Date 22.10.2020
About Hafiz Mitha –
Social Entrepreneur I Founder & CEO of PlayCity I Forerunner I Community Builder I TED Speaker I Change Maker I Purpose Driven I Thought Leader I Visionary I Collaborator I Social Worker I Advisor, Marketer & Fundraiser for Non-Profits I Sports & Outdoor Activity Enthusiast I Nature Lover I Dogfather
We have a
very special guest on today’s show. Be sure of taking this opportunity to check
out this wisdom-packed conversation. A fighter and believer in living life to
its fullest, Hafiz Mitha (founder of PlayCityApp) is a living symbol of authenticity, unity, positivity and
high-spirited. Hafiz’s journey has been quite fascinating and remarkable. So
don’t be surprised if you get the chills reading this one.
1. How it all
started
Hafiz was selling credit cards and insurance in his
varsity days to get things going. He realized soon that being employed as a
banker/ mortgage broker/ corporate junkie is not meant for him. Emotionally
exhausted working in call centre sales and support job, Hafiz one day decided
to quit his banking job and made a commitment to self to write his own pay
check and take control of his destiny.
2. Beginning
of the Entrepreneurial Journey
Right after graduating from college, Hafiz began his
entrepreneurial journey with co-founding Tech Firms (Software & FinTech
companies such as JOI Media, Katipult & Parallel Earth). JOI Media turned
out to be an award winning software development firm, scaled from 15 employees
in Calgary’s office to going global with offices in Czech Republic & Thailand.
3. Emotional
Bankruptcy
After 6 years of entrepreneurial stint at JOI Media, moving
to Thailand and operating from there for 6 months and tasting financial
success, Hafiz was left with dissatisfaction and a sense of emptiness.
4. Realization
A family trip to Jamaica gave him the space to do
some much-needed introspection. That’s when he realized that his lack of
passion for his work at his own company is making him miserable and is taking
him to a dead end. Soon he decided to exit and went in search of something
meaningful and fulfilling.
5. The
Healing
Hafiz decided to travel to Nepal & India where
he started volunteering for Manavta Project (An International NGO, based in Nepal, with a focus on wash
sanitation and education) in 2015. In spite of the language barrier, Hafiz made
meaningful relationships and friendships with the locals through compassion, play
and sports. Hafiz also started journaling leading him to greater self-awareness
and clarity on the next chapter of his life.
6. Embracing
the change
For the first time in his career, Hafiz had taken
time off from work and it permitted him to fall back on his childhood memories
of all the play and fun, of how much he loved sports and hanging out with
friends, of having pure joy and being free from peer judgements.
7. The Aha
Moment
Time has come for Hafiz to live his “DHARMA” or
“IKIGAI” ("a true way of one’s being"). Hafiz moved back to his
hometown Calgary after a few months. He started looking out for options to find
someone to play tennis, do outdoor activities and sports in general. But he was
having a hard time finding a playmate of his skill level and in his preferred
time slot. This made him realize that there is no organized digital (tech)
platform and existing social channels didn’t help, so he decided to build an
App.
8. Finding
Purpose
Thought of being mortal (realising the fact that we
have been blessed with one life and limited time here), love for sports,
feeling of loneliness, experience of running tech startups and discovering the
difficulty of finding activity buddies, all of it fell in place and turned out
to be a blessing. It helped him narrow down his purpose, his next expedition, a
fulfilling one this time. Who knew this would be the beginning of something
great, a sparkling journey of turning one’s childhood passion to paycheck and
impacting the society at large?
9. The Birth
PlayCity was born in Feb 2016 and the rest is history. What seemed like a simple solution to his tennis problem, turned into something much more. PlayCity is a platform on a mission to connect people through play, using technology to connect OFFLINE! The free mobile app connects adults to others based on a shared interest.
10. The Bigger Picture
Many a times the most difficult and complex problems can be solved in a simple manner. Social Isolation increases the risk of heart disease and stroke; inactivity costs ~ $7 Billion a year in Canada. Hafiz Mitha with a simple idea of PlayCity App, is certainly making a notable difference by solving this massive problem.
