Female entrepreneurship: study, key figures and inspiring stories
Focus on 3 stories of female entrepreneurs who defy preconceived ideas
Despite an uncertain economic environment, entrepreneurship is attracting many women who feel that being their own boss is more motivating than being an employee. If they take the plunge into entrepreneurship, the majority do so to put a personal idea into practice (57%) and to give meaning to their lives (56%).
Key figures on female entrepreneurship in 2025
The study reveals that 20% of women want to start their own business. However, compared with the previous year, the desire to start a business is down by 6% among women, while it remains stable among men.
Main motivations for women entrepreneurs
- 57% want to turn a personal idea into reality (+10% compared to 2024)
- 56% want to give meaning to their professional lives (+12% compared to 2024)
- Men, on the other hand, are more motivated by financial gain
Obstacles to female entrepreneurship
The obstacles identified by women are
- Lack of start-up capital (45%)
- Incompatibility with family life (33%)
- Complex administrative procedures (45%)
Solutions to encourage female entrepreneurship
The women surveyed believe that to encourage female entrepreneurship, it is necessary to :
- Simplify administrative procedures and reduce regulatory obstacles (48%)
- Set up schemes to reconcile professional and personal life (45%)
- Better sharing of family tasks (42%)
France Active support for female entrepreneurs
To support female entrepreneurs, France Active has set up a specific guarantee enabling them to borrow without a personal guarantee. This guarantee is offered as part of a wider support package for women entrepreneurs. In addition, support programmes and meetings specifically for women are organised in most regions.
3 examples of women who have developed their projects in rural areas, thanks to the investment :
Clémence Ducroquet-Talleu: a booming dairy cooperative
Director of the dairy cooperative “Lait Prairies du Boulonnais”, Clémence Ducroquet-Talleu has brought together seven farms to pool their resources. This cooperative enables them to share equipment for collecting, pasteurising and processing dairy products.
Her model is working: sales are increasing by 20% a year, and her customers range from supermarkets to hotels and schools.
Sandra GRENTZINGER, Director of the Marpa de la Doller
Located in Sentheim, a town of 1,600 inhabitants in the heart of Alsace, this home for independent living (Marpa) has a maximum capacity of 25 residents. Average age: 87. All have their own private flat (40 m2 T1bis for singles and 50 m2 T2 for couples), with the option of sharing meals together and taking advantage of the communal areas, as well as socialising and taking part in activities. The aim is to enable everyone to participate in the life of the home. They can give their opinion on the week’s menu or the programme of activities, lend a hand with cooking or preparing the table… It’s a real home from home, where everyone’s abilities are valued and their sense of usefulness is boosted! And it’s all run by one woman, Sandra Grentzinger, who cares about everyone’s well-being.
Natacha Kancel, Drain’ailes project manager
Natacha Kancel has set up her Drain’ailes back-to-work workshop in Sainte-Rose, north of Basse-Terre in Guadeloupe, a town often cited for its unemployment and crime rate. On this farm, she employs a dozen women, mostly single mothers, in three activities: agroforestry (cocoa, vanilla, coffee, etc.), permaculture organic farming (market gardening, fruit trees, etc.) and agro-processing (sauces, seasonings, juices, etc.). Drain’ailes is the first association in Guadeloupe to benefit from a interest-free loan.
This tool provides an accessible solution and real leverage for associations that often have difficulty accessing bank loans. France Active is co-financing up to 70% of the needs, alongside the Banque des Territoires, the Region and the Department. Natacha Kancel wanted to create this place of integration for women and by women through the memory of her grandmother, who provided for the family by cultivating the land.
Women’s entrepreneurship is booming, despite persistent obstacles. With support schemes like those offered by France Active, more and more women are daring to take the plunge and give life to their projects. The inspiring stories of Clémence, Sandra and Natacha show that it is possible to succeed, even in sectors and territories that have been little explored by women.
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Event: a new look at solidarity-based savings
When savers get involved in transforming our economy.
