Pau (AFP)
Door handles, doorbells or elevator buttons have become with the Covid-19 dreaded obstacles to avoid the transmission of the Covid-19: a small company from Pau has just put on the market "Yanook", a small multi-purpose hook replacing the hand.
"It was while watching my children and my family live that I realized how many things we touched with our hands," says Yannick Silva, a 38-year-old engineer from Pau.
An order, in parallel, from a local company for door handle protections, finally convinced him of the need for an invention.
Its "hook" is a 20 gram stainless steel piece, barely larger than a car key. "It was designed to hang doorknobs or latches, press elevator buttons, doorbells, switches, buttons on bank terminals, grab taps," explains the inventor, founder of the start- up NConcepts, installed in a business incubator in Pau.
"The hygienic approach is broader, we can use this object even outside of the Covid context, in public places that are not always very clean, like the toilets", underlines Yannick Silva.
Designed in anti-bacterial stainless steel, the same as that used in the medical environment, the object is "easy to clean with a little water and soap" and above all recyclable.
The product, launched just a few days ago, has already received orders for several thousand pieces. Individuals, companies but also institutions such as the Red Cross have already ordered, says the entrepreneur.
The hook, made a few kilometers from Pau, in Morlaàs, is sold for 8 euros. For each sale, one euro is donated to an association, such as the Fondation de France or the Hôpitaux de Paris.
"We also invite people to tell us about more local foundations, which we can integrate," said Palois. "We didn't want an exorbitant price, we wanted to meet a need and not use the situation."
Yannick Silva assures that "he will quickly be able to reach the production of 3 to 4,000 pieces per day, if there is demand".
© 2020 AFP