Meet the Entrepreneurs In Our Summer 2024 Milestone Makers Cohort

Casey Qadir
Hubly Surgical
United States

MILESTONE:  Test and validate best path to profitability through optimizing supply chain and reorders.

Hubly Surgical is committed to making surgical drilling safe across standard and underserved settings, to ensure all patients can receive life-saving and life-improving treatment. We’re starting with revolutionizing the most common neurosurgical procedure: burr hole placement. Traditionally performed with a high-failure, hand-crank drill at the bedside, this procedure risks accidental drilling into the brain. Hubly Surgical has created the FDA Cleared Hubly Drill & Cranial Access Kit with first-of-its-kind SMART Auto-Stop, cordless power, and LED Force Indication to make cranial access safe and efficient in any setting.

MILESTONE: Validate current business models to increase the engagement and customer success of our early adopters.

Work Onward connects hourly talent with small businesses in a local and neighborhood-friendly way, using a map-based job platform.

MILESTONE:  Develop distribution strategy for ideal strategic partner personas to achieve breakeven.

Helping individuals, families, and businesses in Africa access affordable health and wellness through Health Savings Accounts.

MILESTONE:  Test and validate new revenue streams.

HoBeei is positioning brands and individuals to utilize the circular economy for strategic purposes through the sharing of unwanted, unused and underutilized items. This is first done through their platform that incentivizes people to share preowned items and earn virtual tokens, and secondly through their YouTube series that showcases influential people decluttering preowned items for fans to obtain on their HoBeei profiles.

MILESTONE:  Execute and learn from our launch in our current market to inform further geographic expansion.

WISE Cities is a social impact startup founded in response to seeing the challenges faced by older loved ones. The company’s work makes it possible for the 90% of older adults who want to age in place to stay connected to their communities. The WISE Cities platform is designed with accessibility as top priority and allows users to discover local senior services and activities while giving businesses, nonprofits, and governments a streamlined way to share their offerings. WISE Cities enables organizations previously not offering senior programs to create their first ones, offering AI-powered guidance and creating concrete community change. Most recently, the work of WISE Cities was recognized by Governor Wes Moore, and the startup has won awards on national and international stages.

MILESTONE:  Develop a go to market strategy to launch our telemedicine platform, HowBodi.

Pinnacle Medical Services Ltd is a one-stop health and wellness center in Africa creating safe spaces by normalizing mental health conversations and helping people seek mental health care so no one is left behind.

MILESTONE:  Develop a comprehensive partner strategy to create line of sight to short-term funding and long-term capital.

Start Lighthouse is a 501(c)(3) literacy nonprofit that transforms abandoned, defunct, and underutilized library spaces within Title I public schools into vibrant literacy centers. Our team provides daily literacy programs aligned with grade-level skills and strategies, hosts interactive workshops led by authors and artists, and supports families in building home libraries.

MILESTONE:  Develop our engineering strategy to accelerate sales.

We facilitate better employment outcomes by recognizing, understanding and optimizing the richness and diversity in human potential.

MILESTONE:  Design and launch a marketing plan to promote brand awareness in educator spaces.

Too many children believe they “aren’t a math person” and Struggly is here to change that! We are a K-8 online math learning tool integrating research into engaging, challenging, and rich math tasks with an irresistible game-like pull. Struggling is an integral part of the learning process and we help students learn to embrace those moments with our fun and exciting tasks! Our content is unique in three key ways: (1) tasks have no instructions, meaning no literacy barrier and no reliance on an adult to get started, (2) there are multiple ways to successfully complete each task providing opportunities for students to genuinely problem solve (3) within each task, students earn badges for being creative, persistent, and strategic – key behaviors for reaching deep math understanding.

MILESTONE:  Develop a comprehensive go-to-market strategy for the successful launch of Blumefy’s new service offering.

Blumefy is a migration management platform for Africans aspiring to move abroad for global opportunities. We simplify the migration process, saving time and money by offering personalized resources and financial services, bridging the knowledge gap with accurate, up-to-date information. Our platform enables users to make quick, informed decisions and provides comprehensive guidance from pre-departure to settlement. Additionally, our digital wallet allows users to make international payments using multiple channels and currencies, reducing financial losses and ensuring convenience and stability for a smooth migration journey.

MILESTONE:  Refine B2B distribution strategy to systematize sales process at scale.

Zoie is a digital health platform that uses technology to make women’s and family health & wellness in Africa more convenient, affordable, and caring, focusing on family planning, fertility, and maternity care. We offer virtual consultations, a community chat forum, resources, and a shop/pharmacy where our members can purchase their health & wellness products and medication as well as employee wellness benefits for frontline workers. Our platform is accessible via the web, all app stores, and WhatsApp.