On 5 December last year, France Active invited financial players to change the way they look at solidarity-based savings on the 1st anniversary of Actifs Solidaires, an initiative aimed at making investment accessible to voluntary sector managers and Social Economy companies. The aim of the event is to demonstrate how citizen savings respond to local social and ecological challenges through socially responsible investment. Discover the programme and replay of this evening event, which took place at the Maison de la Conversation in Paris.
>> From savings to solidarity-based investment :
In recent years, social and environmental needs have become increasingly pressing. At the same time, the economic models of associations and Social Economy companies have come under pressure (increasing number of beneficiaries, inflation, falling subsidies, public calls for projects, etc.). Against this backdrop, France Active has launched a programme to encourage these structures to invest in order to bounce back, cross thresholds and further develop their social utility. This initiative, called Actifs Solidaires, is celebrating its 1st year.
How are these socially useful projects financed? Through socially responsible citizen savings! To help finance projects run by associations and Social Economy companies, France Active invests French people’s solidarity savings. These savings are little-known (France Active-Fair survey by OpinionWay), even though the French are the biggest savers in Europe. Yet this survey shows that if they knew about solidarity-based savings, they would be in favour of it, because it meets their expectations, both in terms of its social and ecological impact and its level of profitability over the medium and long term.
>> Event of the 5th December in Paris
At this event, France Active looked again at the concerns of savers to demonstrate how solidarity-based savings responds to them and how it helps to finance associations and companies in the Social Economy.
- How does solidarity-based savings transform the economy?
- How does it help to support sustainable projects with strong potential for social innovation?
- How does solidarity financing provide a strong territorial base and a collective dimension to the development of these territories?
These will be the 3 themes addressed during the evening.
You can activate the subtitles in the setting of the video
>> Programme:
17:00 – Opening by Pierre-René Lemas, Chairman of France Active
Talkshow with investment players:
- Laurence Laplane-Rigal, Amundi
- and Cédric Renaud, Caisse d’Épargne
Entrepreneurs:
- The directors of Protectus, Les Alchimistes
- and Jardins de la voie romaine
Social Economy and solidarity-based savings players:
- Marion Le Cam, Fédération Nationale de l’Offre de services de la MSA
- and Éric Larpin, Label Finansol
Talkshow hosted by Sébastien Borgnat, former LCI morning show journalist.
To close the event, Pierre-René Lemas called for solidarity-based savings schemes to be made universally available, giving employees of SMEs and large groups alike access to this type of savings. This will enable the associations and Social Economy companies that benefit from them to expand their activities.
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2025, a socially committed year
Pierre-René LEMAS
Président of France Active
Bold, resilient, militant and socially committed, the entrepreneurs we support inspire us. In the new year, they will show us just how necessary it is to mobilise if we want to move our society towards greater inclusion, greater ecology and greater solidarity.
Despite all the economic, social and political uncertainties we are experiencing, and to combat the inward-looking attitudes that could take hold of us all, we must act at every level to put back at the heart of all our exchanges the great principles of solidarity that underpin our way of living together. Transforming our economy, an ambition that we have held dear since the beginning of our history, is one of the possible responses to the various crises we are experiencing. In the New Year, I hope that financial players, public decision-makers and businesses will become more involved in this long-awaited transformation. I also hope that citizens will regain the power to act on the major challenges we face.
More and more entrepreneurs will be able to put the issues of employment, social cohesion, ecology and democratic governance at the heart of their projects throughout the world.
A very happy and socially committed year to you all.
https://vimeo.com/1038901225
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A programme to encourage committed projects
Every month for the past 5 years, Place de l’émergence has been helping entrepreneurs to turn their socially useful projects into reality. Advice, funding and networking: the France Active triptych is at the heart of this programme. And to strengthen the support and funding, the association is surrounded by expert and funding partners.
In the delicate ideation phase for projects with a social and ecological dimension, it is difficult to find guidance and support. This is why France Active has mobilised a number of public and private partners to create a programme dedicated to the emergence of new businesses.
Called the ‘Fonds de confiance’ when it was launched in 2005, this programme has undergone significant development and is known as ‘Place de l’émergence’ since 2019. To celebrate the Place’s 5th anniversary, France Active brought together all the stakeholders in the programme last February. It was a great opportunity to celebrate the successes and to look ahead to the future of this initiative, which forms part of the various actions to support incubation and emergence carried out by local associations.
