Indian entrepreneur Ratan Tata launches India’s first companionship startup for senior citizens
In an effort to promote intergenerational friendships, industrialist Ratan Tata founded ‘Goodfellows’, India’s senior companionship startup.
The ‘Goodfellows’ startup was founded by Cornell University MBA Shantanu Naidu. The 28-year-old, who works as a General Manager at Mr. Tata’s office, is a member of his family’s fifth generation of Tata Group employees.
You don’t truly understand what it means to be lonely until you spend time by yourself yearning for company, Ratan Tata said at the ‘Goodfellows’ launch.
The startup hires recent graduates who serve as “Goodfellows,” offering companionship and assistance to the elderly “much like a grandkid would.”
Many of the 15 million elderly in India who live alone—either because they have lost a partner or because their families had to relocate due to unavoidable work obligations—have caregivers, but the problem of loneliness or a lack of companionship has been the main factor in declining mental and physical health.
A freemium subscription model is used by ‘Goodfellows’ as its business model. Since it’s difficult to grasp the idea without actually experiencing it, the first month is provided free of charge in order to give the senior citizen a taste of the service. Based on the limited affordability of pensioners, there will be a small subscription fee starting in the second month.
Speaking of the model, the startup claimed that a subscription model ensures that when the senior citizens develop bonds with their companions, they do not keep switching out the graduate who visits them because that does not allow enough time or emotional attention to develop a true bond. “We want to visit the same friend frequently once we make one. This can be avoided by using a new individual each time “the corporation clearly stated.
