Marc Reeb

"But what I get angry at is a system that prevents me from creating wealth. Why does it do that?"

Marc Reeb sees the answer to that question in the negative perception that business still carries in France. Reeb, who is about to launch www.tbxtrade.com, a mathematical method to track bullish stocks on the markets -amazing and brilliant-, may have a clipped British accent and a very American directness, but he would never dream of starting his businesses anywhere but in France: "I love my country," he says simply. Since 1988 he has launched and sold several enterprises and has taken stakes in almost a dozen more. All told, he has created perhaps 200 jobs. Nevertheless, he flinches at what he sees as French society's disdain for what he does. "Starting a company is not something natural for French people," he says. "If you succeed on your own in France, you are someone different, and that is not good. Should I say, 'I'm an entrepreneur and I drive a Ferrari?' I can't say it."

So, does he drive a Ferrari?

Reeb looks around theatrically, closes the door, and puts up two fingers. "Two," he laughs. "I am not sure I would say that to a French journalist. With you, an American, I take the risk!"