The Very important parking application is in its sixteenth version! Sixteen versions in nine months, and already more than 40,000 users and 800,000 places referenced in France as accessible to people with reduced mobility, from car parks to shops including toilets, beaches… When the Poitevins Philippe Croizon, amputee athlete four members who have become speakers, and Thierry Garot, strategy expert, have an idea in mind, they make it happen. And quickly! VIP thus found its place on Play store and Apple store in just a few months.
The beautiful story began with a discussion between “long-time friends” somewhere near Angoulins-sur-Mer, in August 2023. “Philippe, who gives nearly one hundred and twenty conferences a year, told me about the difficulties he had finding parking when traveling,” says Thierry Garot. From September, the two friends created a micro-sidewalk in Bordeaux, Nantes and La Rochelle with around a hundred people with visible disabilities. “At 86%, they told us that they were struggling to find a PMR place. »The idea of a geolocation app thus germinated but it was still necessary “know how to code”. Philippe Croizon and Thierry Garot therefore recruited independent coders. “These are our four fantastic young people, they are between 21 and 25 years old smiles Thierry Garot. Two of them are affected by disability in their family. »But even with all the motivation in the world, creating an app in three months… Still, they did it.
Local authorities contacted
“With Philippe, we each have our own motto: his is “everything is possible” and mine “nothing is impossible”. »On January 17, the beta version of VIP was released, the acronym for Very important parking but also – nothing is left to chance – for “very important persons” (literally “very important people”). The app, voluntarily “free and accessible to all” is powered by contributions (addresses, photos, etc.) from users. As for the economic model, it is based on subscriptions from local authorities.
In less than a year of existence, VIP has obtained the high patronage of the Ministry of the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities. She also convinced the Association for managing the fund for the integration of disabled people (Agefiph), the Tourism and Handicap label, and she has already joined the Union, a Swiss philanthropic society, outside France. “In France, 23 million people are affectedrecalls Thierry Garot, including 12 million people with disabilities. »87 million on the planet… Thierry Garot and Philippe Croizon were at the Mondial du Tourisme in Paris at the end of last week. But before setting out to conquer the world, they aspire to “continue to establish ourselves in communities”while providing their app with new features.“We want to make VIP the Swiss army knife of activities for people with disabilities. »
More information: http://www.7apoitiers.fr/article/24192-l…
