A Belfast student has scooped a top award and investment towards her innovative app aimed at helping young people diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.
Emma Corbett, used her own experiences of the hurdles she faced when diagnosed with the condition aged 17 to create an app specifically aimed at helping young people cope and understand Type 1 Diabetes.
The Ulster University student recently won the Belfast Business Idea award earning herself a cash injection of £2,500 to help grow her business.
Read more: Young NI entrepreneur who turned University project into unique business idea
Speaking to Belfast Live, Emma explained how sudden weight loss and constant fatigue left her in hospital.
She explained: "I was very weak, losing loads of weight, very skinny, but I was constantly eating because my body needed energy but I kept losing weight. I was drinking water like mad and running to the toilet like mad, and just so so tired, I was constantly tired and just wanted to sleep all the time.
"Over the summer mum went to the doctors about something and I went with her, and as we were about to leave I mentioned to her to ask the doctor why I was so tired and eating all the time, and we were sort of laughing.
"But the doctor asked me more questions and took me in straight away to get bloods done as she said it sounded very like Type 1 Diabetes."
Emma continued: "The normal range for blood sugar is between 4 and 8 and mine were 28. So I was very close to going into Diabetic DKA as I was very close to that, which is very dangerous so I was admitted to hospital straight away and I was in for about three days."
After her shock diagnosis, the former Ballyclare secondary school student admitted she found it difficult to comprehend all the information that was being thrown at her as she tried to process and understand her new way of life.
"One of the things that I noticed that is when you're newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, is all you're given is leaflets. I noticed that was a gap in the market that wasn't being filled, there is nothing targeted towards newly diagnosed diabetics.
"The things that are targeted towards diabetics is all to do with their numbers and what their blood sugar levels are but they don't focus on the emotional and mental part aspect of it which many young people really struggle with."
And with that, Emma decided she wanted to make a difference and the idea was born for her 'Insurin' app. She decided this would be her final University project focus and so she set out to create her business team to help make her dream a reality.
"I wanted to work on something meaningful so I thought why not try and solve the problems that I've noticed with living with my condition and put them in an app to help other people.
"I started working on it and my lecturer let me know about a program called Co-Founders, and it is run by Catalyst and what it helps you to form a team with like-minded individuals who will come with skills and ideas and see if anyone could work with you.
"So I met Michael, Tom and Lucy there. Tom is front-end user experience focused, Michael is more back-end tech-focused and Lucy has worked on lots of start-ups before as has Tom, and Lucy is focused on operations and logistics so I was fortunate that they agreed to be in my team.
"That was amazing because I had the skills then to take something I had as an idea and begin to get it built and get the ball rolling."
Explaining how her app works, the 22-year-old said she wanted to make sure that those using the app were able to personalise it to themselves and ensure that it was targeting her audience of young people.
"When you're newly diagnosed you're hit with something you're likely going to have to live with for the rest of your life, couple of leaflets just won't cut it.
"So what Insurin does is it educates and guides newly diagnosed diabetics as early as possible to help prevent future complications. It aims to help them physically, mentally, and emotionally so they can live with confidence and without fear.
"The app mascot is called Gluco, and he will be your friend, he understands what you're going through, he encourages you, he doesn't put you down, he tells you what you're doing well, and the app is all personalised toward that one user.
"So if you're feeling down that week or have had multiple low blood sugar episodes, all the information will be targeted toward that so they can help with whatever you're struggling with. And because it is difficult to get young people interested in education especially when it's a condition they don't want to have, what Insurin will do is it will provide bitesize information in the form of Snapchat news and Instagram, so we're using social media with it to include things like TikTok as well. So it's very gauged towards young people, " added Emma.
After entering the Belfast Business Idea awards Emma came out on top and is hoping to use the funding she won to help develop her app and bring it to market.
" Belfast City Council have been absolutely brilliant in helping us and the sponsors they have offered us has been really helpful. We're going to use the cash for user testing and user focus groups in September so Diabetes Uk are going to help us, we are going to get those who suffer from Type 1 diabetes in that age range to come and take part in our focus groups and test the app.
"We are hoping to have something in people's hands by maybe this time next year but at the moment the app is still very much in the development process.
"We're also keen to speak to potential investors so if anyone would like to get involved with then please get in touch via email, emma@insurin.app"
If you're thinking about setting up your own business or are already running a small business and would like some free support to develop, check out the range of programmes Belfast Belfast City Council offers online and get in touch with their Enterprise team today.
You can follow Emma's progress with the app by following Insurin on Instagram and Twitter.
For the latest breaking news straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.
