Ratan Tata, the industrialist who had steered $128 billion Tata Group for many years, has backed a startup that would connect the senior citizens with young graduates for meaningful friendships.

HIGHLIGHTS
Tata backed a startup that would connect the senior citizens with young graduates
Shantanu Naidu founded the startup inspired by his own rapport with Ratan Tata
It would be subscription-based service, for now it would be available in Mumbai

Goodfellows, the one who usually promotes “inter-generational friendships” had mentioned on Tuesday that it received a seed investment of an unrevealed sum from Tata. Well, the startup was founded by Shantanu Naidu, 30 years old person who actually manages Ratan Tata’s office along with his startup investment portfolio, as a general manager. Naidu has been also assisting Tata as chairman of the group’s massive philanthropic arm, Tata Trusts.

In the official launch of the startup in Mumbai, Tata has mentioned that “you would not have an idea about the feeling of lonely until you would spend alone time wishing for companionship.” He then added “you would not mind getting old, till you get old and you discover it to be a tough world.”

Naidu has mentioned that the concept for the startup came from his own rapport with Tata, that he termed a “peak example of an intergenerational relationship which had the five-and-a-half-decade age difference.” He even added that he gravitates towards those like Tata for their new-found innocence, wisdom, and the motive to savoring each moment.

“He would like to select his investments intuitively,” Naidu has mentioned in a phone conversation after the launch. “He would align with young ones, and backs their drive, and therefore the social impact that they were going to have. It was never regarding monetary returns.”

Goodfellows would eventually connects about 50 “grandpals,” men and women of more than 70 with “good fellows” in their twenties, an eclectic group of employees, who have been chosen after many rounds of intense vetting and psychometric testing. Most of them were recent graduates in engineering, the humanities or filmmaking and were definitely paid salaries.

Well, in a country like India with 1.4 billion individuals, every second Indian was below the age of 25. Even though more than 15 million elderly people would live alone, either they would have no family or because their children were overseas, that eventually presents a mental and physical health challenges.

The subscription-based service was barely available in Mumbai now, but it would be provided in other cities including Bengaluru soon. The startup had emphasized towards friendship that would mean something from going for a quiet walk or watching a movie to just engage themselves in conversations.

Also Read: Tata is in talks with Microsoft about partnering on a digital business.