“If we start feeling sorry for ourselves, we don't do anything”: a coffee and a dose of optimism with Cédric Botella at the Béziers market halls

Cédric Botella : “Je déteste les gens qui voient le verrre à moitié vide.” Midi Libre – Mélissa Alcoléa

Former police officer, boss of Instadrone for 10 years and vice-president of the economic development agency of the Agglo, Pulse, the Biterrois to whom everything seems to succeed has nevertheless experienced a difficult year 2024 in terms of his company's activity. The right time to reinvent and diversify, he explains.

Dressed all in black this Saturday morning, seated at a table in the heart of the Béziers market halls, Cédric Botella displays a frank and infectious smile. The boss of Instadrone, a company created 10 years ago with his wife, and which now has around thirty agencies in France, willingly agreed to share a moment over a coffee. It must be said that he is also vice-president of the economic development agency of the Béziers Agglo, Pulse Méditerranée. Two hats, for the same positive and energetic speech.

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“I am extremely optimistic, we are expecting an incredible year”, he says, regarding Instadrone's activity. However, 2024 has not necessarily been kind. “We had to show resilience, to bounce back, to diversify…” Indeed, for the first time since its creation, after 9 years of strong growth, his company encountered difficulties and Cédric Botella had to resolve to lay off around ten people. The end of a cycle. “A year of transition”, he believes. Because for 2025, he has signed major contracts with some heavyweights, such as Enedis, Suez and Bouygues. “We had 10,000 missions last year, this year, it will perhaps be double that. We have to recruit pilots all over the country.” And the drone sector and its services (inspections, topography, etc.) is still young with a lot of potential, “whether in delivery, automated drones without a pilot…”

“In all crises, there are opportunities that must be seized”

“In all crises, there are opportunities that must be seized, I am always very positive, I hate people who see the glass as half empty, if we start to feeling sorry for ourselves, we don't do anything anymore”, he continues. A voluntary state of mind that smiled on this former police officer and which undoubtedly earned him the choice of Robert Ménard to become, about a year and a half ago, vice-president of Pulse. Alongside him until now, Mathilde Boulachin (Maison Chavin) is making way for Roxanne Bozzarelli (Dev’EnR). The idea is to push “the economic development of the territory, whether in industry, tourism, agriculture, in a sustainable and thoughtful approach.” “We have the sun, the wind, the sea and hydrogen, it's the magic clover, if we don't do that here, we're missing out on great opportunities.” Pulse can support entrepreneurs through its network or tools (business directory, land mapping, etc.) “I am very confident about the future of Béziers, we have the right people in the right places, it can only improve. The principle is to anticipate, to think about the city of tomorrow. Béziers can be a laboratory for the city of the future.”

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