Joseph Zirah, the quiet achiever
Without boasting or false modesty, Joseph Zirah is riding the wave of success that has made him one of the key players in innovation in Languedoc-Roussillon. A portrait of a man who is 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 to tour the facility and shake hands with its founder. An alumnus of ISIM (formerly Polytech), Joseph Zirah has been at the helm of 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 to become one of the global leaders in the sector thanks to tools like the “patient journey,” a system designed to optimize case management that has been adopted by the largest hospitals in Paris. The success story could have ended there. But that would have been 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 that provides 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 against 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 provided by one of his classmates. And he had to 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, of course, induction loop systems to help with this, but their effectiveness varies 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 find a mobile app online.
Wi-Fi
“I thought to myself that in this connected age we live in, 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 smartphones and decided to have his R&D department take on a new challenge. 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 earbuds, thereby avoiding any interference. Two other features round out the system: audio description and closed captions. “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 a symbolic moment. Forty years later, Joseph Zirah has finally gotten his revenge on carbon paper.