"My adventure began at the end of my studies at IGAL [editor's note: the former name of the Geology branch of UniLaSalle] in 1996, when Phillipe OTT d'ESTEVOU called me into his office to offer me a position as a cooperant in Madagascar. The cooperation was a good start, but also the beginning of an adventure that I had not planned at all, but which deeply changed my life and that of my family.

We spent a year in Tunisia, two years in Mali, some time in Senegal and Guinea, before settling in Madagascar for a long time, where we are starting to put down roots, despite the instability of the country.

For the past sixteen years, I have been working on various missions, about ten in total, and I have not tasted unemployment, which I am not entitled to anyway! The experience I have accumulated allows me to be more selective in the choice of my contracts. I am currently working in the field of oil exploration in Madagascar, in a junior company: Madagascar Oil, where I can use several professional assets: drilling follow-up, field mapping, GIS (digital mapping), logging...

Training as a geologist at UniLaSalle opens wide doors to work opportunities abroad. I encourage all young people to find an opportunity to leave if only to gain a first experience. "

Portrait taken from the Trait d'Union magazine of LaSalle Beauvais Alumni n°368, published in the 1st quarter of 2013. Interview: Philippe OTT D'ESTEVOU (Geology, 1980).