11. The
Impact
Over years of perseverance, PlayCity has impacted the lives of tens of thousands of people become happier, healthier and more connected. Having started PlayCity in Calgary, Hafiz is on his way to scale the reach to millions across the globe. After recently launching PlayCity App in Vancouver and Montreal and having a small community of users in Germany, Hafiz is determined to expand his user network and add potential partners from across Canada in the coming months.
12. The Testimonial
Shivi shared her experience of finding an old friend through PlayCity App. Hafiz says user experiences like such inspires him to keep grinding, building and growing the company.
13. The
Collaboration
PlayCity connects organizations to
players who are looking for ways to be active in their community. With
PlayCity, organizations can inspire more people to be more active, more often,
while building a diverse and inclusive community, connecting new friends,
fostering accessibility, and generating a whole lot of fun!
Early partnership with MEC became a game-changer. Since then,
PlayCity has partnered with many more organizations and is collectively
providing better service every day.
14. The
Heroes
Iconic historic figures and athletes such as
Muhammad Ali, Mahatma Gandhi, Snoop Dog, Bob Marley, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela
to name a few are his heroes as he could relate himself with them in many ways.
Hafiz says someone’s monetary feat doesn’t inspire him, rather he always drew
the motivation from those (esp. athletes and sports heroes) who fought through
the adversities, defied the odds and created change for the greater good.
15. Success Mantra
Stay true to yourself.
16. The
Inspiration
His parents are among the biggest inspiration and
role model for him. They have fought their way through many adversities and
migrated to Canada from East Africa in the 70s, worked very hard to provide for
the family, embodied discipline, made time for family & for the community
and successfully established themselves as proud Canadians.
17. Giving Back
In addition to his continued partnership with Manavta NGO as an advisor and the
marketing & fundraising campaign specialist, Hafiz is also involved in
community engagement, outreach, mentoring and fundraising activities with few
other social and health services organizations such as #SoGo (meetup of social
entrepreneurs), Spin For Life (charity
spin bike event for Canadian Cancer Society),
Nicerr (social platform for getting
one-on-one expert advice and raising funds for charities), ActiveCity
Collective (collaborating efforts and optimizing resources to maximizing
Calgary’s socio-economic well-being), Canadian Mental Health Association
(improve mental health through counselling, conversations &
activities).
18. Dose of
Wisdom
When asked what keeps him excited and the thing that wakes him up every morning, Hafiz response was full of nuggets of wisdom.
19. Becoming the Dogfather
Hafiz adopted a dog (a Siberian Husky-German Shepherd mix)
a few months ago, named her Arya. He talked about how she taught him to be
happier, active & appreciative of the small things in life. Hafiz calls
Arya his ‘Ultimate Accountability Partner’ and is grateful for having Arya in
his life.
20. Blogging
Hafiz loves to write in his spare time. Checkout
his LinkedIn Article and Blog page where
he has shared some very insightful stories and experiences.
21. Building
meaningful relationships
Hafiz shares his thoughts on forming trust and better relationships.
22. On Entrepreneurship
23. On Greatness & Success
24. Ask from
the Community
Affiliate marketing & partnership support to
make a diverse, active, healthier & tolerant community. Hafiz would love to
connect with an
organization sharing a mandate of increasing social connection, building active
and diverse communities, and having fun.
25. Break the
Value Norm
Hafiz talks about the rigid view of ROI as being
short-sighted and valuing only quick monetary gratification. He believes it is
not about how much money is being made, rather how many people are happier
today because of you. What’s people’s level of well-being because of you?
That’s all that matters.
26. Advice
for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
If your Why is strong enough, the How gets figured out.
27. Advice
for job seekers
28. The
Impact
Little bit about PlayCityApp
P.S.
We loved having Hafiz on the show and appreciate him for sharing his
story with us. Kudos to his tenacity, giving attitude and work ethic.
You are in for a treat with PlayCity
Community. Now finding your activity of interest, a play buddy, gatherings and
future friends is just an App away. Let’s make PlayCity Movement go viral.
Watch Hafiz’s video
presentations -
TED Talk on Build Strong Communities through Play
Initial Days of Presentation and Q&A
Be Playful!