Natéo is doing well, fighting the spread of the virus in its own way. Hit West featured the company in Saint-Hilaire de Chaléons (44) earlier this year, when it was selling its air purifiers in China, the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak. And we wanted to know if the pandemic had allowed Natéosanté further boost its business⬦ Founder Thierry Ricci answers our questions.
To date, the Loire-based company Natéosanté develops air purifiers for professional settings such as hospitals, businesses, and schools, exports little or nothing to China, but a significant amount to South Asia (Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, etc.) Based on a patented smart & connected filtration system (*), the product is very popular, especially because it’s made in France. Since March 2020, Natéosanté also Natéosanté listed as a French Healthcare company (representing French healthcare excellence, alongside Sanofi and Pasteur). During the first lockdown in France, Natéosanté to adapt quickly to meet demand. Its founder, Thierry Ricci, interviewed by Dolorès Charles:
“It was a bit of a frenzy, so naturally, in a world where supply chains, logistics, and production had ground to a halt—because it’s not easy… and on top of that, people were being asked to stay home. At a time when you have to be hyperactive, you even have to promise delivery dates, because we had hospitals asking us for extremely short lead times in terms of delivery dates. We found ourselves in a challenging situation… I was going to say we’re not an international company, but in any case, we’re a small, agile team, and that allowed us to keep our heads held high and our feet on the ground… It allowed us to focus on our task with great responsiveness.”
A premium segment
The Saint-Hilaire-based company has hired four new employees to meet demand (out of 16), and new hires are joining the communications and export teams. Natéosanté now Natéosanté 50% of its air purifiers overseas, up from 30% a year ago. The small company operates in the “premium” segment. You won’t find its air purifiers in big-box stores… This year, for example, the company equipped the Hospices Civils de Lyon and its intensive care units to prioritize the protection of medical staff.
“They had to shut down the centralized ventilation and air conditioning systems on a massive scale because the virus was spreading through those systems. They were forced to shut them down, but they still needed to continue recirculating the air… so that task was entrusted to our technology. However, there has always been this issue of contamination in hospitals, since we had already conducted experiments with Aspergillus mediatus and Staphylococcus—which primarily affect surfaces—but with COVID, we know it spreads very easily through the air, and it has a high survival rate—it’s very resistant… it’s not just a virus; it’s a coronavirus, so it’s more resistant.”
Natéosanté hospitals and schools
Apart from hospitals, Natéosanté classrooms in schools that request them, despite the fact that Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer himself has expressed reservations about installing air purifiers in classrooms—unlike in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region or Germany… Nevertheless, Natéo is being contacted directly by mayors of towns in western France to have the product installed in schools:
“What (Jean-Michel) Blanquer is saying is that we must be very careful about the products because there are machines on the market that do nothing, and others that could even accelerate the spread of Covid-19… With Covid, we’re dealing with ‘nano’ particles, which are extremely small, so naturally we need very specific technologies that are rare—the kind you won’t find at the supermarket… And if you use this type of product from the supermarket to treat Covid-19, it will make things worse because you’ll be sucking it in and propelling it out of the device, since it won’t have been captured by the filtering technologies… you’ll accelerate the spread; that’s the fan effect. "
Discussions are underway with the Pays de la Loire region to install such purifiers in classrooms, but be aware that masks will still be useful:
"Masks are actually for microdroplets… When we speak, we don’t realize it, but we spray a little onto the table or the computer keyboard… The air purifier can’t clean up those droplets… hand sanitizer is the same—it’s for surface contamination, which isn’t our area of expertise… We focus on air treatment, but these are complementary measures.”
Air quality: a priority for the future
As an expert in the field of air quality, Natéosanté now one of the top five global leaders in the professional sector. A tremendous recognition for founder Thierry Ricci, who for the past 10 years has been explaining that air quality is crucial:
“It’s been over 10 years now that we’ve been explaining that air is important—it’s our primary vital resource, and we breathe between 15,000 and 18,000 liters of it every day… and now the fact that people are wearing masks to protect themselves from something they can’t see, and which can make them very sick… of course this has an impact on their daily lives and on how they think… It sinks in, and this is a global phenomenon because today, everyone on the planet is wearing a mask! Everyone is thinking: there are things in the air that aren’t good and that can even be very harmful to my health, and I need to protect myself—and this has been going on for several months now, and it’s not over yet… it’s really sinking in!
As a reminder, Natésanté’s air purifiers—plug-and-play solutions (no installation required, just a single electrical outlet)—are manufactured at two sites: in Vendée (400 employees) and in Avrillé in Maine-et-Loire (40), and sold worldwide (40 countries—Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, Europe—Poland & Romania, Spain, Italy, and Germany). Purifiers of all sizes are available, starting at €790 and going up to €3,000. This depends on the size of the rooms and the number of people working there… It’s also about supporting customers and businesses that want to bring their employees back to the workplace safely.
“The number of people per room also means a higher concentration of pollutants and viral load… We also pay close attention to the distance between the room’s occupants and the air purifiers… We bring a wealth of expertise to the table, and our clients contact us today not only for the solution but also for our support…”
A report by Dolorès Charles
Eolis Air Manager is the first air purifier whose safety and performance have been tested and verified under the ETV (the European Commission’s Eco-Innovation Verification Program).
Source: https://www.nateosante.com/hit-west-7-decembre-2020/