Launched in 2014, on the initiative of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the Pépite network brings together 33 Student Centers for Innovation, Transfer and Entrepreneurship, throughout Metropolitan France and Overseas. Each Pépite branch allows students to discover the entrepreneurial culture in higher education through awareness-raising and initiation actions, but also to benefit from the National Student-Entrepreneur Status (SNEE) and a range of services during their course and after obtaining their diploma, baccalaureate or equivalent. “This status allows, within the framework of his studies, to validate actions carried out as an entrepreneur, and to keep, for a time, a certain number of aids at the end of his course”precise Marie Adeline-PeixExecutive Director in charge of Regional Partnerships, Creation and Territorial Action of Bpifrance, partner of the Pépite network for three years. “Bpifrance supports around thirty associative networks in their actions to help business creation. This is an issue of primary importance for us, whose job is precisely to support companies, from the emergence of the idea to their IPO sometimes, in any case in all their development phases. » An issue that is all the more crucial since one out of two unsupported creations will decline within three years, while a coached project will have an 80% chance of being sustainable. ” As such, we have an important mission of raising young people’s awareness of entrepreneurship, and it is in this context that we support the Pépite Network and its prize. It is important to highlight the successes achieved by young people, to give them visibility so that they inspire others and arouse vocations. »
More than 22,000 student-entrepreneurs have thus been supported by the network since its creation, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of students made aware of and introduced to business creation. With the high point, the Pépite prize at the regional level, and especially the national Pépites des Pépite prize which crowns the ten most beautiful entrepreneurial adventures of the territory. This year, the emphasis was placed not only on the criteria of jobs created and turnover generated, but also on the positive impact generated by their activity. “This dimension was particularly important, and this is clearly the case for OMNI, which is carrying out an extraordinary project that I had the honor of rewarding at the Vivatech show”, rejoices Marie Adeline-Peix. OMNI has been marketing the GlobeTrotter for eighteen months, a universal attachment system that allows you to put your wheelchair on a scooter, making the link between the two. The jury of the last Lépine competition made no mistake in awarding it its gold medal, crowning two years of development for this unique patented innovation in the world, as simple as it is revolutionary, which has already changed the lives of 600 users in France. Including that of Charlotte Alaux, co-founder of OMNI with four engineers from the Ecole des Ponts and Stanford University: Robin Lhommeau, Sulivan Richard, Mathieu Izaute and Noé Vinot-Kahn. “I have been in a wheelchair since the age of 4, so I have just over 25 years of experience in this area, a good knowledge of the situation and the challenges that arise with each trip”quips Charlotte Alaux. “Four years ago, I met my four future co-founders, engineers who were training in user-centered innovation after their respective master’s degrees. In this case, they were working on finding a solution that improves wheelchair mobility. For them, it went through a first phase of immersion since all four are able-bodied and knew nothing about disability. Moving around in a wheelchair, they noticed the permanent challenges to be met, between obstacles (cobblestones, small sidewalks, holes, hills, inaccessible public transport, etc.), arm cramps after a few tens of meters… Not to mention the interactions with others, very different depending on whether you are valid or not. » Convinced by their approach, Charlotte joins in and tests all the solutions envisaged, up to the GlobeTrotter. “Even at the prototype stage, I felt unique sensations, the joy of using a consumer product, of moving around super easily. Not needing to anticipate his route opened up a field of possibilities. Under no circumstances should this stop at the student project stage. We therefore created OMNI in the process, to democratize this solution and offer it to as many people as possible. »
The company is also developing its own scooters (up to 60 km of autonomy depending on the model), more ergonomic than those on the market, equipped in particular with a closer handlebar that can be raised when an able-bodied person uses it, in phase with the logic of inclusion and universality that prevails at OMNI. In several cities in France (Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille Grenoble and the agglomeration of Saint Quentin en Yvelines), the major operators of self-service scooters even subsidize its use by people in wheelchairs, which makes it possible to lower the already advantageous cost of the system (790 € for the GlobeTrotter against approximately 5,000 € for the motorization of a wheelchair). “We also won a call for projects, for a mobility solution that will be deployed during the 2024 Olympic Games, in partnership with Parisian operators”adds Charlotte, who has also been able to count on Bpifrance to finance innovations and ensure product development. “Our job is to support business creation and innovation, by fighting against all forms of determinism, social, territorial, gendered or linked to disability issues”, notes Marie Adeline-Peix, who concludes: “With OMNI, we tick all the boxes, with a great and extremely simple innovation, which uses market scooters to which it brings invaluable value, and which makes it possible to reinforce the inclusion of people in situations of major constraints. It’s a real metamorphosis project, which will also be the theme of the next edition of Big next October. »
Main photo credit: The OMNI team. ©OMNI
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