Sparking the Entrepreneurial Spirit

Raghu Veer (MEM '22) and three other Northwestern graduate students developed an idea for an app that could revolutionize how international students borrow money.

Inspiration for an innovative idea can come from  anywhere. For Raghu Veer, a recent graduate of Northwestern's Master of Engineering Management (MEM) program, the source was a credit card application.

Veer (MEM '22) knew from personal experience that obtaining a credit card as an international student can be challenging , and he wondered if there was an easier way for this population to borrow money. 

Raghu VeerVeer partnered with two MEM students and an MBA student from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management to develop an idea for an app dubbed Finoxi. The concept behind Finoxi is that it uses artificial intelligence to instantaneously examine a broader set of data than what U.S. banks rely on to determine an international student’s creditworthiness. In doing so, Finoxi could create what Veer called a “more modern approach” than the current FICO system. 

The students worked on the idea as part of the NUvention: AI Analytics class. The course is designed to show students all aspects of creating new products and services using artificial intelligence (AI) while emphasizing business strategy, technology development, and mentorship.

The goal is to fuel an interest in entrepreneurship and innovation, something that certainly happened for Veer. 

“There's nothing stagnant about being an entrepreneur,” he said. “There's always new business opportunities to explore, new ideas to think up, and new people to meet.” 

For most American college students, credit card applications arrive as predictably and regularly as summer mosquitos. But for the 1.2 million international students who come to America for education each year, the ability to obtain loans and credit can be a challenge, Veer said, reflecting on his own experience. Veer emigrated from India and arrived in the United States in 2021.

“I opened a bank account in the United States and enquired how I could get a credit card," he said. "They told me I had to get a Social Security number, but the criteria to get a Social Security number was to get a job,” Veer said. "I had no job."

The aim of the NUvention course is to create a Minimally Viable Product – essentially a first draft of something that, if developed, could become a useful offering for consumers. That is what Finoxi is.

“The purpose of MVP is to test the idea and constantly innovate it according to how people give feedback,” Veer said. “An MVP will cost you little money and will help you get your first few customers, and then you will have something to show to investors.”

Veer and his collaborators interviewed potential Finoxi users, mapped their journey through the app, analyzed the market, and created a financial model for its success – all of which were skills Veer learned in previous MEM classes. 

Though the four students have no plans to further develop Finoxi into an actual app right now, it’s an idea Veer will keep in the back of his mind. The course may not have given him a new product, but it did give him a new appreciation for innovation and entrepreneurs who pursue it.

“Life as an entrepreneur is a constant rollercoaster,” he said. “If you love what you do, it's a really fun ride full of new adventures every day.”

McCormick News Article