Women entrepreneurs take centre stage!
Over the past 5 years, 62 meetings have been attended by more than 250 projects. In total, over €4 million in grants have been awarded, with an average grant of around €17,000. Nearly 70% of the projects are run by women, over 31% are located in disadvantaged areas and 10% are run by long-term jobseekers. Over the next few years, the programme will be redesigned to involve partners more closely in the choice of entrepreneurs that will be supported, and to make it easier for them to be selected locally. Over the past 5 years, 62 meetings have been attended by more than 250 projects. In total, over €4 million in grants have been awarded, with an average grant of around €17,000. Nearly 70% of the projects are run by women, over 31% are located in disadvantaged areas and 10% are run by long-term jobseekers. Over the next few years, the programme will be redesigned to involve partners more closely in the choice of entrepreneurs that will be supported, and to make it easier for them to be selected locally.
Examples of winners
In 2021, the association Les Valoristes came into being thanks to the support from the Emergence Ile-de-France scheme. This enabled the project to be structured over a 4-month period, and to be challenged in terms of its impact, the products and services it offered, its objectives, and so on.) This feedback was very valuable to the association. Les Valoristes then obtained funding under the Place de l’émergence scheme. In 2022, the association received its integration site agreement. In 2023, it focused on responding to calls for tender and developing the structure. 2024 will be a year of structuring around 3 offers: the wood factory, the lab for electronic waste and the campus to raise public awareness of the circular economy and inclusion.
In 2022, Place de l’émergence supported the La Remise association. This is a project that works to disseminate and promote re-use in the construction sector in the Grand Est region through a digital platform. This project, supported by the Banque des Territoires, the Banque de France and the Macif Foundation, is now continuing to develop.
Thank you to all those involved, without whom this scheme would not exist.
What impact has this programme had?
Since the launch of Place de l’émergence in 2019, €3.85M in grants have been paid to participants, with an average amount of €17,000 per grants paid.
67% are female project owners, with an average age of 44. 10% are long-term jobseekers (more than 12 months) and 31.5% of projects are in fragile areas
France Active’s main prescribers are other support networks (62%).
540 jobs! This is the number of jobs created by the structures surveyed, or 5 jobs per structure financed.
And today, 64% of the projects are in the development or consolidation phase. Only 5% of projects have been abandoned.
The programme funders
The device experts
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Pierre-René Lemas re-elected Chairman of France Active
On July 4, Pierre-René Lemas was re-elected Chairman of France Active. This senior civil servant has devoted his entire career to the public interest, notably as a regional prefect, General Secretary of the Elysée Palace and Director of the Caisse des Dépôts Group.
In 2018, he was elected to succeed Christian Sautter as president of the France Active association movement. This will now be his 3rd mandate, enabling him to continue developing the work of the network’s 35 regional associations.
Pierre-René Lemas reiterated his ambition to pursue the development of the movement and to contribute to making entrepreneurship a powerful ally in the economic and social development of territories. He will lead reflection on the new 2025/2030 strategic project, with a focus on supporting projects that are ever more socially and environmentally committed.
Pierre-René LEMAS
Chairman of France Active
France Active plays an essential role in the French economic landscape. Our associative movement meets a dual need: to develop socially useful structures in our regions (associations and social enterprises) and to support all entrepreneurs who have difficulty accessing bank credit, due to their personal or geographical situation, by offering them a guarantee that reassures the bank.
We will continue to foster cooperation between socially committed entrepreneurs in the regions. We intend to mobilize even more citizens, entrepreneurs as well as public and private players who share our vision of transforming the economy. In keeping with the vision of our founder, the humanist and resistance fighter Claude Alphandéry, we must bring together and develop all the initiatives that will enable us to meet the social and ecological challenges we face.
Renewed governance for France Active
The re-election of Pierre-René Lemas also went with a renewal of France Active’s governance.
On May 30, the Annual General Meeting approved the appointment of three new directors to the Board of Qualified Personalities: Catherine Husson-Traoré, Managing Director of Novethic and Elisabeth Rivière, lawyer, Claire Thoury, President of Mouvement Associatif, and two new directors to the Board of Economic Partners: Anne-Claire Roux, Managing Director of Fondation Mirova and Yves Pellicier, Chairman of Groupe Maif.
