Glasgow student creates social network for care users

A GLASGOW student has created his own unique social network, targeted at those in care.

Cameron Graham created Storii primarliy to help those in care

Cameron Graham, a 21-year-old student at the University of Strathclyde, founded Storii - a startup which helps those in care develop a life story platform, enabling families to log life stories and connect with relatives.

The entrepreneur from Netherlee, East Renfrewshire has already raised £160,000 to develop his product and is hoping his app will revolutionise the care industry.

The app allows users to store memories and interact with loved ones who are in care.

Storii differs from other social networks like Facebook in that it’s private so only people who have access can see the information posted.

Graham’s interest in technology started when he was just 12-years-old, when he Googled “how to build a website”.

Then when he was 16, the whizz-kid businessman made £10,000 from games console websites.

The idea for Storii was formed in 2014 after Graham faced kidney failure and spent two weeks in hospital.

“During my stay, I saw an older gentleman who had dementia and really struggled to remember who he was and where he was.

“I found it really interesting that when his granddaughter came to visit him, she showed him photographs from his life and it brought back memories just for a few minutes but when she left he receded back into himself.

“The interaction with the nurses just wasn’t the same because he didn’t have those photographs and I thought, there is a gap there. His quality of life was being affected.”

“When I was a kid, I started off doing a little bit of coding. I looked online and learned how to build websites and taught myself code, that’s how I started.”

Despite excelling in the tech world, Graham pursued an economics, business and finance degree.

“At the time, I wanted to be a stock broker in London but when I went down I realised it just wasn’t for me. I came back thinking what job am I going to do?

“I thought Storii was a good idea and people needed it so I went out and started it.”

Now with eight full-time employees in their own office, the company is already looking towards expansion.

“We would like Storii to become the go to place to store your memories and connect families. It’s a big aim but we believe we can get there.”

You can sign up and log your own memories in a personal profile. But the business version allows social carers to manage people who wouldn’t be able to upload information themselves. Lots of people can add information into people’s profiles, to build a life story.

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