The Honors College Forum challenges first-year students to tackle real-world issues through social innovation, synthesizing interdisciplinary solutions to problems faced by populations in need. Simultaneously, students are developing their abilities to move their ideas forward through critical thinking, teamwork, and communication—essential skills for a life with purpose.
It was in the HC Forum that the idea for the “Nutrifier” was born. An innovative pacifier, the Nutrifier was designed to simultaneously comfort infants and deliver nutrients critical to healthy development. The project could have remained merely hypothetical, but Akshay Kamath (‘19, SAS/HC) saw the potential in his classmate's idea. Akshay and his classmate, Ethan Murad (‘19, RBS/HC), formed a new team to bring the Nutrifier to the Innovation Lab, a sophomore program led by Mukesh Patel, the Honors College Director of Innovation who helps students bring social innovation concepts to life. There, the Nutrifier idea was developed into a fledgling startup called Nutrivide, with Akshay as its CEO.
“Going through the Innovation Lab, we really had little idea of what the outcome was going to be,” he admits. “We weren’t sure if this was just going to be something experiential or entertaining, but it ended up being a lot more. Not only did we develop distinct prototypes by the end of the Innovation Lab, but we also obtained free legal counsel that lasts even to this date; we worked hard to raise money through pitch competitions presented as opportunities through the Innovation Lab; and most importantly, we gained a sense of structure to our weekly meetings, ensuring that progress was made on several fronts.”
Akshay emphasizes the need for effective communication and cooperation in starting a business.
“The nature of entrepreneurship is that everyone’s going to wear multiple hats because there are so many things that need to be done in the early stages if you want to continue growing. Conflicts are generated naturally, and the Innovation Lab helped us resolve them in a polite manner so we could move forward. A key phrase I would say is ‘assume positive intent’ in everybody, and as long as everyone has a shared goal, then everything just falls into place.”
Currently, the Nutrivide team includes Akshay, Joseph Bajor (‘19 SEBS/HC) and Yash Davé (‘19, SOE). The multidisciplinary nature of the group affords the clear advantage of covering all the bases; Akshay cites Joseph’s engineering prowess as playing a critical role in prototype development since the Innovation Lab stage of Nutrivide’s growth.
The team’s long term plan is to make the Nutrifier available in developing nations, particularly South Africa, where HIV-positive mothers are concerned that breastfeeding their infants could transmit the virus.
Akshay himself is a mild-mannered senior in the School of Arts and Sciences, double majoring in biomathematics and statistics. Having grown up volunteering at soup kitchens and homeless shelters, he found more ways to help people at college, including serving as the vice president of the Rutgers chapter of Circle K, an international service organization, and leading a medical and public health mission trip to Darién, Panamá. Akshay’s motivation to help others stems from his parents’ efforts in raising him.
“My parents came here from India just to make my dreams come true. To me, they have made the ultimate sacrifice….giving back to the community is the very least I can do to make their sacrifice worth it.”
After graduation, Akshay wants to continue developing his startup part-time while working as a healthcare strategy consultant. He hopes to work with medical device innovations and learn more about the challenges involved in bringing devices like the Nutrifier to market. In the future, he plans to attend medical school to be able to help people more directly. This hardworking young man would be well-prepared to do so, considering that he spent the summer before his senior year at the MIT-Harvard Medical School Healthcare Innovation Bootcamp. He was among the 88 students selected for the program from a pool of nearly 3,000 international applicants.
Looking back on his time at Rutgers, Akshay has a highly positive view of college and encourages students to get involved beyond pure academics by taking courses outside their area of study.
“The way I see it, college is an opportunity to explore, and what better way to explore than to immerse yourself in a course that will expose you to the real world before you leave college? If I left the Honors College mission course and only pursued my biomathematics and statistics majors, of course I would’ve been okay, but I take courses like these willingly because they expand my perspective. My friends ask me if it's 'hard' to double major in STEM fields and devote myself to extracurriculars, and the answer is simply no. It's hard to be a mother in Panamá who has to walk an hour with her four kids to a clinic in the scorching heat only to be turned away. It's hard to learn in school when you're hungry. It's not hard to sit in front of a book for hours and take breaks with things you enjoy.”
For his work with Nutrivide, Akshay was recognized as a Forbes Under 30 Scholar and invited to the 2018 Forbes Under 30 Conference in Boston in early October. At the conference, he had the opportunity to pitch his startup to venture capitalists and personally meet CEOs of large companies. Later that same month, he also attended the Clinton Global Initiative University in Chicago, where he had the opportunity to speak about his startup in front of the 42nd president of the United States. He returned from these prestigious events with a humble message:
“Engaging with others who have a heart, who are vastly knowledgeable in their own fields with their own perspectives, and who simply work hard can help you reach new limits...I would say that’s the most important thing I’ve learned on my journey.”
VIDEO SOURCE: This video is an excerpt from the full Clinton Global Initiative University Conference Opening Plenary video, which can be found at www.facebook.com/ClintonFound...