France Active, the movement of committed entrepreneurs
France Active enables every entrepreneur to get involved in a project with a positive impact. Setting up a business and getting involved in your region, giving meaning to your project and transforming society: that’s the challenge facing socially committed entrepreneurs. France Active and its 35 regional associations are there to advise them on their financing projects and give them access to a unique network of economic and social players.
With its 2 finance companies, France Active supports more than 36,440 entrepreneurs. The movement mobilized 485 million euros in 2023. Every day, France Active works to develop a more inclusive and sustainable economy. Last year, businesses supported by France Active created or consolidated more than 67,080 jobs.
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From Europe to the regions : how do socially committed entrepreneurs benefit from European funding?
Europe may seem far away, but it is at the heart of the regions, promoting employment and access to bank credit, and enabling the most vulnerable people to create and develop the most social and environment friendly businesses.
Europe is involved both in the direct financing of entrepreneurs and in strengthening the skills of France Active advisors.
Loan guarantees and investments
France Active mobilizes European funds to finance the projects of the most fragile entrepreneurs and the most socially committed organisations.
For example, Europe, via the European Investment Fund (EIF), provides a loan “counter-guarantee” to cover the risk taken by France Active when it acts as guarantor for the most fragile entrepreneurs. Thus, they do not have to take out a personal guarantee when launching their business. This program is particularly aimed at priority groups (people in very precarious situations, young people or women looking for work or in precarious employment) and priority areas (priority urban districts, rural revitalization zones).
The EIF also provides guarantees for France Active’s investments, enabling entrepreneurs to go even further in their support for priority target groups, the most fragile areas and innovative business projects with a high social impact, while controlling risk.
Experimentation
Europe enables France Active to set up experiments to adjust its financing offer according to the different life phases of structures.1
To facilitate the start-up and takeover phases, France Active recently upgraded its solidarity investment offer, capitalizing in particular on recent experiments. To do this, France Active drew on feedback from a loan deployed to 400 social enterprises to cope with the crisis, and more broadly on its expertise in financing developed over some thirty years.
The IMPACT+ project (supported by the European Commission) is currently being carried out, with the aim of structuring social economy sectors.
Bringing together some twenty federations, networks, academic players and social enterprises, the Franco-Belgian VISES project has developed a social impact measurement approach that takes into account the specific characteristics of social enterprises. This participative, tailor-made, qualitative and quantitative social impact assessment approach questions the link between social needs and a company’s missions, with the aim of going beyond the effectiveness of action.
Since the end of this project, France Active has been working on spreading this approach within its own network.
Non-financial support
ESF+ is a very important source of funding for the France Active network and its work in supporting and financing entrepreneurs and SSE structures. It enables us to support, put in touch and finance a growing number of entrepreneurs who are far from the banking system (jobseekers, recipients of minimum social benefits, young people under 26, women, etc.) and social enterprises.
The France Active association mobilizes the ESF+ for its network professionalization actions2 with the French ministry of labour (Délégation générale à l’emploi et à la formation professionnelle DGEFP). France Active’s regional associations mobilize the ESF+ (or ERDF where applicable) of the Regions for their initiatives in support of entrepreneurial projects, in line with regional operational programs.
The DLA is the French leading organization delivering capacity-building support for the social economy. It works free of charge with socially useful organisations to help them develop their jobs and projects. To support social entrepreneurs in their projects, France Active, as the DLA financement resource center3, produces guides, thematic studies, educational sheets and articles.
Denis DEMENTHON
Managing Director of France Active
In the run-up to the European elections on Sunday June 9, in a tense economic and external context, it’s important to recall what Europe does for France Active, in support of projects by jobseekers, associations and social enterprises.
Europe is an essential partner for France Active, and a real lever of financing for entrepreneurs.
Pierre-René Lemas is a member of a European group of experts on socia economy at a time when Europe is giving it an increasingly important place, with the implementation of the European social economy action plan launched by Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights.
