Award-winning EMBA Alumni Tackles Senior Care Crisis
After returning from Silicon Valley in 2013, Dipesh Pattni (EMBA ’15) decided to pursue his Executive MBA to build his professional network and what attracted him to the Kellogg-Schulich EMBA was the program’s global reach and high ranking.
Once he graduated, he decided to launch Ayd Cares with his co-founders, Sanjay Pattni, Amir Eshaq, and Rajesh Chudasama. It is an online platform that makes home care accessible for seniors and helps Personal Support Workers (PSW) find employment.
“The idea came to me from a personal experience when my grandfather’s health declined, and my mom became his caregiver,” shared Pattni. “The venture became real after watching my wife take on the role of the caregiver for my father-in-law, after a sudden fall at home.”
In May 2019, Pattni and his co-founders entered the 2019 LaunchYU Accelerator program, a comprehensive program designed to build, launch and scale high-potential ventures. In September 2019, they pitched their idea to an audience at the program’s Demo Day, earning a cash prize of $10,000.
Pattni believes his Kellogg-Schulich EMBA grounding is one of the reasons why he was able to succeed in his entrepreneurial pursuit. “Every day is different – from product development, relationship development, stakeholder engagement and brand awareness. I’ve referenced course material and anecdotes from professors since the first day of launching this company. There is so much to learn in the home care space and having an EMBA as your foundation gives you a considerable edge.”
The top three ventures from the 2019 LaunchYU Accelerator program presented their final pitch at the Aird & Berlis StartupSource Market Entry Award 2020 to a panel of judges for a chance to receive an award of $25,000, which included $12,500 in cash and an equal amount of legal services from Toronto law firm, Aird & Berlis LLP.