Co-founders Kyle Fisher ’13 and Aakriti Shroff ’13 started the Indian Mobile Initiative (IMI) to promote innovation and social change through mobile technologies. IMI teaches engineering students in India how to solve their own community’s problems by teaching the necessary technical and entrepreneurial skills for them to create solutions using mobile applications.
What inspired you to get involved with this work?
Aakriti: Before coming to MIT, my Indian education taught me to view technical and entrepreneurial skills as separate. When I was solving a problem, I would step into either an engineer’s or an entrepreneur’s shoes. MIT taught me that a good solution comes from someone who embraced both skill sets. I believe that a lot of India’s challenges can be alleviated if we teach the engineers how to do the same.
How did the PSC play a role in your work?
Kyle: Like many early-stage teams, we were unorganized and underfunded. The PSC’s mentorship helped us accomplish our goal of creating a sustainable program. After all, we couldn’t visit India every year, but we still believed that programs like IMI are necessary in India.
How has this work had a personal impact on you?
Aakriti: My work helped me realize that driving change is about creating a sustainable program that continues to impact the community even after you’ve left it.
Kyle: The last two years have been a testament to how I felt during the 2011 MIT IDEAS Global Challenge: It’s programs like the PSC that make MIT, MIT.
Kyle Fisher ’13 and Aakriti Shroff ’13, Co-Founders
Indian Mobile Initiative