Europe will be what we make of it! So let’s continue to show what we’re building with Europe’s support: the development of a more inclusive and sustainable economy at the service of local communities.
1 – It is in this context that France Active has implemented the “ReadinESS” project, dedicated to preparing social enterprises for investment, and the “SOON” project for the most innovative social enterprises in the seed phase – Back
2 – As part of “Nouvel horizon: structuration et professionnalisation du réseau France Active” – Back
3 – Financed by the European Commission – Back
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Mobilizing investment to meet social and ecological challenges
France Active’s “Actifs Solidaires” initiative is designed to give all associations and social economy companies the opportunity to invest.
Much more than a new financial offering, it’s a whole approach that France Active is initiating to mobilize all its partners.
The ambition is to enable all players to consolidate their mission of social utility and to think about the future in response to social and ecological emergencies.
Here’s an update on this initiative and on the first Actifs Solidaires meetings in Paris and the regions.
https://vimeo.com/905266735?share=copy
The logic behind Actifs Solidaires is to develop the access to investment for social and solidarity based companies and non-profit organizations so they can project themselves into the future.
This approach, supported by France Active, mobilizes both its partners committed to its associative project and Social Economy leaders. It demonstrates that finance, by mobilizing the savings of citizens, is able to invest in projects whose primary expected return on investment is about their social utility.
Actifs Solidaires are men and women who, on a day-to-day basis, carry out projects based on job creation, ecology, regional development and social cohesion within a framework of democratic governance.
Actifs Solidaires also provides the financial resources to enable these players to focus on the social and solidarity-based dimension of their projects. Actifs Solidaires mobilizes all the teams at France Active and its partners, who are convinced that they are working together to serve committed entrepreneurs.
Actifs Solidaires is a new way of raising awareness of the challenges of investment among the leaders of the social economy, and of supporting them in the face of ecological, societal and digital transformations.
Finally, Actifs Solidaires is France Active’s ambition to double the number of non-profit organizations and socail economy companies it supports by 2027.
Actifs Solidaires initiative launched across France
A launch in Paris
The first step in this process was a conference held on September 28 at Césure in Paris.
The theme of the evening was “Mobilizing finance to meet social and ecological challenges: the new deal for socially responsible investment”.
How can committed entrepreneurs respond to the profound changes in our modes of production, consumption and way of life? How can solidarity finance provide new answers to their needs?
Solidarity investors, committed entrepreneurs and France Active partners were all present to discuss the issues.
And here’s the best of them.
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New year wishes 2024
Pierre-René LEMAS
Chairman of France Active
The socio-economic context and the growing importance of climate change issues reinforce what connects us: the deep desire to transform our society through economic development that is compatible with the future of generations to come, and oriented to the inclusion of all.
The various crises we are experiencing can only lead us to take even more action. Returning to the fundamentals that drive us is the dearest wish for this new year that I express on behalf of France Active, its teams, employees and volunteers.
And it’s in the values of the Social Economy that we must refound our action. Every day, the thousands of entrepreneurs we support demonstrate that it is possible to reconcile economic development with social commitment. It’s a commitment that is built locally around issues of employment, ecology and social cohesion, within a framework of democratic governance.
Acting for a more social economy means betting on the future. A collective gamble that concerns us all.
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Investing to meet social and ecological challenges
A look back at France Active’s annual general meetings.
A major event in the institutional life of France Active, the general meetings of the association and its two financial guarantee and investment companies were held on May 31 at La Recyclerie in Paris. It was an opportunity for the associative movement to review the past year and look ahead to the years to come. The major decision of the General Meeting was the vote by the directors on the network’s development plan. To meet the social and ecological challenges facing an increasing number of entrepreneurs, France Active aims to double its solidarity investor activity and increase its guarantor activity by 50% by 2027. The general meetings of France Active’s entities on May 31 approved the raising of three new funds: 10 million euros for the national association, 10 million euros for its guarantee company, and 200 million euros for its investment company. The first concrete result of these fund-raisings is the new solidarity investment offer, which will be deployed from next September. It will enable social non-profit organizations and companies to meet unmet investment needs. Whether they are encountering difficulties in sustaining their economic model, or wish to respond to new opportunities, they need specific support for their development, and appropriate financing. France Active’s financing offer provides solutions for entrepreneurs at every stage of their project’s life cycle.
