---
sheet_format: 1.0
id: 2025-02-clever-cloud-fest-strategie-internationale
title: "Stratégie internationale"
title_en: "International strategy"
speaker: Erwan Rougeux
with: []
date: 2025-02-06
event: "Clever Cloud Fest 2025"
place: "Palace d'iciLundi, Nantes, France"
format: talk
language: fr
duration: "11:47"
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow
slides: https://slides.wanoo.me/2025-02-clever-cloud-fest-strategie-internationale/
topics: [international expansion, digital sovereignty, africa, partnerships, local currency, cloud, geopolitics]
source: "Summary written by Claude (AI) from the auto-generated YouTube captions. Not a verbatim transcript; check the recording before quoting."
review: spot-checked
review_date: 2026-10-17
---

# Stratégie internationale

**In one sentence:** Less than a year after joining Clever Cloud, Erwan Rougeux sets out its international strategy: partner locally, price in local currency, reinvest revenue in local R&D, and build a "humanist cloud" with the Global South, especially Africa.

## TL;DR
Erwan opens by saying he and CEO Quentin Adam agreed not to "do like the others", given the mistakes Western companies have made abroad. He describes a polarised internet: US data capitalism, Russia and China protecting themselves, and Europe as a "digital neo-colony" of the US, which he says captures 80% of digital value. Demographics point to the South, Africa above all. Clever Cloud's answer is to find local partners who know their market and package its technology into local offers, bill in local currency to protect startups from dollar swings, and reinvest revenue locally in R&D centres, towards "Clever Cloud Africa", "Asia" and "South America". In the Q&A he says he has no imperialist vision and that refusing to work with people who think differently means closing doors, while noting that current embargoes, such as on Russia, rule some countries out.

## Erwan's key points
- He joined Clever Cloud less than a year before the talk to drive international growth, and calls himself, half joking, "a nice hippie with plenty of ambition and values".
- He and Quentin Adam agreed that Clever Cloud should not repeat the mistakes Western players made abroad, and should build strategic partnerships instead.
- He grew up with the internet, learned his skills from its community over 56k dial-up, and contrasts that borderless world with today's polarised internet.
- He says Europe is a "digital neo-colony" of the United States, with 80% of digital value captured by the US, while other regions are ignored even though they may be the tech world's "eldorado".
- He cites UN projections: one young person in four will be African by 2050, and about 40% of the world's population by 2100. The future is in these regions, so Clever Cloud must go international now.
- R&D strength is not enough; Clever Cloud needs a sustainable business model and ecosystem. He contrasts "multinational" with "multi-national".
- From 15 years of travelling the world he takes acculturation: languages and countries shape how we think, so a cloud designed by Europeans for Europeans does not fit other markets. Local partners help package the product for their market.
- Local currency protects local startups: a startup in Abidjan paying a US provider in dollars can see its bill multiply overnight when the currency moves.
- Revenue stays and is reinvested locally. Repatriating it would mean losing three times (exchange rate, transfer, French taxes) to hire developers in France who are no better than those in Abidjan. He notes he holds a master's in plant biotechnology and taught himself to code; passion and internet access are all it takes.
- Q&A: he says his role is not to change countries or how people see the world, and that good and bad guys only exist in films; still, an offer in Russia does not exist under the current embargo.

## Outline
- [0:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=1s) Introduction: joined Clever Cloud less than a year ago; agreeing with Quentin Adam not to repeat Western mistakes abroad.
- [0:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=49s) Growing up with the internet and 56k dial-up, a world without borders.
- [1:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=73s) Today's polarised internet: the US, Russia and China, and Europe as a US "digital neo-colony".
- [2:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=122s) An overlooked "eldorado": ageing Europe and US versus growing Southern populations; UN projections on Africa.
- [2:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=175s) Tech investment forecasts in which Europe lags; if Clever Cloud doesn't go international now, it is too late.
- [3:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=198s) "Deploy fast or die": technologies change every few years, from VMs to Docker, Kubernetes and functions as a service.
- [4:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=245s) R&D is not enough: a sustainable ecosystem and partners in Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco, Southeast Asia, Kazakhstan and South America.
- [4:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=292s) Fifteen years of travel and acculturation: a European cloud does not match other markets; partners package local offers.
- [5:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=341s) Pricing in local currency, and the example of an Abidjan startup exposed to the dollar.
- [6:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=410s) Keeping revenue local; why repatriating it loses three times; talent is everywhere.
- [7:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=457s) Self-taught developer with a plant biotech master's; local R&D centres and Clever Cloud Africa/Asia/South America for a "humanist cloud".
- [8:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=534s) Q&A: what are the risks of local Clever Clouds in countries in conflict, such as Russia and Ukraine?
- [9:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=567s) No imperialist vision; anyone who wants strategic autonomy can grow with Clever Cloud, but the Russian embargo rules it out for now.
- [10:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=616s) Geopolitics in shades of grey (the change in Syria); refusing access closes doors on the borderless internet of the 1990s.
- [11:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=664s) Listening to people who don't think like you; closing.

## Notable quotes
> "il fallait pas faire comme les autres parce qu'on a fait beaucoup de bêtises dans le passé, les Occidentaux, sur pas mal de territoires" — Erwan Rougeux, [0:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=25s)
*"We shouldn't do like the others, because we Westerners did a lot of foolish things in the past in many places."*

> "j'ai eu besoin que de deux choses : de la passion et d'un accès à Internet" — Erwan Rougeux, [7:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=457s)
*"I only needed two things: passion and internet access."*

> "les gentils, les méchants, ça n'existe que dans les films" — Erwan Rougeux, [10:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=616s)
*"Good guys and bad guys only exist in films."*

> "tout seul on n'est rien, ensemble on est tout" — Erwan Rougeux, [11:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=664s)
*"Alone we are nothing, together we are everything."*

## Questions this answers
**Q: Why is Clever Cloud expanding to Africa?**
A: Erwan points to demographics: citing the UN, he says one young person in four will be African by 2050 and about 40% of the world's population by 2100, while Europe and the US are ageing. He sees these regions as the future of tech ([2:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=122s)).

**Q: How does Clever Cloud work with local partners abroad?**
A: It brings the technology and asks a local partner who knows the market and its customers to help package it into an offer for that country, because a cloud designed for Europeans does not fit other markets ([4:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=292s)).

**Q: Why does local currency matter for cloud sovereignty?**
A: Erwan's example: a startup in Abidjan paying a US cloud in dollars can see its bill jump tenfold overnight when the exchange rate moves, which no startup survives. Billing in local currency keeps costs flat ([5:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=341s)).

**Q: What does Clever Cloud do with revenue earned abroad?**
A: It keeps it and reinvests it locally in R&D centres, aiming at regional entities like Clever Cloud Africa or Asia, instead of losing value through exchange, transfer and taxes ([6:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=410s), [7:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=457s)).

**Q: Would Clever Cloud work with countries like Russia?**
A: Erwan says his role is not to change countries and he has no imperialist vision, but under the current embargo an offer in Russia does not exist and won't for now ([9:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=567s)).

**Q: What is Erwan Rougeux's background?**
A: In this talk he says he holds a master's in plant biotechnology, taught himself to code through the internet community, travelled the world for 15 years, and joined Clever Cloud less than a year before February 2025 ([7:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=435s), [4:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDye2eJKow&t=292s)).

## Mentioned
Clever Cloud, Clever Cloud Fest, Quentin Adam, Steven Le Roux, AWS, Microsoft, UN (ONU), Docker, Kubernetes, FISA, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Southeast Asia, South America, Africa, United States, Russia, China, Ukraine, Syria