Empathy As A Way Of Life

Shantanu Naidu is a young man on a mission to provide companionship to elder people and eradicate their loneliness

Acts of kindness turning into an entrepreneurship reflect a very uniquely broad and innovative mind, and that is what Shantanu Naidu, Founder, The Goodfellows& General Manager, RNT Office, has at a young age. In conversation with BW Businessworld, he expressed his opinion of not having the intention initially to convert kindness into an entrepreneurship opportunity. 

According to him, when he had a problem that he felt very passionately and deeply about, in the sense that it was an impact he wanted to create by solving that particular problem, it just happened to turn into an entrepreneurial journey. He very humbly also says that many people indulge in daily acts of kindness and his just got visibility. He adds that emotional engagement and companionship is the key to solving a lot of problems. The outcome of an entrepreneurial pursuit in these particular problems is less about profits, margins and being a unicorn startup and more of focusing on sustainability. Moving on he mentions that when one adds the entrepreneurial angle to a cause or to a social problem, one assures accountability. You nurture or find a certain level of quality.  

Service with compassion

Sustainability is the main point or priority number one. Goodfellows are a bunch of young graduates between the age group of 18 to 30 years, who give companionship to elder people, mostly above the age of 60 years, living alone in India. Goodfellows act as an axillary grand kid– though it might sound odd, they basically do everything that a grand kid would do. The intention is not to replace a grand kid or a family member but to be able provide the kind of companionship that a grand kid would provide. 

Goodfellows services include having a close chat with the elders as they don’t have anyone to share it with, going for walks with them, playing board games, taking them to the doctor if they need to go, helping them in learning something new, teaching them technology, teaching them internet banking and other utilitarian activities. Their employees need to have a general sense of empathy, sound emotional intelligence (psychometric tests are conducted in-house), a sensitive way of dealing with people, innovating abilities and much more in the arena of true compassion. They are recruited after a month’s probation as well. In the end 6 to 8 people are selected out of 600 applicants. It is a very difficult process to hand pick people with a kind disposition and have a sense of affinity towards seniors. There are 7 levels of interviews and tests combined. Hence a tedious process of recruitment is carried out. 

They are good fellows

He goes on to say that, once the formation of a bond happens between a Goodfellow and an individual (senior), the seniors start treating them as grand kids. Moving on he explains that, companionship means different things to different people but at the end of the day it is a simple thing which is to sit with someone and speak. It isn’t a want anymore, it is a need and even a privilege to some extent. Gratitude is bestowed upon the seva on these lines. 

Furthermore he clarifies that Goodfellows is a paid service and these are paid individuals. When one of them forms an authentic connection or bond with a senior, the senior expects to see the same person over and over again. They cannot rotate or change the person as per our priorities. It is has to be them and their connection that matters. Hence, the only way they can send the same person to them over and over again, is if they have retained them as employees. 

They try to miss no details at all. There are great experiences which they have had, both the seniors and the Goodfellows. Their mental health is as important as the senior’s mental health. More than half the requests they get are from sons or daughters who might be abroad or just too busy due to professional issues or other issues etc. The acceptance is high from everyone and is phenomenal as everyone is comfortable with the services provided by Goodfellows, from the seniors and the families of the seniors, and very close relatives who earlier used to believe that the culture earlier used to be such that the children looked after their parents, but they still don’t mind as the services provided are excellent. 

The subscribers i.e. mostly the sons and daughters pay for it. Those who don’t have immediate family members pay for themselves. They have kept a very affordable rate. The seniors are given a month of completely free service. Then they decide if it is valuable in their life. If they are not satisfied, then Goodfellows back off. The convergent rate has been 100 per cent though. 

He ends by stating that, they are ready to subsidise it in the future as they go along but it is too early to say when those turn of events will happen. Currently they are not working on profits, margins etc. as they are looking for it to be sustained as long as possible with as little to be charged as possible. He also adds that it is not easy to bring a social cause into such a space while they are actually seeing demand and people are paying for their services gladly also.