20 Growing Your Social Capital

1.     Individual 1: Andrew Bustamante, Works with Aetna, an American Health care company which sells health insurance plans and services such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans.

2.     Mr. Bustamante serves as the domain expert in this assignment, who knows the ins and outs of what I’m trying to achieve and knows the business really well, having spent a lot of time working with Aetna. 

3.     I met the person through my father, as part of a Public Speaking Event under Toastmasters International. I learned that Mr. Bustamante was an retired CIA Agent who then pursued a career in health care management, which is exactly the field that I want to pursue. I was able to get his email and contacted him to talk about my idea.

4.     After talking to him about the idea, he said that someone else had talked to him about the same concept of making the medical process more efficient, or that there might have been an app already made that does the same thing. He sees the potential in making the waiting room more streamlined as well, and said he would send me more information about the do’s and don’ts in terms of what the hospital is allowed to use and what they aren’t.

5.     This exchange would open the doors for an internship in which I would be able to learn more about the demand in healthcare and the services that customers are willing to pay for.

1.      Individual 2: Dr. Meera Menon, House head surgeon at Brandon Regional Hospital

2.      Dr. Menon is a supplier in the industry, being the more direct form of supplier of medical services.

3.      She is a family friend and I had her personal number.

4.      The favor she did for me was connect me to a woman in management on her team at the Brandon Regional Hospital, that would be able to give me more information. I however, was not able to contact this person yet, having received her information last minute.

5.      This would help me enhance my ability because of the perspective she gave me from the medical suppliers’ s point of view. This helps me understand the other side of things rather than just looking at the customer.

1.      Individual #3: Mrs. Sudha, Works with IT and healthcare services from a medical company that caters to people from their homes.

2.      She fulfills the role of being an expert in this field, being as involved in technology and medical services the way she is.

3.      Another family friend, contacted through email.

4.      I emailed her asking about the possibilities  of such a service and the feasibility when it came to actually producing such an app for patients. She did not get back to me yet, however. I’m hoping to get a perspective of how feasible this is for patients and whether it would actually benefit people in the long run.

5.      I believe this would be on of the most valuable perspectives because she would be able to tell me how accurate my view of the demand is, and how well I am reading customer’s desires for such a product.