Article originally published in March 2018
The word most uttered during my meeting with businesswoman Marianne Burkic: “hybrid”. The most pronounced expression: “not being locked in a box”. Her company, her business model, her team and herself are a happy mix. In her own words: “with Yapouni, the most beautiful encounters have been the result of chance”. Interview with a passionate and engaging entrepreneur who has decided to make children’s hospitalization more fun.
Marianne Burkic trained as a lawyer, but never practiced her profession. Instead, she headed for business school and internships in the film industry. Then, out of a love of travel, she spent a year in Australia. A hybrid.
One day in 2015, the young woman decided to take part in a health hackathon: Hacking Health. “I had an idea three days before and decided to sign up,” she recounts. I pitched the idea, four developers got on board, and then we won the Coup de Coeur prize! Six months of reflection later, I joined the HEC Montréal incubator to turn it into a real company.”
These were the beginnings of Yapouni and the playfulness of the disease for children. Yapouni is an educational game available in the form of a mobile application, designed to enable children aged 3 to 8 and their parents to play with illness and play down hospitalization. It’s a bit of a video game, but it’s also a bit of an educational game.
Marianne Burkic may have signed up for the hackathon on a whim, but her interest in sick children goes back a long way. She was a hospital volunteer for several years, first in France, then at Hôpital Sainte-Justine. This commitment follows a personal experience.
“My brother and sister were in care processes as children, and a family member has been living with a serious illness for several years,” she explains.
What touches her most about her project are the children.
“They’re the people I feel most comfortable with in life,” she says. As her project progressed, she realized that Yapouni is also about helping parents and hospital staff communicate better with children.
“[The project] belongs to healthcare, the creative industry and technology all at the same time,” she adds. We have to mix people who never talk to each other. As a result, we don’t belong to any one company!” Hybrid, once again.
The aim is to make a situation that’s no fun a little more fun. Of course, the mobile application aims to support families, but above all to reassure children and parents. It also creates a link with nursing staff to improve communication.
“We want to adapt to the child and his or her level of communication. Just because he’s sick doesn’t mean he’s suddenly an adult,” says the entrepreneur.
Hospitalizations of children aged 3 to 8 account for 155,000 cases a year in Quebec. The focus groups organized by Yapouni‘s team revealed that, before the age of six, parents don’t think it’s necessary to prepare children for hospital, as they will panic excessively when nothing has happened yet. Children’s trust in their parents can also be shaken when they arrive at the hospital. When parents say “it won’t hurt”, the child may see this as a lie. The key is to provide parents and hospital staff with the communication tools they need to help children understand the situation.
Marianne Burkic has launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Ulule platform to finance the development of the mobile application. In the meantime, the Yapouni team is testing market interest, building up a customer base and keeping the public interested in their project.
When I ask her where she sees herself in three years’ time, Marianne Burkic describes building synergy with children, their parents and hospital staff. She hopes to give the children a few laughs. She doesn’t say a word about the amount of money her business could bring in. Ah yes, the money,” she says, bursting into laughter. Of course, we don’t do this kind of project for the money. Otherwise, we’d have started another business. We may be a gang of idealists, but we’ll take it.”
