Sometimes it only takes a little thing for life to turn upside down. Anthony Tabuyo, who participates this Wednesday evening in the show Who wants to be my partner?, on M6, had the painful experience of this in 2013. One rainy evening in Nice, a car backed out of a parking lot with its lights off. He is on a motorbike. “Impossible to dodge,” he says. The shock is brutal. The young man, then aged 22, found himself thrown to the ground, his body bruised. “When the firefighters arrived, they couldn’t do anything because they hadn’t assessed the seriousness of my condition over the phone,” he recalls.
Sent to the emergency room, Anthony “comes close to lifelong paralysis” but “is doing well” after a long stay in hospital. From his traumatic experience, an idea emerged: create a tool called Urgentime, supposed to give emergency doctors eyes so that they can assess injuries remotely and be able to send a medical team to the site if necessary.
Anthony then calls on his “professional soul mate”, Jovien Chappex (major of school 42), to design the technological part. In the end, an “easy to use” solution: By calling 18 or 15, the witness of an accident receives a connection link, sent by the regulator, which asks them to control the camera on their phone . The latter can thus see the victim himself and give advice on first aid measures.
The United States seduced
Less than four years after its launch, the tool has found its place in France: “a quarter of Samu” now use it, according to Anthony Tabuyo. But also in Switzerland, and more recently in the United States. All it took was an “unexpected encounter”, a “stroke of luck”. A wink of destiny for the doors of America to open wide.
“I met an entrepreneur who put me in touch with one of his Franco-American friends. He is the technical manager of the leading solution which covers emergency calls in the United States,” relates Anthony. The concept immediately appealed to him. He quickly sees its usefulness. More precise diagnoses, time saved. The order is placed. Result: 900 centers connected to “911” – firefighters, police and emergency workers included – use Urgentime across the Atlantic.
“It’s true that the beginnings were hard because it was seen as a gimmick, a detail. At the start, Xavier Niel warned us by telling us that we didn’t have the shoulders, he continues, smiling. But two of us got there. It’s starting to become part of our customs.
“Have visibility”
Above all, the entrepreneur and his friend are waiting for “visibility” and advice to further convince them from their time on M6. “We are not particularly looking for investors,” assures the young man. The start-up managed to convince companies to equip themselves with this tool, but not for the same purpose (remote troubleshooting, moving, etc.), “even if that was not the basic ambition”. Today, contracts signed with private companies make it possible to lower prices for Sdis and Samu.
“What we want is to make ourselves known. With this solution, one in ten lives can be saved that would not have been saved under other circumstances. So, we will not give up until all emergency call centers are staffed.”