Poole digital agency b4b Marketing is celebrating after one of their mobile apps won first prize in the 2023 Santander X Start-Up Awards, beating off competition from 1,500 other entrants.
The app, named Snowball, is a free, simple to use app available on both iOS and Android that allows people with disabilities to add, rate and review the accessibility of venues worldwide.
Created by b4b’s dedicated software team, the app is the brainchild of Simon Sansome, who created a Facebook page called Ability Access in 2016, which he used to promote disability awareness through informative posts and videos. The page gained around 85,000 followers globally, becoming the most followed disability-focused page on Facebook.
Encouraged by the enthusiastic response, Simon began looking for new ways to expand accessibility for people with disabilities and came upon the idea for a Tripadvisor-style app where users could add accessibility reviews and ratings for venues across the world, such as whether they have wheelchair access.
After just six months in development, Snowball was launched publicly in early 2022. Since then, it has amassed thousands of reviews integrated with Google Maps, making it the largest and most comprehensive database of accessible facilities in the world. With its user-friendly interface and wealth of crowd-sourced information, Snowball has become an indispensable tool for people with disabilities looking to navigate the world around them. It has even garnered high-profile ambassadors like Paralympic legends Hannah Cockroft OBE, a 7-time gold medalist, and Aaron Phipps MBE, a Tokyo 2020 gold medalist.
b4b are continuing to work with Simon on the growth and development of the now award-winning app, with lots of new additions and features in the pipeline.
The b4b software team specialise in a range of software development including complex business systems and business process modelling to powerful e-commerce platforms and apps. With a strong focus on ‘lean thinking’ and rapidly getting to market with Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), they apply a methodology that concentrates on minimising inefficiency while simultaneously maximising business productivity.
Photo: Abbie Markham & Jed Murray of the b4b software team.