How Rudi Ramin went from accounting to establishing the Philippines’ very first comprehensive mental health app
Many business leaders in workplaces today expect workers to go beyond working eight hours to the point of burnout. Archaic corporate cultures regard sleepless nights and working on weekends as a badge of honor that everyone must emulate.
The pandemic has taught us all many things and one glaring lesson is that people have their limits and their breaking points. It’s not a sign of weakness or defeat. But rather, a reminder that we all have to look after ourselves to get our best work done.
This is one of the issues that has driven Infinit Care CEO, Rudi Ramin, to understand, analyze, and change. All within the palm of your hand. Ramin feels that anything that encourages growth or takes out the barriers of your personal growth is something that he is excited to work on.
This excitement was one of the main reasons why Ramin set up Infinit Care (www.infinitcare.co) in March 2020 before the pandemic hit. Infinit Care is proving to be one of Ramin’s proudest achievements as the company is the first to launch a mental health app in the Philippines.
Infinit Care is a comprehensive mental health care platform that is created especially for companies and organizations to offer to their employees. The Infinit Care platform enables companies to support the mental health of their employees by giving them access to self-care tools and resources, round-the-clock chat support, mood tracking, and online access to book virtual counseling sessions with coaches and licensed counselors. The platform also equips heads of companies and HR leaders with utilization data and invaluable insights on the stressors of their employees so they can, in turn, design effective engagement and support strategies.
“When you have bad mental health, you cannot even think of the future,” says Ramin. And Ramin knows exactly just how short life is. “I’ve lost a lot of people already in my life,” Ramin shares. “My parents passed away… So early on I knew the fickleness of life. And therefore, if that’s the case, I’d like to live my life to the full all the time.”
Ramin is no stranger to growth. Holding a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accountancy from the University of Santo Tomas and being the first Filipino valedictorian in INSEAD’s prestigious Global Executive MBA program, he has pushed himself to branch out to different fields and industries, and chart his own path.
“I’ve always been fascinated about business and started my career in audit in KPMG. But then I realized that I wasn’t as interested in audit as I was in finance. I liked the business building part of a business career,” Ramin says. “So I went to marketing in Unilever where I was able to handle different brands. They were the ones who moved me from the Philippines to Singapore. I took on regional roles for South East Asia and Asia Pacific. Then I moved to Mondelez to handle biscuits for Asia Pacific. Along the way, I started thinking about entrepreneurship. Just because I loved creating new innovations, businesses, and looking at different models.”
Ramin felt that that was the perfect time to dip his toes into something new, something innovative. And that was the tipping point for him to begin developing tech companies. “The first move was a move to Google,” says Ramin. “I worked as a Brand Expert at Google for almost two years, where I helped our clients create their digital marketing strategies and communication plans. And then along the way I took up my Executive MBA in INSEAD which has campuses in Singapore, France, and Abu Dhabi.”
Ramin was shuttling between Singapore and France. This is where he met his co-founders for his first start up — Grow360 — a platform for personal leadership development. He then decided to leave Google and become the CEO of Grow360. Ramin began to set up the business and hired his team across four different continents. At the moment, he’s still a board member while his co-founder takes on the role as CEO and leads the growth of the company in the UK and Europe.
Stepping back from his first start-up freed up Ramin to eventually put up Infinit Care with Richard Eldridge. A network connection that Ramin had met in IO Labs. Eldridge is the Chairman and CEO of Infinit-O, a successful BPO and advised Rudi about creating a venture builder.
“Instead of a venture capital company, instead of investing in start-ups — you can create start-ups,” Ramin said. “We aligned on the belief that business is a force for good. You don’t have to create a social enterprise or be part of the government to provide value to the world.” This evolved into their principle. They would create a sustainable business that supports different stakeholders, not just themselves and the owners but also the employees, the environment, the people they work with, and suppliers. Ramin and Eldridge also have a strong belief in building businesses in high-growth spaces.
“We’ve evolved in many ways since we started,” Ramin shares. What started as a straightforward online booking platform for counseling services has now evolved into a comprehensive mental health platform that can support large businesses and has different care options for everyone. “We’re not just a service for mental illness. Mental health care is not just for those who are struggling or have issues. Mental health care is for everyone. Infinit Care is for everyone.” And this is evidenced by the number of progressive companies who have signed on Infinit Care as a partner – Canva, Sykes, Inspira, SeaOil, Beauty Manila, and Medical City to name a few.
As the awareness of mental health increases and the stigma around talking about it decreases, our experience during the pandemic has accelerated the conversation about seeking mental health support even further. “For developed countries like the US, it has become a basic benefit for employees,” Ramin proudly shares.
Only time can truly predict how quickly the Philippine corporations will catch up in offering comprehensive mental health support for their employees. But if there’s one thing that is assured, it’s that Rudi Ramin and the entire team at Infinit Care are ready and leading the charge.
If you’d like to know more about Infinit Care, visit their website at www.infinitcare.co