CMM meets Hibant Care

CMM: What is your idea?

Ibomobo Igbosi: I want Hibant to grow into a complete care ecosystem, built around helping families find carers who match their language, culture and personal needs, where carers keep 100% of what they earn and gain more control over their work.

The goal is one trusted place for the whole journey: finding your carer, keeping a shared record of the care and arranging the wider support around it, like art or music sessions, day trips and cultural outings, community groups or a short break to recharge. Plus, it shows people how they can use their direct payments or individual services funds for support like this.

CMM: What motivated you to enter the challenge?

II: I wanted to learn from experienced mentors and test my idea. They helped me transform Hibant Care from a traditional introductory agency into a platform that’s free to use, with a more sustainable business model that benefits carers and families alike. It completely changes the model currently used in the sector.

Mentors at the CIC weekend helped refine the concept and focus it on solving the biggest challenges in care. I’ve continued working with them since, particularly around opportunities to collaborate with local authorities to improve care provision.

CMM: What’s your personal connection to the sector?

II: I worked in care for two years across domiciliary care, care homes and supported living. I saw recurring problems, including inconsistent care, lack of transparency, low pay and unpredictable working patterns for carers. Those experiences inspired me to look for a better solution.

CMM: What challenges will your product address?

II: Hibant Care gives families more choice, allowing them to find carers who understand their language, culture and individual needs. It also increases transparency by making care information more accessible and replaces a model where carers and families are often charged fees. The aim is a fairer system where carers earn more and the platform remains free.

CMM: What does adult social care innovation mean to you?

II: Innovation means solving real problems, not creating technology for its own sake. I’ve seen how important good support is and I want to help build a system that works better for everyone.

CMM meets The Cognitive Daisy

CMM: What is your idea?

Dr Patrycja Korzeniowska: It’s a digital flower head with petals that represent a person’s cognitive profile. Areas of cognitive challenge are shown as coloured petals, while areas of cognitive strength remain white. These can be leveraged in everyday care provision and help people to maintain independence.

After a short assessment, we generate the daisy and a Petal-by-Petal Guide. For each identified difficulty, the guide gives everyday examples and practical advice for families, carers and professionals.

Originally developed for care homes and people with dementia, it can support anyone with cognitive difficulties across domiciliary care, supported living and within families with informal carers. We also offer accessible assessor training with no professional background required.

CMM: What were your motivations for entering the challenge?

DPK: I think the real prize of this challenge is the advice and the wealth of experience you can get from people from different walks of life and industries. Also learning because I am not a businessperson. I’m an academic. That’s why hearing different perspectives has been so valuable. It’s already challenged some of my assumptions and given me new ideas.

CMM: What challenges will your product address?

DPK: People see that someone is struggling cognitively, but they don’t always understand why or what will help. As a result, families and carers are often left relying on trial and error. Cognitive Daisy provides a simple, shared way of understanding a person’s cognitive strengths and challenges, helping everyone involved in care make more informed decisions and provide more personalised support.

CMM: Have you discussed your product with stakeholders or end users?

DPK: We’ve worked closely with care home staff, managers, people living with dementia and family carers. A feasibility trial in care homes showed its value but highlighted the challenges of implementing a paper-based tool within busy care settings, directly informing the development of the digital Cognitive Daisy.

The conversations we’ve had with care professionals, people with lived experience, business mentors and fellow innovators over the Challenge Weekend have also highlighted exciting opportunities to make the platform even more intuitive and accessible.

CMM: Do you have any key competitors?

DPK: Unlike traditional assessments that measure performance, the Cognitive Daisy translates a person’s cognitive strengths and challenges into visual, practical guidance that families, carers and professionals can use in everyday care. That combination of assessment, a visual cognitive profile and personalised Petal-by-Petal guidance is what makes it distinctive.

CMM meets Myndful

CMM: What is your idea?

Lizzy Hilliam: Our idea is an immersive environment business looking at how virtual reality can be used in elderly care, within care home settings or people’s own homes. It focuses on reminiscence therapy – taking residents back in time – or it can be used for helping with agitation or walking with purpose.

CMM: What challenges will your product address?

Cassia Ogilvie: One key area is supporting residents who are walking with purpose or experiencing agitation. For example, if someone is distressed because they believe they need to collect their children from school, we could show them a familiar scene of this situation which may help calm them.

It could also reduce reliance on pharmaceutical interventions for agitation, as a VR experience may help someone remain calm.

CMM: What feedback have you received?

LH: I’ve spoken to David Smallcombe, Chief Executive Officer of Care and Support West, who viewed our test scene and really liked the idea and kindly shared it on social media.

We are also keen to base the project in research and hope to be involved in formal studies going forward. We’ve had professional feedback which gave us valuable insights into things we hadn’t considered.

CMM: What advice have you received from mentors?

CO: We’ve spoken to several mentors throughout the challenge. One in particular came from a learning disability background and gave us really useful feedback. She asked us to think about alternative formats and accessibility – for example, whether some users would tolerate a VR headset.

CMM: How would you use the challenge prize money?

LH: We would likely use it to support focus groups and incentivise participation, as that is a key part of our next stage of development. We would also invest in app development and use funds to develop more scenes, improve quality and potentially purchase asset packs to expand what we can create.

CMM: What does adult social care innovation mean to you?

CO: For me, innovation is a core part of how our organisation works. We work a lot with students and regularly take part in research studies. Our care home environment is designed to encourage innovation.

Even simple things, like our annual pantomime, drive innovation. Our whole environment is geared towards creative, innovative ways of working.

For the five semi-finalists, it all comes down to preparations for Care Show Birmingham on 7th-8th October, where the 2026 winner will be announced.

Follow @CareInnovHub and @Care-Innovation-Challenge and use #CareInnovationChallenge for updates.