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Takatu entrepreneur Beth Kelly has invented a wristband for children and parents that can track the wearer’s position anywhere in the world, and she is looking for local mums who want to try it out.
The tracker is a low-profile rubber wrist band that also has a distress button the wearer can press to instantly send a message to a nominated mobile phone.
Beth says the wrist band is perfectly suited to “flight risk kids”, such as two-year-olds or children on the autism spectrum.
“In our market research, a lot of people have also mentioned it could be useful for elderly people with dementia,” she says.
Beth says the device has been designed to prevent parents from experiencing the heart-sinking feeling of losing a child.
“When I had three kids under age four they would scatter in different directions, and I’m sure I lost each one of them at one time or another, even in the supermarket.”
The position of the tracker band can be viewed on a smartphone at any time once its unique code has been registered to a user online.
For her new business SafeT+, Beth has teamed up with Dunedin-based tracking provider TracPlus, which provides tracking information to global aviation and marine clients, as well as St John.
She says trackers already on the market require a mobile phone to operate or come with a price tag of up to $400, whereas her SafeT+ wrist band will be free with a $15-a-month subscription.
The first production run of 5000 units will be available sometime in the next month and Beth is aiming to distribute them through local mums’ coffee groups, as well as Plunket and Autism NZ.
Her target is to have 100,000 subscriptions in the next 12 to 18 months, which she says would be one in 10 children in New Zealand.
Beth says although there is potential for “helicopter parents” to watch their children’s every move, in reality the tracker should give kids more freedom.
“It’s perfect for free-ranging kids because it means parents don’t have to worry when they don’t turn up at dinner time.”
Beth is something of a serial entrepreneur and is planning to invest the money from her new business into another invention – a portable armrest for breastfeeding mothers.
She is also starting as a secondary school teacher at Westlake Girls High School this year.
Those interested in trying the new wrist band tracker can contact Beth at safetplusnz@gmail.com.
