Francie graduated from the South Australian Young Entrepreneurs Program Pilot in 2018. 

 

Francie has applied her creative thinking to tackle the global issue of relentless negative media facing the public, particularly the millennial generation that live in the world of cyber bullying. 

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“Negative TV news is a significant mood-changer, and the moods it tends to produce are sadness and anxiety” according to Graham Davey, a professor emeritus of psychology at Sussex University in the UK and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Experimental Psychopathology.

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A study, from the Universities of Pittsburgh and West Virginia studied almost 1,200 students between the ages of 18 and 30 about their social media use and found that for every 10 percent rise in negative social media interactions a person experienced, their risk of depression rose significantly by 20 percent.

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Francie, a year 11 student of Xavier College school set up ‘The Kindness Cards Movement’ to help end the rise of depression in young people by increasing positive media and creating opportunities for people to perform acts of kindness for one another.  

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Throughout the YEPP program Francie refined her business idea to combine the traditional concept of giving and receiving a physical kindness card with the ever so tech savvy generation to enable users to scan the act of kindness barcode to receive options for potential acts of kindness.  Users can choose the act of kindness they would like to perform, and as a result increase the probability of the act taking place.

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The Kindness Cards Movement is not limited to the public to perform acts of kindness. 

 

Francie has also placed the onus on businesses, schools, Government and local communities to step up and invest financially in the concept to take responsibility in addressing the global rise of depression in young people.

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“I know that my original idea may not be the same in years to come, but I know now as an entrepreneur that I have the skills and drive to pivot my idea until I reach a viable and profitable business model.  There is no wrong way, it is all part of my learning as an entrepreneur”. 

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“Moving forward, I am going to focus on researching and forming a genuine and viable value proposition for businesses to invest in my The Kindness Cards Movement.  I am confident that the skills and experience I have been given through YEPP will place me in good stead to start this process with confidence”

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