History

In’pat started in 2002 as a woman’s concern to help families to relocate to France in the smoothest and easiest way. The range of specific situations regularly encountered by families during international assignments was very familiar to Barbara Prod’homme, founder of In’pat, and a third generation expatriate. She has lived in Iran, Egypt, the Antilles and raised her three kids in Malaysia and Turkey. She has had to return to France quite a few times and the ins and outs of relocation had no more secrets to her.

Through her many experiences, one thing struck her the most: the lack of information available about settling in France. How can you expect a family to found its marks in a new environment without having been given the sufficient amount of information and preparation necessary to settle?

This is how www.inpat.fr started: a bilingual portal bursting with practical information and addressing issues such as where to find a school, how to rent an apartment in Paris, how to register to social security, or where to find a German-speaking pediatrician.

One necessity following another, Barbara quickly realized that while a good preparation was vital to a smooth integration in France, families needed to be assisted in the actual settling up and supported throughout the installation period. In response, she quickly started to offer relocation services to complement her advices and information base with actual guiding and support through the process. Of course, due to her personal experiences, closest to her heart were those issues relating to family matters in general and schooling in particular.

Finally, in early 2005, building from her hands-on experiences with expatriates and HR departments she went on to develop a variety of innovative services, customized programs helping spouses to anticipate and prepare their international stay, cross-cultural seminars to facilitate assignees’ professional integration, and programs adapted to commuters and business travelers.

Now In’pat has gained full recognition and professional admiration by its peers for the quality and the thoroughness of its services, boasts an impressive number of references, and has been chosen by the industry association as one of its four recommended relocation partners.