How this startup TriBeCa Care is revolutionizing the Elder Care sector?

October 14, 2016

With rapid increase in longevity of life, the elderly population of India is rising exponentially. The current 110 million figure is expected to rise up to 250 million by 2050. The important question to be raised here is, are we as a society prepared for the coming ‘silver tsunami’? From significant investments in elder care infrastructure to training of frontline care workers to partnering with tertiary hospitals, the opportunities and challenges are immense. TriBeCa Care with its different products and services is trying to aid to this particular pain-point.

What is TriBeCa Care?

TriBeCa Care is an out-of-hospital platform that provides Elder Care, Specialty Home Care and Rehabilitation Care at both homes and TriBeCa Care facilities. It also provides a wide range of medical and non-medical services at an affordable price. They have trained geriatric care workers who support elders with the basic activities of daily living like bathing, shaving and toileting. Apart from these basic activities their workers also provide more value-added independent living activities like managing medication, helping with Skype and handling transportation or holiday needs for the elderly. They have also started with Geriatric Care Clinic with the main aim – to extend affordable and relevant solutions to most Elderly, Chronic or Post-Hospitalization Care needs.

What made you choose this domain?

Before starting with TriBeCa Care, Tamojit Dutta worked as a senior banker for seventeen years. His job offered him several leadership positions spread across many large organisations in UK and Asia. “But as I moved countries to chase my dream, like many other Indian families, I found it increasingly hard to organize professional care for my aging parents in Kolkata”, says Tamojit Dutta. Especially, when his father suffered multiple episodes of cerebral stroke and became bed-ridden he understood that beyond financial support he could do very little. The bubble of stability that Tamojit was ensconced in was shattered by this incident. This very traumatic experience convinced Tamojit that millions of families like his are struggling to find trained, verified and trustworthy elder care in India.

Tell us about your Core Team

The founder team consists of Tamojit Dutta and Prateep Sen as Co-CEO, Dr. Shibaji Saha as Clinical Director, Verena Salzmann as Director and Elina Dutta as Chief Strategy Officer. All of the founders have either clinical or operational experience at senior levels. Their underlying passion to improve the quality of elder care in India brought them together. They work together to achieve their goal to provide professional, affordable and long term care outside a hospital environment.

Tell us about your journey so far

TriBeCa Care has already served over 5,000 customers and has extended more than 2 million hours of bedside care in Kolkata since its commencement in 2014. It has already become the largest Home Care Company in Kolkata. They provide employment to over 500 care workers every month in Kolkata alone. Besides these they have forged strong partnerships with top healthcare providers including doctors, hospitals, medical device companies and health tech firms – thus establishing superior-service-quality credentials for TriBeCa Care.

TreBeCa Care has raised significant seed funding to finance the launch market (Kolkata) operations. They are also looking forward to raise funding through institutional investors for substantial growth capital. They plan on using this capital for major investments like hiring key talent, entering new markets, introducing more services and building a more robust tech and logistics infrastructure for service delivery. TriBeCa Care is about to launch an innovative community outreach program with leading Housing Societies and Clubs to market the brand.

Challenges you’ve faced

“Lack of awareness about professional elder care and home care services in India is a major challenge that we, as an industry, are all facing. This is an ongoing challenge and needs constant education of the target market (older citizens, their families, doctors)”, says Tamojit Dutta.

They are working with hospitals, clubs and housing societies to increase awareness of and the need for elder care. Another massive challenge for them was getting trained care workers, who are willing to work at home. They along with their training partners have put in significant effort to develop care workers by providing them with 2-6 months training in elder care. TriBeCa Care also has its own training facilities and has structured its own courses that cover technical, behavioral and hygiene issues for home care and elder care.

Competitors and future Plans for TriBeCa Care?

They have few direct competitors in this sector. However, there are many local agencies, individual physiotherapists, doctors and psychologists who also target the same space. Besides that, a significant number of new entrants are also emerging in the organized sector now. These include some large hospital chains, who’ve launched home care services. TriBeCa Care team competes on quality, trust, innovation and affordability. Unlike most industries, elder care is not just about the product or the price; it is also about trust and compassion.

“Our long term success is based on great customer experience, affordable care and professional delivery. Our future plans include launching more specialized home care verticals, building very large training infrastructure and developing strong tech and logistics back end”, says Tamojit Dutta.

In the immediate future TriBeCa Care plans on expanding to a few more key markets outside Kolkata. They are working on their vision of being available in the top 10 urban clusters of India, within a span of 5-7 years. They would also be launching multiple Institutional Care facilities including inpatient Rehabilitation Centers and outpatient Geriatric Clinics in the key markets.

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