Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in mental wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Dalia Ahmed, Co-Founder of Mind-Easy, located in Toronto, ON, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Mind-Easy is a culturally sensitive and adaptive mental health platform. We cater to businesses and organizations to promote preventative mental wellbeing to their employees and members through clinically validated mental health resources that are adapted to their unique needs. We use ethnic avatars to deliver asynchronous mental health support in over 100 different languages and accents.
Tell us about yourself
My name is Dalia Ahmed, and I am one of three Mind-Easy co-founders. We are a group of 3 first-generation immigrant women who met at the University of Toronto and bonded over their shared experiences of trauma and mental health struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we all struggled to find therapists who understood our cultures and felt that the current mental health system was completely missing many cultural groups’ experiences. So, we came together, with our diverse skill sets to create a solution: Alexandra Assouad, our CEO, has a background in venture capital funding and business development, myself, and as our Chief Clinical Officer, completing my Ph.D. in Counseling Psychotherapy and a specialization in multicultural approaches, and Akankaha Shelat, our CTO, who is a full-stack developer with a background in Computer and Cognitive Sciences. With our diverse skill sets, we are elevating the status quo of the mental health landscape and ensuring that inclusivity is a minimum standard.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Our biggest accomplishment is that we have been able to execute international partnerships with Fortune 500 companies, such as EAGames, Enfamil, and Decentraland. This has facilitated our reach to users in over 16 countries in their preferred languages, which has now reached over 17 different languages. Our values of cultural competence have also allowed us to create a large network of 70+ mental health experts reflecting the diverse and intersecting identities of the global majority.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
The uncertainty - there are a lot of things that are in your control but equal and more that are not. There will always be things that don’t go according to plan, and you’ll have to adapt and pivot as needed. But these are things you can learn from and prepare for as you talk to more people and learn from everyone’s experiences.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Research research research - do your homework and make sure you have an understanding of the market as deeply as possible. Even if your product is amazing, it might not always work out business-wise.
- Build a great team - your team affects everything from how efficiently the business runs to how much attention and faith your investors have. Collective efficacy - Build a team of talent and trust!
- Network is everything! - Network as much as you can and stay intentional with your contacts. The entrepreneurship world is really supportive, and everyone wants to help when they can. You just have to make sure to use their knowledge and network as well as you can.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.mind-easy.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089444520589
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mind.easy/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mind__Easy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mindeasy/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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