Data Security Meets Accessibility: The “Humine” Way with CEO Nafeh Shoaib
If you’ve ever read a research paper about a human study, conducted a survey, or did your own social experiment, you understand the importance of test subjects and participants — there’s no trial if there’s no one to test on, no survey if no one fills it out, and no test if there’s no one to test it on. But if you don’t have a large network with a ton of people to choose from that meet the exact criteria you need, it’s likely going to be difficult to find the perfect people to do tests and studies with (especially when they’re long or need a very specific group). This time around, we interviewed someone that has experienced this problem firsthand and set out to create a solution for it — meet Nafeh Shoaib, the co-founder and CEO at Humine!
Origin Story 📍
Nafeh grew up in Saudi Arabia and came to Canada about 10 years ago, which caused a lot of mix up relating to which school he would go to. He switched schools a lot and didn’t have much stability there, so instead, he really enjoyed using his time to go to a ton of hackathons. He really encourages these, as they give you a lot of real world experiences. Nafeh met his co-founder, Rohan Shanbhag, while working at a startup, which is also where he began to build his network and understand the behind-the-scenes of businesses. The startup was working on predicting respiratory systems through your Apple Watch. As part of that, he ran a clinical trial, which didn’t end up succeeding the way that he had hoped. Plus, this was all happening during the pandemic, making people more skeptical and harder to find. So as a result, he and his partner decided to found Humine.
What They Do 🥼
Humine is basically a platform for researchers that are leading clinical trials to recruit participants easily, without all of the stress of finding the perfect ones that meet the exact criteria necessary for the study. It also makes things easier for the participants, as it allows for money to be given to the participants (potentially after doing surveys or even after lengthy studies) and helps them find studies that they can do to earn money. Nafeh also mentioned the use of modules, which explain the trials, how they work, and what they do, making the participants’ lives much easier. It also provides a safe way of storing health data, so participants are able to own and have full access to their information.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t reveal the specifics of the projects that they’re currently working on, but we got to hear about one that was super interesting. As of right now, Humine is working with the University of Nebraska’s Medical Center to develop a “pilot site.” They’re also trying to get collaborations and a Pharma sponsor. When Nafeh was explaining this, he emphasized the importance of only collaborating with other companies if it’s mutually beneficial and if the values of both companies align — it’s important to not just focus on the financial, money-making aspect.
Tidbits 🍪
After Nafeh described what his company is working on, we were curious about what he’s learned through running this business and what advice he has for us, youth, on the subject. He gave us a ton of pointers to share, so here they are:
- Conferences are an amazing place to network, get your name out there, and get your company name out there. They’re crucial for making connections.
“And so after like about, I think three months or something, we knew what the solution was that we wanted to create and we had a full understanding of the problem. Now, we didn’t know fully because we weren’t going to conferences. We weren’t like really talking to as many people as we’d like.”
2. Hackathons provide real life business experiences that prepare you for the future, and are a great thing to do if you have free time.
“At the same time, because I mean, we knew a little bit about like startups because we ran one for years and then we did like a few hackathon style things back in high school and university.”
“So I would say hackathons are really great and you should definitely go to them and try to go to them as quickly as possible. The first one that you’re gonna go to, like make sure you go instantly, don’t even second-think about it. It’s super important because, first of all, you see people actually trying to do something and that creates a ripple-effect which puts energy into you and the motivation to want to like build something. And the pursuit of what a hackathon shows you is real, which is literally just like, hey, I have an idea, let me just go build, that’s what you should be doing all the time right now.”
3. Procrastinating is better than being burnt out, because when you’re burnt out, it’s really hard to get back into work mode. If you’re procrastinating on doing something, it’s better to do activities that enhance your mind instead of things like scrolling on TikTok.
“Procrastination is a good thing if you’re about to get burnt out because once you get burnt out, like there’s no turning back, you’re not gonna be able to do anything for months or, well, not months, but like at least two weeks you’re just gone. Like you can try doing work or like studying or whatever, it’s just not gonna be going well for you and it’s gonna make it worse. So, what you should do is try to prevent burnout and the way to prevent burnout is by having adequate leisure, leisure time when you need it. And ideally try to create a schedule up. And when you’re doing your leisure activities, it’s extremely important that you don’t feel guilty for not doing work.”
TL;DR ✨
- Nafeh attended so many hackathons where he gained an insight into how the real-world works and how significant problems are solved.
- He met his co-founder while working at a startup where they were both able to build their networks and get first hand experience of the root problem that inspired their startup: having a hard time finding people to run clinical trials.
- Humine helps researchers recruit participants for their clinical trials in an easy and efficient manner with the help of emerging technologies like blockchain tokenization.
- Humine is currently working with the University of Nebraska’s Medical Center to develop a “pilot site” — an implementation that helps to test Humine’s service in real-time for data collection and determining effectiveness.
- Nafeh emphasizes the importance of attending conferences, hackathons, and professional meetups.
- His unique take on procrastination is very thought-provoking and inspirational: procrastination is better than burn out.
Rapid Fire 🔥
- Who’s your biggest role model? Steve Jobs, George Westinghouse, John Stewart
- What’s your dream job if not cofounder of Humine? Solving a big problem that matters or a chance to work at Apple
- What’s your favorite hobby? Walking, Film
- What’s your favorite store? Apple, Any tiny cafe (Starbucks)
- What’s your dream destination? NYC
- What’s your all-time favorite movie? Spiderman 2, Oppenheimer
- Dogs or cats? Cats!
- What’s the proudest moment in your life? Hasn’t had one yet!
“What I would love see at some point in my career is if I’m walking around in public and no one knows who I am. But, I see someone using something that I made or reacting in a way which they only react because of something that I helped create and they don’t know who I am whatsoever, but they can sort of sense the care I put into it would make myself feel extremely proud.”
