About us

Ensuring a safe, compliant and comfortable accessibility to meet the needs of 1.3 billion people with disabilities in the world. 
We make their mobility easier on public roads and buildings. And we build the inclusion we all need.

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Our story

It all started in 1993 with Gilles Rochon. At that time, he worked in an establishment dedicated to helping people with disabilities in their work life so he perfectly knew their everyday life. While talking with a blind person, he realized how difficult it was to cross the street when you’re non-sighted… In France, we had vibrating posts, pedestrian signals with constant noise, signal phasing that lacked clarity, it was all but adapted to the needs of users.So Gilles began imagining a reliable and efficient system to help blind and visually impaired people cross the street, with complete autonomy.He conceived remote-controlled accessible pedestrian signals and created EO Guidage. The city of Villeurbanne, near Lyon, welcomed our first APS.Gilles’s invention was revolutionary: it put audio as an actual signage device to guide blind and visually impaired people and give them information.Plus the remote control that activates accessible pedestrian signals on demand was also groundbreaking. Because Gilles already had in mind to use it to activate other systems, like audio beacons. For users with visual impairments, having just one remote control to actuate several audio systems is quite convenient.Gilles didn’t stop there because remote-controlled APS had to be deployed across France.And to guarantee this system kept working and ensure all the visually impaired have access to it, wherever they were in France, it had to be standardized.

In 2004, French norm S32-002 for APS was born thanks to the work and tenacity of Gilles, his wife Valérie, the 20 other members of EO Guidage and the numerous stakeholders implicated in public roads accessibility. Here we were, accessible pedestrian signals throughout the country followed the same norms, the same use and the same operation.
But it was just the beginning… In 2005, the disability rights act, the equivalent of the Americans with disabilities act, came to life.It’s the first French legal text to actually define what disabilities are. And most of all, it puts accessibility at the heart of our society: buildings, public spaces and public transportation have to be accessible.The disability rights act is a turning point in our story, the heart of our industry.With accessible pedestrian signals, we covered a part of the mobility chain of people with vision disabilities. But we wanted to make sure the mobility chain was seamless and accessible, and not just for the visually impaired. And neither for public roads only. Because a world with barriers, a world where some people couldn’t leave their home, where nothing was done to make them welcome, didn’t make any sense.So we developed new solutions. And us too, we kept growing.
In 2009, Rémi and Martin, 2 of Gilles and Valérie’s sons, took charge of the company with Sylvain as well. They came with their touch, their expertise and brought a new breath of fresh air to EO Guidage. Public and private buildings, public transportation… They only had one question in mind: how can they improve the mobility of people with disabilities in these places?
This led them to create our department of accessibility equipment installed in public venues in 2010 (guide paths, stair nosings, risers…).These devices are simple but they make a difference for users with disabilities. With Rémi, Martin and Sylvain, we opened new doors
Gilles and Valérie left the company in 2012. They gave our 3 associates quite a legacy and all their trust to continue this adventure.The 3 of them picked up the torch with determination and shared a common vision: accessibility needs to be deployed absolutely everywhere and for everybody.Together, they rolled up their sleeves to make inclusion a reality and not an utopia, to bring down once and for all the obstacles met by people with disabilities on their routes.
2014 marked the beginning of Evelity, our app to guide users with disabilities indoors. Digital represents a powerful ally in their mobility.It’s also a key year for public venues in France: they have to be accessible and in compliance with the disability rights act according to their accessibility schedule, a process set up by the government. But we’re here to assist them, reassure them, and meet the needs of people with disabilities.
In 2015, everything changed for us: EO Guidage became Okeenea.We reinvented ourselves to mark this change in our core business: we diversified our accessibility solutions and for all types of disabilities. We gathered very different jobs to actually cover all accessibility fields.EO Guidage enabled Okeenea to fly the nest and fully carry out inclusion. We’ve been building accessibility with a capital A in France and all across the world because it knows no borders. Becoming Okeenea is shaping universal accessibility. It means always crossing the needs and uses, reinventing the range of possibilities to create solutions that adapt to everybody. It means conceiving a ramp and also thinking about blind and visually impaired people.
In 2018, we developed our services for public and private venues and covered all types of trade bodies. The goal was to deploy accessibility in buildings and make our clients benefit from our expertise. We were present at all levels.
The year 2020 represented a new step for our 3 associates. Rémi left the company to pursue another dream. But Martin and Sylvain remain more than never determined to build inclusion, brick by brick.
Today, we regroup more than 50 passionate experts who have dived into the accessibility adventure.We improve the autonomy of the 1.3 billion people who have disabilities in the world. Our solutions are present in France but also in 15 different countries.For us, accessibility is a true commitment. We live it, breathe it, forge it so that it offers its very best. That’s what encourages us to move forward, create bridges, and conceive an inclusive world without barriers.We guarantee a peace of mind for our clients, a quality service for users and better comfort for everybody.

