A start-up called “Goodfellows” was launched on Tuesday in the presence of Ratan Tata, who is also an investor in the venture. The startup aims at providing authentic meaningful companionship to seniors through young, educated graduates that are vetted intensely for empathy and emotional intelligence. The seniors who are subscribed to the service are termed “Grandpals”.
After completing a successful beta over the past six months, Goodfellows is now available in Mumbai and Pune, with Chennai and Bengaluru as the next target cities. According to a press release, Goodfellows received over 800 applications from young graduates during the beta phase. Out of them, a cohort of 20 provided companionship to the elderly in Mumbai.
According to the team, it has been a challenging task to ensure that the “Goodfellows” bond with their Grandpals in an authentic and meaningful way and not just cosmetically. This requires several rounds of vetting and some in-house psychometric tests to choose the best graduates. Senior citizens can avail themselves of the services by signing up on the official website (thegoodfellows.in), check out their Instagram handle or can give a missed call at +91 8779524307. In terms of services offered, a Goodfellow does whatever a grandchild would do.
In addition to this, Goodfellows also hosts monthly events curated for the enjoyment and engagement of the Grandpals who participate with their Goodfellows. This allows the Grandpals to meet each other as well as more young graduates, building a sense of community.
The business model of Goodfellows is a freemium subscription model. The first month is free with only the goal of having the Grandpal experience this service. The second month onward is a small subscription fee that has been decided based on the limited affordability of pensioners.
Goodfellows offers short-term internships as well as employment to graduates looking to find a job that allows them to apply their educational background in this space. These graduates are given the autonomy to ideate and create and make the company their own.
The major percentage of funds from investors are currently geared towards scaling up the Goodfellow human capital, which is a slow process.
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