Our Story
An Idea That Started With Birthday Cake
The company started in the summer of 2013 in Edmonton, Alberta when Ryan Day purchased his grandmother a tablet computer for her birthday. Family members warned that she was too old too learn how to use it. The tablet was her first computer and her first introduction to the world wide web at 80 years young. She had never used a computer in her life but thanks to Ryan’s background in education he was able to teach her basic digital literacy skills between cake slices and cups of tea. He applied educational principles to create a winning recipe for success.
Looking back now his grandmother considers her tablet a lifeline that helped keep her connected to her family and her mind active as she transitioned into a seniors lodge. Word quickly spread and soon Ryan was fielding requests from people wanting to get their parents online too.
Technology for the Few
Tech companies promise that their stuff “just works”. If you’re a digital native millennial it probably does! If you’ve ever had to give tech support to your parents or grandparents you quickly learn technology doesn’t just work for everyone. Technology is not being designed for older adults and the customer support experience isn’t either. Older adults that are using technology are finding themselves struggling to keep up as technology advances and the big tech giants accelerate updates and their product refresh cycles.
“While aiming their technology at younger populations, advertisements for cell phones, computers, tablets, and digital applications all ignore older adults, who are a quickly growing segment of the population (Statistics Canada, 2011).
Olive Connect’s guiding philosophy is that technology should work for everyone, no matter how old you are.
Our Team
Ryan Day (CEO and Founder)
Ryan Day has a Bachelor of Education awarded with distinction from the University of Alberta and an Adult and Community Education Certificate from the University of Calgary. He will be receiving his Master of Educational Technology from the University of British Columbia BC in 2019. His unique blend of education and experience has been the “secret sauce” behind Olive Connect’s success.
He started his career in education teaching in Sweden. This experience taught him how technology is an important tool for bridging geographical distances between family.
When Ryan returned to Canada he worked for the non-profit Centre for Public Legal Education (CPLEA). It was in this position where he honed his plain-language writing and universal design skills. He made complex legal topics accessible to the public. His innovative work in this role won an Alberta Consumer Champion award in 2012 from the Alberta Government. He spoke at teacher conferences across the province, teacher training programs, and was interviewed by the CBC .
Before working full time for his company Olive Connect he was an instructional designer at the University of Manitoba. He has designed over 50 Extended Education courses in subjects ranging from human resource management, business law, and accounting.
A Stellar Management Team
The management team has grown with the company and now includes a solid foundation of business, engineering, and design expertise.
Our Concept
Let me tell you about our concept through the eyes of our customers:
Ami is moving abroad. She has a new baby and it’s important to her that she stays in touch with her grandparents. The problem is that her grandparents lack digital literacy. That’s where Olive Connect comes in.
Olive-Connect is an all-in-one solution for getting loved ones online. Through our website Ami orders and customizes her grandparent’s tablet. We send her grandparents a tablet optimized for user-friendly operation and maintenance.
Ready to Go. When her grandparents open the tablet it’s ready to be used! We know how adults learn and so we create an optimal learning environment. The font size is increased, colours are chosen for visibility and readability, and the physical power button has been painted bright red. All the apps that they need are on the front page. There is a shortcut we’ve created that’s a picture of her granddaughter. She just needs to tap the photo of Ami to contact her. We’ve partner with her internet service provider to ensure that Wi-Fi works out of the box. No Wi-Fi network set up required.
Plain Language Printed Instructions. We provide the educational scaffolding to support the development of digital literacy – all tablets include user-friendly printed instructions in the box. As her grandmother begins to acquire new computer skills there are spaces to write down notes including usernames and passwords. We also have trouble shooting tips so if something goes wrong they don’t have to search on their tablet for instructions to fix it. That’s just common sense.
Safe-Learning Environment Where Mistakes are Okay. What makes us different? Well we’re not a “tech company”. We’re an education company teaching digital literacy and we understand how important a safe learning environment is. We lock the the desktop using our own proprietary desktop launcher. So learners don’t have to be scared about accidentally deleting an app or switching a setting like airplane mode on by accident.
Our Market
Our Customers
“A lack of skills and limited social and institutional systems make it difficult for older adults to gain experience and comfort with technology. However, support systems, such as family and peers, can help mediate older adults’ reluctance with technology.”(Schreurs, Quan-Haase, & Martin. (2017).
Despite making strides towards more accessible technology the big tech players are not making this market a priority. There are many local workshops and classes that are paid or even free at the library. These just don’t cut the mustard. There’s accessibility issues getting to these classes. The computers and tools in these classes might not match the ones they have at home. There isn’t the ongoing support and documentation.
No one is using a comprehensive and pedagogy-focused approach to digital literacy for older adults. We have successfully begun to incorporate AI into our support services and this allows us to keep our costs down and stay lean.
Public Funding
Where are We Going
The Ask
We are seeking an investment of $500,000 that will allow us to hire additional software engineers to complete our Family Link Software. In return you will be given 25% equity in the company.