Ambre Potier

Who hasn’t been put off by the idea of holding onto the bar of the metro? To answer this question, Ambre Potier and her fellow students from the LLCE, Entreprises et Echanges Internationaux master 2 program, Guilherme Lobo, Sébastien Ruiz and Gil Valadar, had a simple idea: to create a portable handle that would enable people to avoid coming into contact with the bacteria deposited by the millions of daily public transport passengers. They won this year's bronze medal and the second Fidealis Prize at the 2019 Lépine competition for their invention.

Can you introduce us to your Bugless invention? 

Ambre Potier: Bugless is a portable hygienic handle. Made of flexible silicone, it attaches to the bar of the subway to avoid direct contact with the microbes that may be present. It also fits on walls or windows and will soon be adapted for use on shopping carts, bikes or scooters. 
It took us many months and several prototypes tested with different materials to find a model that is resistant, functional, easy to clean and has a perfect fit. 

How did the idea for Bugless come about?

A. P.: Initially, we had to develop a product or a service as part of a business creation course. With Guilherme, Sébastien and Gil, my three classmates from the Master 2 LLCE Entreprises et Échanges Internationaux, the idea came to us from our observations of people avoiding holding the bar on the metro train in Paris.

When we presented our project to the master's program, the teachers and students immediately agreed with our idea. With more than 70% of feedback positive, the survey we conducted as part of the course convinced us to go further. The project then quickly went beyond the academic framework and we seriously developed our business model.

Just like in a real startup, we divided the roles between us. Gil, a lawyer by trade, took care of the legal part, Guillerm of the commercial part, Sébastien of production. As for me, I was in charge of communication and surveys. 

What memories do you have of your participation in the 2019 Lépine competition?

A. P.: It was a challenge we set ourselves and an opportunity to find investors and partners to market our handle. We decided to participate in the Lépine competition only two weeks before applications closed. When we received a positive answer, everything accelerated. We had to 3D print the handle we had modeled with an engineer friend, fine-tune our business plan, and work on the presentation of our stand.

The Foire de Paris 2019 was an event we will remember for the rest of our lives. We were the youngest candidates of the competition. The other participants took us under their wing by giving us advice. "Stars" is what they called us because during the ten days of the Fair, many curious people, engineers, journalists, came to see us after discovering us on television. The fact that we were still students made a big impression. We got a lot of media coverage in the local, regional and national press and even in Belgium and Switzerland. 

You won the bronze medal at the Lépine competition and the 2nd Fidealis Prize. What do these awards mean to you? 

A. P.: With our handle still in its early stages, we did not expect this. I think this medal is a sign of pride in having worked collectively with our own means, both financial and intellectual, in parallel with our studies. 

This award is also an incentive for us to continue this project. The members of the jury as well as the director of the Lépine competition suggested some ways to improve our product. And, during the fair, we collected the opinions of many visitors who found the idea clever and were already ready to buy our handle.

What do you envision for the future?

A. P.: When I chose to study languages and then a master's degree at Sorbonne University, it was mainly with the objective of working abroad. Today, I dream of creating a startup with Guilherme, Sébastien Ruiz and Gil. We still have several months of development ahead of us before we can offer a marketable product. We need to improve the flexibility of the handle to make it foldable, offer different colors, propose customizable models, etc. We still need to find investors to continue the Bugless adventure.