Jonathan DUPIRE, Mobalib, accessibility to sharing. Portrait

Jonathan DUPIRE is an altruistic entrepreneur and philanthropist, founder of MOBALIB. Born with a motor disability, he chose to leave the Lot where he grew up, to settle in Bordeaux. This in order to follow graduate studies in Public Law… With the objective of being able to pass the competitions of the territorial civil service.

Entrepreneurship to move forward

About ten years ago, aware of these elements, he founded Globe Roller. A project supported by Jessica AMRANE, her carer. Globe Roller is a departmental paper tourist guide for people with motor disabilities; listing all accessible restaurants and tourist places. Each location listed in this guide is checked by a person with a disability to provide only reliable information.

On a daily basis, Jonathan faces difficulties in moving and accessing certain places because of his disability. In his entourage, he regularly faces many people with disabilities who face the same difficulties of accessibility.

A promising project, however, in 2008, with the economic crisis, Globe Roller’s banking partner decided to stop financial aid. Jonathan and Jessica can no longer finance the publishing and distribution of the guides. They then make the decision to put the project on stand-by… In order to find other alternatives.

Moving the lines

During his studies in Public Law, he befriended Marina DÉSIRÉ, who also studied at the University of Bordeaux, notably in business management. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, she is naturally driven towards starting a business, a challenge that she is passionate about. Jonathan tells her about her association and the guide he had begun to develop, whose potential she quickly saw. Marina then suggested that he rethink the guide and update it, in a digital format, and expand the offer with sectors other than tourism, because the needs of people with disabilities are multiple. The project matures, develops little by little…

Marina, Jessica and Jonathan then decided to launch Mobalib, by confronting their project at the market through competitions in which they regularly participate across the country. They participate in the Business Model competition in Aquitaine (first prize), the 2C2E in Paris or the Uber Pitch competition in Paris which they also win.

Mobalib resonates with a receptive and engaged public: in France twelve million people are disabled and face the challenges of mobility on a daily basis. In total, Mobalib is successfully represented in 14 competitions, a real springboard for the new company created in 2016, which promotes the brand throughout the country.

Mobalib could have been an association just like Globe Rollers, but disability must be desecrated, people with disabilities are consumers like everyone else. It was therefore necessary to launch an economic logic with a sustainable solution and a business approach, in order to help people with disabilities on a daily basis.

Jonathan Dupire Mobalib
With his team, Jonathan DUPIRE developed Mobalib. Credit: BORDEAUX Business

Mobalib, the digital solution of accessibility

Jonathan, Marina and Jessica, all three have entrepreneurial flair. They decided to launch themselves as co-founders through their joint efforts. In order to build a global offering, Mobalib is expanding into a social network that connects people with disabilities and makes information collaborative.

In June 2017, the first version of their website allows registrants to recommend places, such as restaurants, which are really accessible to people with disabilities in Gironde. Today, the platform has more than four hundred users, mostly girondins. Very soon, a new version of the site will be put online, in order to speed up visibility. This is the creation of a social network that allows to exchange information to answer questions in all areas for all people registered.

The launch of a simultaneous mobile application is also part of the brand’s revitalization process to make the city easier and accessible for people with disabilities.

Registration on the Mobalib website is free. Users must first specify their disability, to better target the needs and privileged interlocutors, able to meet their expectations. Professionals can also offer their sheets with generic information; enriched by the users of the platform, who identify the different services offered according to the type of disability. All with the aim of reliability of the information relayed.

A dynamic business thought and reasoned

Mobalib’s participation in numerous competitions and calls for projects has raised more than 200,000 euros. Funds invested in the development of the project and the strengthening of the team. To date, in addition to the three co-founders… Team Mobalib has been enriched by two developers; a communications officer; an internship developer; two intern designers and a cognitive engineer; in order to adapt the interfaces of the site according to the disability.

Thanks to these recruitments, Jonathan, Jessica and Marina wish to be able to decline their website according to each type of disability; auditory; visual; engine; psychic or cognitive. In addition, to truly meet the needs of users according to their pathology, Mobalib focuses its method on the experience of users in A/B testing through a panel of people with disabilities who try to optimize the application to optimize it as much as possible according to the disability. A comprehensive and responsive approach to everyone’s needs.

In order to raise the profile of Mobalib, Jonathan, Jessica and Marina have forged strong partnerships with numerous associations, reception and accommodation centres for people with disabilities, the New Aquitaine Region, the Gironde department, the MDPH, the municipalities and social action centres. Finally, they became close to the medical sector, notably with the Regional Health Agency of physiotherapists, nurses and occupational therapists.

Jonathan Dupire Founder Mobalib
Jonathan DUPIRE wants to innovate to make life with a disability easier. Credit: BORDEAUX Business

A sustainable business model for Mobalib

Mobalib’s business model today is based on three different offerings. On the one hand, the referencing of professionals who pay a subscription per year; which varies according to the chosen influence, from local to national. Then, thanks to the important research and development work… Mobalib is able to offer companies to make their website accessible by varying the interfaces according to the disability. Finally, the company also carries out accessibility audits of cities to large passage spaces. Places like train stations or airports. This is to optimize future work in order to make it suitable for people with disabilities.

The company is also, as such, labeled by the European Space Agency… Who helped her launch a second project, the high-definition pedestrian GPS modeled on Waze’s style. An application called MOBAGO. This new project, which is scheduled to be implemented by the end of 2018, consists of adapting the journey of a disabled person according to accessibility… In order to optimize its journey and make it barrier-free in order to avoid any sidewalk or walking, for example. Jonathan hopes that thanks to this application, municipalities and institutions will (finally) be able to apply the law of 11 February 2005; which provides that all establishments open to the public must be accessible. However, in 2018, this requirement is far from being met.

International ambitions to measure potential

From the beginning of the project, Bordeaux has proven to be the ideal place to launch a start-up, both by its commitment to start-ups and by the emulation that results from it. Led by Bordeaux Technowest, Mobalib now aims to meet international potential, disability situations, and their loved ones, affecting many people. The added value of Mobalib lies in its global approach, not limited to a single sector, unlike many of their competitors. With renewed support from all stakeholders in the project, Mobalib hopes to unite a community of more than 10,000 people by the end of the year.

Beyond that, the challenge for Jonathan DUPIRE is not only to create… But to perpetuate jobs within its structure, remaining at the service of people with disabilities. As close as possible to their needs. This is enough to make Mobalib, without a doubt, a major player in digital for disability.

Developing new avenues for Mobalib

Mobalib’s ambition from the beginning was to support and help people with disabilities in their daily lives. Successful bet for the company. Indeed, the team has continued to grow… To meet the needs and ambitions of Jonathan DUPIRE and his associates. The team now has 11 people, who are involved in development on a daily basis; refinement and performance of the application for users.

Today, the company offers three “services” related to Mobalib: MobaLink, MobaPro and MobaGo. Three services to facilitate the daily lives of people, regardless of their disability. MobaLink is in the form of a social network, on which users exchange. They can thus ask questions about places, infrastructures. The objective is above all the daily interaction and mutual aid between the different members.

MobaPro is accessible to users, but also to companies that want to stand out. On the platform, they can thus enhance their commitment to disability. Accessibility, adaptation of infrastructure, accommodation according to the type of disability, sign language,… So many elements that make the difference.

Finally, MobaGo is a collaborative application that facilitates urban travel for all forms of disability. Routes adapted to the pathology to move safely. Still in development, its release will not be long in coming… To bring a sustainable solution to all…

MOBALIB

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