The EPCO (junior entreprise)

Lemania Music is an EPCO, a commercial practice company, or fictitious company or practice company, located at Beau-Séjour Street 1-3. Lémania Music exists since 2014 and is a member of Helvartis (https://www.helvartis.ch/fr/entreprise_de_pratique_commerciale), the umbrella company of the Swiss EPCOs.

The concept of practice companies was born in Germany around 1920 and it appeared in Switzerland in the 1950s. There are only a few such companies in French-speaking Switzerland, whereas there are quite a few in German-speaking Switzerland. This is a very positive point for the students, as they have a wealth of opportunities to communicate in German, English or Italian with the other EPCOs.

How does such an institution work? It is organized as a company with administration, marketing, accounting and human resources departments. Operations (orders, payments, payroll, etc.) are carried out between the different Helvartis member schools. The network has about 60 EPCOs in Switzerland and about 7’600 worldwide.

Lemania Music sells musical instruments, scores and CDs. Virtual orders can be placed on the EPCO website.

The EPCO, which operates every afternoon except Fridays from 1:00 to 5:30 p.m., is currently attended by about 25 students from the business and CFC courses who normally spend three months in each of the departments.  This allows them to concretely carry out all the tasks they will face in their professional life. It also allows them to reinforce the theoretical knowledge acquired in the morning classes. The rules that prevail at rue Beau-Séjour are not those of the school, but those that apply in a professional setting.

These practical courses will soon also be offered to people who are returning to work and who need to validate their knowledge.

Philippe Du Pasquier