My advice to my youngest colleagues is to find their place by working, training and enjoying what they do. I also remind them that being an entrepreneur is a great school for life: not only does “learning by doing” teach you, it helps you learn more about yourself.
2B Corp is an internationally-recognised certification. Progressive and demanding, it is awarded to companies that have good social, societal and environmental practices in place, as well as a map for progress and transformation built into their business model.
3The acronym GAFAM stands for the five US tech giants: Google, Apple, Facebook (now Meta), Amazon and Microsoft.
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In honour of International Women’s Day, the “Au Féminin by SGPB” club has put together a series of interviews to...
In honour of International Women’s Day, the “Au Féminin by SGPB” club has put together a series of interviews to...
In honour of International Women’s Day, the “Au Féminin by SGPB” club has put together a series of interviews to...