Joseph Zirah, the quiet achiever
Without boasting or false modesty, Joseph Zirah is riding a wave of success that has made him one of the key players in innovation in Languedoc-Roussillon. A portrait of a true product of Montpellier’s educational system.
He’s not the type to look back, but there’s no doubt that Joseph Zirah will long remember his meeting with Pierre Moscovici one day in September 2012. While visiting the region, the Minister of the Economy stopped in Lavérune to celebrate the success of a regional flagship, ESII, taking the time for a visit and a handshake with its founder. An alumnus of ISIM (formerly Polytech), Joseph Zirah has led this SME specializing in reception management since the early 1980s. His work involves designing high-tech reception management solutions for public institutions and the retail sector, such as the smart single checkout line or the connected card for high-end boutiques. His pride: having propelled his company among the global leaders in the sector thanks to tools like the “patient journey,” a system designed to optimize case management adopted by the largest Parisian hospitals. The success story could have ended there. But that was without counting on the ingenuity of this engineer, who worked at Alcatel Paris before embarking on his entrepreneurial journey. At an age when some are thinking about retirement, Joseph Zirah is launching a new line of business with Twavox, which he describes as “software providing access to culture for people with disabilities.”
Carbon paper
It must be said that the subject is very close to his heart. Having suffered from progressive hearing loss since the age of two, Joseph Zirah has spent his entire life struggling with a world that wasn’t designed for him. Even back in college, at a time when the word “accessibility” was just a vague concept, he had to rely on carbon copies from one of his classmates. And work hard. His scribe at the time, Jean-Pierre Richard, has since become a friend and his business partner at ESII. Twavox was born out of an observation: “Every time I went to the movies, I had trouble hearing all the dialogue. There are certainly induction loop systems to help with this, but they’re more or less effective depending on where you’re sitting in the theater, and interference is very common,” he explains . One evening, his frustration got the better of him, and Joseph Zirah set out to search for a mobile app online.
Wi-Fi
“I figured that in today’s connected world, there had to be a solution. But then I realized there wasn’t one…” Thoughan outsider to the film industry, he sensed the opportunity presented by the new generation of mobile phones and decided to challenge his R&D department with a new project. The success matched the boldness of the venture. Launched in 2014, his patented device and accompanying app immediately won over companies like Gaumont and Pathé. The concept is disarmingly simple: use the Wi-Fi band to stream audio to a smartphone and a pair of headphones, thereby avoiding any interference. Two other features round out the system: audio description and subtitles. “And we can go much further,” enthuses Joseph Zirah, who is now targeting the conference and education markets. In April, the president of ESII returned to Polytech to witness the installation of the Twavox unit in a lecture hall. It was quite symbolic. Forty years later, Joseph Zirah has had his revenge on carbon paper.