Editor’s Note: This article was translated with the assistance of DeepL Translator for parts originally written in French.
When I arrived at North Carolina State University as a SKEMA Business School exchange student from France, I expected a semester of academic growth — not the creation of a startup.
I studied finance at SKEMA during my semester at NC State. My teammates, Antoine Djellal and Alexandre Gallais, spent one and two years respectively on campus studying international business and artificial intelligence. We each came to NC State for different reasons, but shared the same interest in technology and entrepreneurship.
Centennial Campus exposed us to a culture that values experimentation and encourages students, including international ones, to take initiative. It was the kind of environment that makes you feel anything is possible. This is where Apolia began, a voice assistant for small businesses, shaped by the people we met and the energy we found on campus.
It was the first time we felt part of an ecosystem where students are encouraged to build, create and contribute beyond the classroom.
The partnership between SKEMA Raleigh and NC State placed us in an environment where innovation is part of everyday life. Our coursework encouraged us to think practically, manage projects, analyze problems and explore how emerging technologies can support real communities.
As we learned more about the local economy, we noticed how central small businesses are to North Carolina. Across the United States, there are 33.3 million small businesses, which represent nearly all companies in the country and employ almost half of American workers.
In many service industries, phone calls remain the main way customers reach a business. Yet more than a quarter of calls in home services go unanswered. For a dentist, a contractor or a beauty salon, a missed call can mean a missed opportunity.
This reality led us to imagine a tool that could help. We wanted to create an artificial intelligence voice assistant capable of answering calls, providing information and booking appointments at any time. A solution that would support small businesses without requiring them to hire additional staff.
That idea became Apolia, the voice assistant that can understand natural language, respond clearly and take actions such as adding events to a calendar or collecting client details. All conversations are stored in a secure dashboard, giving business owners a simple way to follow up with customers. The market reflects the growing demand for this type of technology. The intelligent virtual assistant sector is expanding quickly and could reach more than fourteen billion dollars by 2030.
Although Apolia is now moving beyond campus, its foundation is tied to NC State. The university gave us an environment where we could test ideas, learn from diverse perspectives and understand how innovation can serve our community. SKEMA Raleigh provided the technical depth that allowed us to build the product. Together, these two academic settings shaped our mindset and gave us the confidence to act.
Our experience shows how international students can contribute to the NC State ecosystem. By combining academic learning with local observation, we were able to identify a real need and develop a solution that could support small businesses across the state.
NC State gave us the environment to explore ideas and the confidence to develop them. Our journey shows how students, especially international ones, can turn their time on campus into meaningful projects. Apolia grew from that experience, and we hope it becomes one of many examples of what students at NC State and SKEMA can build when they are encouraged to explore and innovate.
