Breaking the engagement problem: Jai Mansukhani and Pashan Sidhwa’s dream

I have the chance to sit down with some young entrepreneurs a few times a year to hear about challenges they're dealing with. And I ask myself the same question after every meeting: how can I help them and amplify their voice so that they are heard? In one of those meetings in Toronto, I met Jai Mansukhani and Pashan Sidhwa and was struck by the drive of these 21-year-old men! They showed me that just about anything's possible with persistence and good planning. Born in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), they chose to come to Canada because of the quality of our universities. Let me tell you a bit of that story! 

It all starts with Jai's friendship with Pashan Sidhwa throughout their school days. Natural entrepreneurs, they entered a business competition together and made it to the finals at only 18. A few years later, having both decided to pursue higher education in Canada, they packed their business idea with them. This idea, which they've since brought to life, is an app called Ace It.

''We have a mission at Ace It : to create an app designed to help students feel less isolated and solve the root problem of lower engagement amongst students, providing them with one less obstacle on their road to success!''

The app relies on the strength of numbers and calls for students to generate content, before using Artificial Intelligence to help learning and increase engagement. By combining the creator economy with the Ed-tech space, Ace It encourages students to become content creators getting social recognition and compensation for their efforts. It really is a modern project, for today's youth! 

Immigrating takes courage. So does getting into business at such a young age, especially when the world around you wants you to slow down and tells you that you're too young, that you'll never make it, and that there's no way you can succeed in school and business at the same time. Looking back now, Jai's happy he didn't listen to that kind of "advice" and instead trusted his gut, ambition and hunger for success. Jai believed in himself, just as he believes in the business he's watching grow and develop at the fast pace of the tech industry! 

''Completing a degree in computational cognition at University of Toronto, managing and developing Ace It, keeping up a social life, and staying in touch with my parents back in the UAE isn’t an easy task, but motivation and persistence can make miracles! ''

Pashan is currently an honours mechanical engineering student at the University of Waterloo and is always thinking about how to improve the platform's design and functionality. And as a co-founder, He's been deeply involved in financial planning and he truly believes that education is the key to unlocking our potential, and that's why he is so dedicated to revolutionizing the way we learn.  

We can help young people like Jai and Pashan on their journey. Let's give them the space and resources to flourish. After all, it's our collective future they're building every day.