In this series, Karen Guzman talks to student and alumni entrepreneurs about how their startups are making a difference.
Car: The way forward is A Global digital platform that connects refugees from crisis situations with emergency aid and available resources to meet their basic needs.
Founder: Ali Platon ’23, Bart McDonough ’23, Kelsey Overby ’23, Ivan Volodchenkov ’23, Meshie Knight ’23, Jide Okandeji ’23, Puneet Chhabra ’24 and Ella Archibald ’22
What was the moment when you had the idea for this startup?
In April 2022, MBA for Executives students Ali Platon ’23, Bart McDonough ’23 and Ella Archibald ’22 flew to Kraków, Poland to address the immediate needs of Ukrainian refugees crossing the Polish border. They visited two shelters housing a total of more than 200 refugees, women and children, and used the funds they raised through the EMBA network to buy food and other relief supplies for the Ukrainian refugees.
When they returned, they recruited more students from the EMBA Class of 2023 (Kelsey Overby, Meshie Knight, and Jide Okandeji) and Class of 2024 (Puneet Chhabra) to provide support, from fundraising and food collection to support in applying for refugee visas.
As we have all learned, we have developed a deeper understanding of the global challenges, crises and conflicts that are causing people to flee their homes. We also thought deeply about how climate change is causing forced migration. In May we organized around the name The Path Forward and in October we mapped out a global vision and started developing our digital platform.
What is the problem you are trying to solve or the gap you are trying to fill?
We want to minimize the timeframe for fleeing refugees to integrate and be cared for in a new place to call home. We don’t want to reinvent the wheel because there are already so many organizations. But we want to sort of update the carriage so the wheels can spin faster.
To achieve this, we are designing a platform that can collect information and optimize cooperation between refugee organizations. A key feature of our design is that every feature or resource available should be helpful on its own.
What was the most important resource that Yale SOM contributed to your startup?
Yale SOM has offered a number of courses that have contributed to our work. These include global macroeconomics with Lorenzo Caliendo; Financial Markets and Macroeconomic Policy with Alp Simsek; Social Entrepreneurship Lab with Teresa Chahine; teams with Amy Wrzesniewski; Operations Engine with Saed Alizamir; and Management Decision Modeling with Nathan Novemsky and Anjani Jain.
SOM students also have access to classes at other Yale schools, and we took this opportunity to learn from William Nordhaus on Economics of Climate Change and Leslie Gross-Wyrtzen on Critical Border Studies. Outside of class, we benefited from discussions with Professors Mushfiq Mobarak and Michael Peters and from presentations as part of the MacMillan Center’s Refugee, Forced Displacement and Humanitarian Relief Program.
What is the biggest milestone your startup has reached?
We already have a working platform that is currently in beta. The most important thing is that we have already helped people. Until completion, we plan to sponsor a local refugee family, write a series of blog posts impacting refugees in New Haven, and raise funds for integrated refugee and immigrant services.
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