Alicia Combaz, NEOMA graduate and pioneer in online participatory democracy

 Alicia Combaz, a graduate of the NEOMA Master in Management, received the Entrepreneurship Prize at the 2025 NEOMA Alumni Awards. She is the founder of a ‘civic-tech’ business, Make.org, an interactive space that reinvents citizen engagement. Here is her story. 

Where did the idea for Make.org come from? I am passionate about innovation and new technologies. My professional world is all VODs, online games, AppStore, streaming, data, etc. I specialise in marketing and tech, I helped develop the Orange cinema portal and the growth of Deezer. They are managed in an agile and participatory way, and Make.org was born from this same approach. 

With Axel, we founded our neutral and independent ‘civic-tech’, allowing people to express their views on subjects concerning them in society, to recreate the common interest and together construct impactful initiatives. Our approach involves identifying the ideas which are most widely held and then developing collective action which derives its legitimacy from the support of the greatest number. I believe that technology should be used to serve democracy. And to create a “feeling of continuous democracy” in the words of Pierre Rosanvallon. 

How does Make.org work? Each dialogue initiated leads to an action plan, jointly designed by ordinary people, the media, public authorities and associations. We also open up our consultation process to businesses to help them involve their stakeholders in the process and the decisions. We also, through our foundation, fund some of the impactful actions undertaken by associations, in line with citizen views. And finally, Make.org has developed specific research programmes providing unique data, for the purpose of creating LLMs (Large Language Models) aligned with democratic values and the needs of society.

Which action are you proudest of? The fight against violence done to women. Our initiative has attracted over 500,000 contributions and brought together dozens of associations along with public bodies. It has resulted in tens of thousands of people being trained in how to help women who are victims of such violence, including the workforce of the national police.

Before the last presidential election, Make.org, along with France Bleu and France 3 Régions, launched the most extensive consultation with civil society ever undertaken, “Ma France 2022”, involving over a million participants. This identified 12 priorities, with particular focus on the integrity of politicians, purchasing power, and the environment. Candidates for election were able to express their point of view on each of these issues and describe in detail the specific measures they would take to deal with them.

What are your next plans? We are preparing to launch several of our Panoramic GenAI tools. These enable very complex content to become accessible: the first is aimed at supporting cancer patients in their treatment journey, and another will provide better understanding of what goes on in a large meeting.

What is your mantra?
Let every voice design the path on which we are travelling