Our Founder

Jean-Marc Liduena

Jean-Marc has dual nationalities from France and Canada. He is married with Cecile for 25 years — they are proud parents of 4 children Maylis, Martin, Philomene and Theophile.

A passionate developer and leader, his 25+ years career brought him across all continents, in senior executive roles at Unilever until 2006 (as a Vice-President and member of the Europe Board), and later on as a Partner or Senior Partner at global leading consulting firms, now a member of KPMG Advisory Leadership Team, based in Paris. 

As a respected and trusted adviser of many top leaders and multinationals, he has authored many publications and spoken in many interviews and conferences on topics such as Corporate Social Responsibility, the common good and ethics. Jean-Marc used to publish in his blog, Inspire & Connect, and recently started to write an inspiring book featuring his consultant’s learnings from advising business and society leaders — the Essential 7 C’s of Leadership to make a lasting impact (publication planned 2022).

Jean-Marc has been engaged for years into non-profit and philanthropy organizations and projects. His most recent leadership engagements include President of INSEAD Alumni Association, Chairman of Alpha France, and member of various Boards: INSEAD France Council, La Nuit du Bien Commun, Ateliers de l'Universel, ExpoFrance 2025, KTO Television. He is also an active member of the collective Pledge « Changer par le Don ».

Jean-Marc founded Essential-s with his family after thoughtful and deliberate consideration. Before that, he invented a series of inspirational annual conferences in 2011 in Paris, called ‘Essentials’ under the banner of INSEAD, the world-leading business school. Most importantly, three life-changing stays in the favellas and most deprived areas of Brazil in 2005, 2013 and 2015 were a radical personal shift for Jean-Marc (and his family), convincing him to create something truly ‘essential’ to advance the common good back in Europe. The association Essential-s was registered in 2017, with the purpose to organize and support inspiring events and impactful projects that contribute to make the world better‼️