Pace University held its 12th Annual Pace Pitch Contest on Thursday, April 14, 2016. Among the winners of the contest was Adil Sanai. Adil is part of Pace University’s Inclusion program, and a participant in AHRC New York City’s Day Habilitation Without Walls Program.

For the first fifteen years of his life, Adil was unable to stand, walk, or close his mouth. After coming to the United States with his family, he underwent several surgeries to try and subdue the complications of his disability. Adil is now able to walk and speak through his use of a communication device. Adil is determined to create a better life for himself, and he believes that AHRC NYC and Pace University gives him the chance to experience many life-enriching opportunities. Adil found such an opportunity in the Pace Pitch contest.

About the Pace Pitch Contest

The contest is based on the elevator pitch idea, where an entrepreneur has a short amount of time to pitch an idea, along with their business plan and analysis, to a potential investor. The Pace Pitch contest gave its contestants three minutes to present a proposal to a panel of four judges in front of a live audience. This year’s contest featured seven different student/alumni finalists, each with their own unique entrepreneurial ideas.

Creating the App

Working with his mentor from AHRC NYC and his professor from Pace University, Adil developed an idea for an app that he named Everyday Pace, a calendar app that he designed for people with disabilities. The app featured a way for the user to take pictures of their environment so they could create their own personalized checklist of daily events. The app also had an achievement scorecard that tallied the number of times the user responded to the checklist. Adil created a short PowerPoint and a three-minute presentation for the contest.

The night of the contest was competitive, as each of the seven finalists pitched their own impressive idea to the four judges and the audience. After his three minutes were up, Adil was met by lively applause and impressive comments from the judges. At the end of the event, he was awarded the third-place prize for his idea. Adil plans to develop his app over the summer and eventually put it in the market, and he believes it can only go up from there!