Hamilton inventor, entrepreneur just made washing your hands easier
Published June 18, 2020 at 7:55 pm
A Hamilton inventor and entrepreneur has developed a product that can help keep our hands clean any time and any place for just $15.
A Hamilton inventor and entrepreneur has developed a product that can help keep our hands clean any time and any place for just $15.
The SqueezyBand, patent-pending, is a sleek rubber bracelet, no bigger than a FitBit, that allows the wearer to carry and have access to hand sanitizer, liquid soap, lotion or any other liquid one might need immediately on hand.
“When [COVID-19] hit we were being told that we always have to keep our hands washed,” Moe Masoudi, the SqueezyBand’s creator, told InTheHammer. “I thought; ‘Maybe I can help people.’ And I asked: ‘How do we ease the problem?’”
The answer, which continues to be reinforced by Public Health, is to wash your hands.
So, with a pandemic shutting down the city and world beyond, Masoudi got to work on trying to figure out how best to help people keep their hands clean in the easiest way possible.
“I started drafting and sketching it,” Masoudi said. “I sourced out an engineer and I went and got a 3D printer to print off prototypes.”
Masoudi said he tested out at least a dozen prototypes before he settled on today’s SqueezyBand.
Pictured above: A collection of Masoudi’s prototypes for the SqueezyBand.
“This was the easiest one to use and refill,” he said. “It looks like such a simple design but so much thought and work went into every aspect of it.”
He wanted to make sure that people felt comfortable using the product over and over again, confident in its integrity and durability.
The band is made with medical-grade rubber so that alcohol and other products won’t cause the material to degrade.
“People can use them for years and for many different things,” he said.
For example, they could be used to carry around sunblock or perhaps your favourite hot sauce for those hot sauce emergencies.
While the SqueezyBand was born here in Hamilton, Masoudi had to look abroad for help in manufacturing the product on a grander scale.
“Everything here was shut down at the time so I ended up reaching out to a manufacturer in China,” he explained. “Eventually, though, I want to have it manufactured here in Hamilton. I want to make a completely Hamilton product.”
Because Hamilton, Masoudi said, is a hotbed for innovation and talent and he wants to give back to the community he’s spent most of his life in and where he chooses to raise his family.
“Hamilton is home and I’m very grateful to this community,” he said.
Once Masoudi was able to secure manufacturing, the buzz about his handy wristwear was starting to get around and people within his network started to reach out to see how they could get their hands on his latest innovation.
Now, Masoudi has a pretty significant global network. He’s earned a name for himself as a filmmaker and founder of the Hamilton-based Moetion Pictures. He’s also founded Moetion Innovations, which produces everything innovative from clothing to software and everything in between.
So when it came time to organize distribution of the SqueezyBand, Masoudi already had a reliable network to tap into.
SqueezyBand is being sold in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, Australia and Asia.
“Because the product is so unique I had a lot of people reaching out to me,” he said.
So far, Masoudi has sold 6,000 SqueezyBands across the globe and that number is climbing.
He has plans to ramp up production in the weeks and months to come as demand for the product goes up.
“What I hope to see is [the SqueezyBand] on the wrists of children returning to school in September,” he said. “I would like to see it on the wrists of elderly people. It’s a simple innovation that could actually help with COVID-19.”
SqueezyBands are available to purchase here.
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