Meet Neil Dsouza, GetSetUp's Co-Founder, Who Is Bringing Virtual Classes To Older Adults

Meet Neil Dsouza, GetSetUp's Co-Founder, Who Is Bringing Virtual Classes To Older Adults
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Neil D'Souza has never been one to shy away from a challenge. Growing up in India, he competed nationally in swimming and now participates in ultra-long-distance races.

After moving to the U.S. for graduate studies and later working as an engineer at Cisco, Neil realized his true passion was in education and leveraging technology to address societal issues.

A Shift Towards Education and Technology

Neil spent 10 years building an education technology company that began as a non-profit called Teach A Class. During a year-long sabbatical in Mongolia, Neil developed his product, ClassCloud, which he used to teach children in an orphanage. There, he met a 15-year-old Mongolian girl named Airun Zaya.

“There she was, not only learning the content but also translating it from English to Mongolian. The translated content was eventually used in many places in Mongolia,” said Neil. “I was very inspired to see a 15-year-old do this.”

Inspired by Airun, Neil renamed his social enterprise to Zaya Learning Labs.

“‘Zaya’ means fate, or destiny, in Mongolian,” he explained. “I probably wouldn’t have continued down this path if I hadn’t met her.”

Neil's Zaya prototype was designed for use anywhere in the world, both online and offline.

For many years, he served as the CEO of this Mumbai-based social enterprise, which aimed to provide world-class education to underprivileged children globally. However, in 2018, Neil stepped down from day-to-day operations to explore other passions.

Building a Virtual Learning Community for Older Adults

In his spare time, Neil enjoys running, swimming, and cycling, including long trips. On one such trip through the Himalayas, he met Lawrence Kosick, a veteran Silicon Valley startup executive. The two quickly became friends, often discussing business ideas during long trail runs.

About a year ago, during one of these runs, Neil shared an idea to up-skill retired educators and have them teach older adults software and apps. Intrigued by this idea, Lawrence decided to take the risk and quit his job to join Neil as co-founder of GetSetUp. It seemed like a crazy, high-risk entrepreneurial move, but it was the right thing to do.

GetSetUp: Empowering and Connecting Older Adults

Together, they set out to build an online platform where older adults would train peers on software and services that could help them lead happier, healthier, and more connected lives. They were driven by a passion for helping people and solving problems. Aware that older adults are projected to make up 20% of the global population in the next decade, they recognized that many businesses were failing to appreciate the uniqueness of this demographic.

Neil and Lawrence’s cross-generational friendship added value and depth to their venture, combining their wealth of skills and perspectives to create a lasting foundation based on modern technology and education.

GetSetUp was founded with a focus on education, as it consistently offers positive benefits. It aimed to address a market often overlooked—older adults—and build something for a demographic that everyone will eventually join, whether they like it or not.

Everyone learns differently, especially as they age. Learning becomes more about overcoming fear rather than gaining knowledge. To meet these needs, Neil and Lawrence tapped into a large workforce of retired professionals who possessed the same cadence, empathy, and wisdom to train their peers. The result was not only effective education but also job creation for an older workforce to serve as educators on GetSetUp. Genius!

Transforming Lives Through GetSetUp

GetSetUp was born with a multi-pronged mission to make the world a better place by:

  1. Providing economic opportunities for older workers who are often overlooked or face ageism in hiring processes.
  2. Offering digital training and promoting adoption for older adults.
  3. Creating a community for older adults who may face social isolation or mobility issues.
  4. Offering a safe, fun, live, and interactive way for older adults to engage with their peers.
  5. Preventing cognitive decline by providing learning opportunities and allowing older adults to follow their dreams.
  6. Creating a space where older adults can teach and share their skills with peers.

GetSetUp is a unique business that truly engages a multigenerational team, leveraging the older generation’s resources and wealth of knowledge to create a live, engaging, and fulfilling space for older adults where they feel heard and have space to grow and thrive. Join a class today!