France Active Garantie: securing entrepreneurial paths
At the France Active Garantie General Meeting, Dominique Pillon-Godart and Kevin Fournaux from France Active Picardie spoke about the deployment of the Accès+ program in Picardy. Among other things, they talked about the implementation of an educational strategy for beneficiaries, designed to desecrate the relationship with the bank. The aim is to bring project owners and their bankers closer together, so that they can access the guarantee as early as possible in the life of a project. In Picardie, France Active has proudly achieved its Accès+ objectives, thanks to webinars tailored to the needs of beneficiaries and co-constructed with the national association.
France Active Investissement: investing in social benefits
France Active Investissement’s Annual General Meeting was an opportunity for Yesil Rusconi, Director of France Active Ile-de-France, to present a project supported in close collaboration with ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition). She underlined the strong complementariry of the two networks in their support for the company “Le pav鮓. This company reconciles social and environmental concerns. It produces building materials in panel format using plastic waste on a territorial industrial scale, in line with local needs and available resources. The company, created in 2018, was supported from the beginning by France Active and ADEME and again when it scaled up a year ago. The first plant, based in Aubervilliers, employs people on integration schemes in collaboration with ARES (a social insertion association), and recycles 300 tonnes of waste annually. A second plant is currently being developed in Burgundy, at Chalon-sur-Saône.
France Active: connecting solidarity forces
After sharing the association’s main results and validating the annual accounts, the focus was on “Territoire de solutions“, a collaboration and incubation experiment carried out in the “Seine Eure” region, aimed at helping entrepreneurial solutions emerge or accelerate in response to identified social and environmental challenges.
Benoit Rugel, Director of France Active Normandie, Claire Leclerc, Director of SocialCobizz and Pierre Hourcourigaray, Director of l’Adress came to testify.
They showed how, by acting collectively and involving citizens as well as local players, they have been able to support project leaders wishing to create in the social and solidarity economy. This approach enables them to help them formalize, structure and turn their entrepreneurial ideas into reality. They were then joined by Lynda Lahalle, Social Economy delegate and vice-president of the Normandy region’s economic development commission, who presented the ‘Super incubator’, the territorial social economy hub piloted by the region.
Round table: social challenges, ecological challenges, what kind of citizen ownership of the economy?
- Claire Thoury, President of Mouvement Associatif, gave a sociologist’s view of how citizens, through associations, are taking up this issue.
- Anne-Catherine Husson-Traore, general director of Novethic, the sustainable transformation accelerator of the Caisse des Dépôts Group. As a former journalist, she shares her knowledge of the major transformations of the financial sector and sustainable finance in particular.
- Pierre-René Lemas, president of France Active.
Pierre-René Lemas opens the debate as follows: “This afternoon, we collectively decided to take a step forward. France Active is more than 30 years old, initially founded around social and solidarity values, the association was able to add the ecological dimension. France Active is well aware that social and ecological aspects go hand in hand together.
Today we have defined our five-year horizon: doubling our investment activity and increasing our guarantee activity by 50%. We are equipping ourselves with new resources to this end. Our objective remains the same: to use finance as leverage to develop the Social Economy and enable those who are furthest from employment to create their businesses.”
Claire Thoury continues: “France Active is an activist organization, it uses the codes of traditional classical economics to transform society.
I call on the Social Economy to do the same, to repoliticize itself. We depoliticized it and forgot why we were together. What are our common goals? And what sacrifices are we willing to make to achieve them? The economic dimension has taken too much precedence over the political dimension.
Let us bring together the imperatives of social justice and the imperatives of ecological transition, while integrating an essential pillar that is democracy in order to allow citizens to get involved.”
Anne-Catherine Husson-Traore adds: “Faced with the gigantism of the challenges that await us here and now, re-politicization is obviously necessary.
It is essential to put in place a sustainable economic, social and ecological model because today it is not the case. Faced with global problems, we need global solutions, and finance is one of the solutions. We need to bring social aspiration, citizenship and finance together.”
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