Never heard about him , maybe because I'm more focusing about building relationships and new friendships than whales stuffs ^^
But anyway the issue comes from the fact a lot of people (French or not) comes here because they understood you can earn money in exchange of content. So when they earn some money, they just want to use it in real life. They aren't here for investment part or for the idea to build something new. But when you are a successful youtuber or a influencer on instagram, you have better way to monetize your content so they leave.
Other people comes from crypto world and they see an opportunity to get more coins "for free". They create a steemit account, they post for some weeks then they realize "content creator" isn't easy, it's a lifestyle we choose to embrace way before steemit and they leave the plateform.
Finally what you really need for your project is to touch some specific persons : "content creators investors". People like us willing to reach new people and powerup in order to grow month after month, year after year.
I really hope communities will help us to grow and maybe if they mix them with your idea, we'll have something really great for the future !
Imagine the top 100/1000 communities leader getting a loan to promote their community, it would be amazing !