Madoka Akagi: Transforming the Super-Aging Society (Age-Well)

September 12, 2023

Since I was a child, I have always admired my grandmother, who was charming and handled everything with grace. During long vacations, I would stay at my grandparents' house and learn many things from her. She would often say proudly, "Once you pass 70, you subtract one year from your age every year," and when she was 76, we even traveled to Kenya together.

My grandmother seemed to get more powerful as she aged, but everything changed after a compression fracture at age 87. Unable to move as she wished, she began staying home more often, her self-esteem dropped, and she started apologizing to her family and those around her, saying, "I'm sorry for being a burden." I felt an uncontrollable sense of frustration, thinking, "It's wrong for my grandmother, who should be thanked at the end of her life, to be apologizing to her family and society." This became the catalyst for my decision to start a business at age 26.

When I founded the company, I conducted street interviews in the freezing cold under the title "100 Senior Interviews." From the needs I discovered there—such as "I want to easily consult someone about small troubles or worries, like how to use a smartphone. I want them to solve it"—I started "Motto Mate," a companion service provided by the grandchild generation. Currently, staff members in their 20s and 30s (the grandchild generation) visit the homes of seniors to provide a wide range of services, including individual lessons on smartphones and computers, accompanying them on walks or outings, and joining them in their hobbies. Thanks to this, we have received wonderful feedback such as "They are like a well-behaved grandchild" and "Light has shone into my old age!" We will continue to expand our services as a "well-being service" that produces colorful and positive daily lives for the senior generation.

In the "Entrepreneurship and Management" class I took during my first year at SFC, entrepreneurs who graduated from Keio University spoke to us about entrepreneurship. At that time, something they all said in common was, "I've been able to make it to this day, no matter how hard it was, because it's a mission I absolutely want to achieve." Although I am still an inexperienced entrepreneur in my fourth year, I feel the same way.

Our (my) mission is "Creating an Age-Well Society." Even if there is a decline in mind, body, or brain due to aging, we will transform the super-aging society by creating an Age-Well society where people can lead positive daily lives full of challenges and discoveries.