This past year we spoke to some incredible guests on the My Great Canada podcast. One of them was Aditya Mhatre.
Aditya, originally from India, got his Canadian PR in 2017. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Product and Technology Officer of Beacon, a super app that provides dependable services for newcomers. His background also includes pivotal roles at Reliance Jio, Paytm, and PayPay in Japan.
His current mission at Beacon is to give newcomers the tools they need to build their brightest future in Canada.
Can you tell us about your arrival in Canada? What attracted you here and what has your experience been so far?
This is my 10th year now. Interestingly, I’ve had two so-called stints in Canada.
The first time I came to Canada was in 2014 when I came to pursue my MBA at Rotman. I arrived here with my family — I had my wife and a six-month-old son.
After my graduation, I started working for a company in Canada, for Paytm. Then, I got an opportunity to move to Japan, where I spent three years.
There was a point in time where we had to decide: were we going to continue being in Japan or would we go back to Canada? And honestly, [I made the decision] for my son. My wife too, but especially my son. Canada was home for him. We had moved there when he was six months old. It was just a very clear decision, and we decided to move back to Canada and make Canada our home. […]
We moved back in in 2021 and have been here ever since. I got my PR in 2017, and any day, we’ll be able to fill out a citizenship application.
What were some of the initial challenges you faced upon your arrival?
One of the challenges that one faces – especially as someone who is coming in with a young family as I mentioned earlier – is finding a good community of friends. Having some sort of a support system. We had to proactively plan to develop that support system here in Canada. So there were difficulties. And then we found out, after a lot of digging around and talking to people, that there is this community center with a mother and child two-hour session that the city of Toronto hosts — which is where my wife started going. She started meeting people who had kids in a similar age group and who were going through the same things. […]
What’s something that pleasantly surprised you about Canada?
I had heard about Canadian winters and how harsh they were. But now I can say I enjoy winters because we have found activities that we can do together as a family. So I made an effort to go learn how to ski and learn how to skate, which makes it more fun. […]
I look forward to going to going skiing with my son. […] It’s just me and him. And it’s also fun because, before, he used to chase me down the slope and now I am the one chasing him because he is getting better at it.
I did not expect that I would be enjoying winter sports coming from Mumbai, where 40 degrees is my comfort zone.[…]
What can you tell us about your work at Beacon?
Beacon is a super app that is meant to make your arrival journey easier. […]
We want to ensure that everyone who comes here as an immigrant, and even the future generations – that my son – [can fulfill] obligations back home. I still have parents back home. My wife has her parents. We have to take care of them. So Beacon is a super-app built for Canadian immigrants. It is going to help you arrive and settle confidently, and also help you maintain relationships. We are taking care of the entire life cycle, and that is purely based on the experiences that I have gone through and my co-founder has gone through. […]
We have charted out a life cycle of decisions that people have to make. […] Like: Where do you live? That’s a very important thing, especially for someone with kids because the schooling depends on where you live. And in today’s world, there is such a broad range [in terms of] cost of living. [So where you live] is a very important decision.
How can we provide information, organization and planning lists to people, so that they can make all these decisions before coming to Canada? How do you set up your financial journey here in Canada? We are providing all that information to people, pre-arrival, in a way that is tailored to them. So all they have to do is answer a few questions, and we generate […] 20 things that [they] need to think about. [Then they] can pick and select the topic that is of interest.
What’s some advice you would give to newcomers who are just starting this process?
Invest in building relationships as soon as you arrive, as soon as you land in Canada.
And the other thing I would say is to do as much as research about the lifestyle that you want to live and the preparations that you need to make. Start it well ahead of time. Give yourself at least three months to plan your arrival in Canada. […]
Another thing that I would have done differently would be my academic credentials evaluation.
[For my wife], it took her almost six months to get her credentials evaluated. And that meant that she couldn’t work until then, right? Or she couldn’t work at the level that she was qualified to work at.
The last piece that I will say is that you are not alone. I used to think, “Why is this happening to me?”. But later on, I realized there were so many people going through the same thing. Facing the same challenges as me.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity, and the original podcast can be found here.
