It was the trauma and stress of having to deal with her parents’ affairs, particularly after the death of her father, which made serial entrepreneur Sheila Hogan determined to make the process easier for other people.
A successful business architecture consultant and former President of the Association of Scottish Businesswomen, she turned her attentions towards investigating whether there was a way, in this new digital age, in which all of the threads of our lives could be captured and managed to ease the burden on those loved ones left behind.
Having previously run her own award-winning maintenance business for 10 years, Sheila launched Biscuit Tin in November 2019, the UK’s first ever Digital Legacy Vault.
What is Biscuit Tin?
Mirroring the rise of the ‘death tech’ trend, Biscuit Tin is an innovative new product aimed at helping people prepare for their death, providing family members peace of mind and minimising stress following their bereavement.
Named after the old biscuit tin every family used to have for storing important documentation, Biscuit Tin is an online secure digital vault that can hold all the valuable information required by a loved one once someone has passed away. This includes practical things like accounts, documents, and contacts, to addressing more taboo issues which are often not talked about in life and can be difficult to discuss face to face.
For example, post life wishes such as funeral arrangements, organ donation, guardianship of children and beloved pets can be included. Personal memories can also be recorded and held securely and privately until such time as they are needed.
Why launch Biscuit Tin?
Sheila recognised that with the population of the UK getting increasingly older, coupled with all of us becoming more digital savvy, there is a growing need for a secure way in which nominated individuals can follow personal instructions to close the ever increasing complexities of the estates of those who have died.
Recent statistics from a YouGov survey* back this up, with data showing that in the event of their death 25% of Brits wanted their social media information deleted entirely, and a further 26% wanted the data downloaded, taken offline and given to family and friends. Over 58% of Brits show an intention to pass on their passwords for their computer to family before they die.
Biscuit Tin is already a multi-award winning company, with founder and CEO Sheila winning an AccelerateHER Award 2020 (in the FinTech and Cyber Security category) and an Innovate UK award, part of a £40m boost to drive new technological advances by the UK Government in response to COVID-19. The East Lothian based entrepreneur has also successfully secured Scottish Enterprise Innovation and Research and Development funding and is currently on Business Gateway’s Growth Pipeline.
The ultimate vision is for Biscuit Tin to become the UK’s most trusted digital legacy leader, with the goal of 5% of UK digital savvy over 35-year olds using a Biscuit Tin account within the next 5 years.
During the set-up of a Biscuit Tin account, customers can choose ‘nominees’ to be the executors of their digital vault, allowing access to all their data when it is needed. A Biscuit Tin subscription is free for those who wish to store up to ten items. A premium subscription, for those who wish to store more than ten items and provide support to their nominees, costs £49.99 annually or £4.99 monthly.
For more information please log onto: www.biscuittin.co.uk