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Sometimes, a spark of entrepreneurial inspiration is kindled by one’s personal life. Business grad Eve Bennett (nee Olynyk) and her husband have nine living grandparents in their families. The couple found their elderly relatives were constantly losing items, but sometimes bristling at using available tracking devices, which can be conspicuous. Bennett asked herself “Why is this a problem that hasn’t been solved yet?”

Bennett, BCom ’17, is CEO of , a ӣ��Ӱ��-based company known for making loonie-sized disc-golf locators. She saw an opportunity to innovate. And her team pivoted quickly. Since April of this year, MeepMeep has launched a pilot project with senior care-home provider Trillium Communities and tested a mini-locator device to track hearing aids.

What they heard from the care sector was “I need this yesterday, basically,” says Bennett. The pilot was a success and MeepMeep has several enterprise (business to business) deals in the pipeline. The new locator is sturdy and has a long battery life, but is form-fitted to suit a hearing aid or glasses. Having seniors constantly lose belongings causes stress, agitation and financial hardship—and takes time away from a caregiver’s key duties, notes Bennett.

Bennett had noticed that some of MeepMeep’s customers were already using the disc-golf locators for television remotes and other objects. Air-tag locators can track objects, but are designed to be an interface between one user with a phone—whereas MeepMeep’s new technology works with a team, or “many to many.”

So, a nurse or care aid in a seniors’ home could use the device to find objects for five different residents. When a tracked item is lost, a user can initiate a beeping sound or be shown a pin on a map. The technology could also track residents who have wandered away from their homes—a situation associated with often tragic outcomes.

 The team hopes to keep the product affordable.

MeepMeep made the bold leap into this area by necessity. The current trade disputes were decimating their bottom line since 80 per cent of their disc-golf locator customers were in the U.S. and materials are sourced from China. MeepMeep, which includes UVic grad Evan Griffin, BCom ’22, dove into learning all they could about senior’s care. Next, the team hopes to have the device clear privacy-legislation concerns as they move toward a wider commercial launch.

Bennett credits her time at UVic and the help of the UVic Innovation Centre in helping to launch MeepMeep. She had her first meeting with a patent lawyer at age 10, she recalls. A family friend who was an inventor set it up. 

 —Jenny Manzer, BA ’97