Key figures

30 years
of existence
+ de 50
employees
9 000 000 €
of turnover
12 400
venues made accessible 
350 000
audio units deployed
(accessible pedestrian signals + audio beacons)
270 000 m2
covered by our inclusive
navigation app Evelity

Our mission

Making the world more inclusive by improving the autonomy of people with disabilities.

Accessing all types of venues and services represents something normal for people without disabilities. But for those with disabilities, temporary or permanent, getting around, enjoying our cities, can be a real struggle. For us, this is unacceptable.Opening doors for everyone, enhancing accessibility and inclusion, removing obstacles, that’s our priority.

Our vision

Let’s build a world without barriers!

  • The inclusion of people with disabilities is a major societal issue of the 21st century: 180 countries signed the United Nations charter for the inclusion of the 1.3 billion people with disabilities in the world. We act at our level by creating accessibility solutions developed with users to better meet their needs.

  • The mobility chain needs to be accessible to all for equal access to education, healthcare, work, tourism, culture… Mobility needs to be inclusive for all.

  • Accessibility is universal: it needs to enable everybody to have access to the provided equipment and services.

  • The smartphone is a major tool for the mobility of people with disabilities. It reinforces and completes the physical equipment of infrastructure

  • It’s up to the world, our society, to adapt to the needs of people with disabilities, and not the other way around. Accessibility concerns us all, whether we have disabilities or not, especially when we know that only 15% of people have disabilities before their adult lives.

Our values

IMPACT

  • Our very purpose is to provide people with disabilities autonomy and safety.
  • Everyday, we create a more inclusive but also a united and welcoming world where everybody belongs, whatever their needs or capabilities.
  • It’s our commitment and determination to have a positive impact on society with a strong desire to do well that make us get up in the morning.

INNOVATION

  • Innovation is at the heart of our activity that consists in meeting the needs of users thanks to technical and/or technological solutions.
  • We follow technological evolutions to develop solutions that provide autonomy for users.
  • We create innovative products or services with a purpose to deploy them in France and across the world.
  • For us, innovation is a multiple concept. It can be physical and digital. It exists to improve or replace a solution.

COMMITMENT

  • We have our heart set on assisting our customers and users well to better serve them.
  • Together, we seek to make inclusion a reality: we work together and help each other to reach this common goal.
  • Everybody can express their opinion and we listen to each other.
  • We support each other in all accessibility and inclusion projects.

Our team

Sylvain

CEO

Martin

Co-CEO

Arnaud

Directeur administratif et financier

Anne

Head accountant

Delphine

Accountant

Alicia

Human resources manager

Geoffrey

Head of marketing and communication

Lise

Accessibility specialist and user expert

Carole

Content manager & Copywriter

Mathieu

Lead Generation manager

Lisa

Communications manager

Solène

Webmarketer

Sandra

Project manager

Damien

Deputy general manager

Justine

Project manager

Clément

Product designer

Yohann

Chief scientific & technical officer

Léa

iOS developer

Nicolas

iOS developer

Jérémy

Android lead developer

Benjamin

iOS lead developer

Sylvain

Android developer

Marth

Android developer

Edouard

Deputy general manager

Pierre

Head of electronic design

Thomas

Firmware engineer

Gatien

Industrial development manager

Hervé

Qualified technician

Cyril

Technical sales representative

Sylvain

Deputy general manager

Julie

Sales administration manager

Jean-Charles

Bid manager

Valentine

Business developer

Benoit

Sales representative

Celyo

Sales representative

Maël

Sales representative

Sacha

Sales representative

Samuel

Project manager

Coralie

Graphic designer

Romuald

Site manager

Igor

Journeyman

Mohamed

Journeyman

Kevin

Journeyman

Joël

Site manager

Ivan

Journeyman

Benjamin

Site supervisor

Cédric

Site supervisor

Morgane

Site supervisor

Lucile

Site supervisor

Romain

Site supervisor

Halim

Logistics manager

Mickaël

Order packer

Our office

3 agencies :
  • Champagne-au-Mont-d'Or
  • Paris
  • Nîmes

Our labels

Logo de la charte des 1000 entreprises.
The 1000 companies for social integration and employment Charter
It’s a true commitment for us: every year, Alicia, our human resources manager, contributes to careers fairs in the priority education areas of Lyon, our headquarters in France.

She goes and meets junior and senior high school students to introduce them to our jobs, teach them how to do job interviews and advise them on their course choice.

Alicia also participates in other initiatives for disadvantaged students. Every summer, Okeenea welcomes students who seek to build their professional project.

As a member of the 1000 companies Charter, it’s important for us to recruit differently and to give the CV a miss to focus on the human beings..
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