Graduates in their 30s who started their own businesses

Mr. NAKAGAWA Tatsuo

PROFILE
Representative Director of Technicol Inc.

Graduated from the Kobe University
Completed the Master Program of Innovation for Design and Engineering in 2016.

I started my own company as a student.

I envisioned my future career plans and enrolled at AIIT to relearn technology.

I enrolled at AIIT with an eye to starting my own company with technology as the core.

Fresh out of university, I started a career as an engineer at a machinery manufacturer. After that, I spent about eight years building a career in international sales at a general trading company. With various ideas in mind, I began to think about launching a venture technology business. Because of how long I had been away from the engineering profession at that time, I needed to refresh my skills as an engineer by catching up to cutting-edge technology. AIIT met all the conditions for me to achieve my goal while working full time.

While studying at AIIT, I was able to start my company, Technicol Inc. My dream came true long before I planned.

The business framework was built through class discussions.

Technicol primarily provides data analysis related to mental health. Wearable devices are used to collect massive volumes of biological data to simulate user stress levels and the rise in concentration through statistical analysis. With this technology at the core, we provide services to visualize the mental health of users.

The source of this business was constructed through PBL at AIIT. I was able to start my own company long before I envisioned when I entered AIIT because the research themes I worked on through PBL were directly linked to problem solving in modern society. Through PBL, I was fortunately able to meet classmates with the same awareness of problems. Professors carefully taught the necessary technology from the basics, which also helped considerably in starting my own company.

I keep in touch with the professors and classmates even after starting my own company.

I finished the PBL classes and completed the course in September. I still keep in touch with AIIT's professors and my classmates, who give me good advice from time to time. My classmates from PBL, who started their own companies at the same time, work in collaboration with me to put actual business plans into action. The encounter with professors and classmates from AIIT is a valuable asset for me.

Mr. YOSHIOKA Ashitaba

PROFILE
Develops web services at a company
specializing in information technology.

Graduated from Osaka City University
Completed the Master Program of Information Systems Architecture in 2013.

To prosper as a developer.

I wanted to organize fragmented knowledge accumulated through my professional experience.

When I enrolled at AIIT, I was a consultant for an overseas open source software. I designed a system and customized software in response to customer requests. I was in charge of introduction and support. Although I was exposed to different types of technology at work, I felt that my knowledge was fragmented, so I wanted to organize my knowledge if I had the chance. I found out about AIIT around that time and decided to enroll in the program.

I decided to change my career after learning monozukuri through PBL.

I mostly achieved the goal I set at the time of enrolling in the program and after taking classes the first year. The PBL class in the second year brought about a substantial change in my career later.

At PBL, under the theme of speedy development in a small group, I worked on developing a web service and two iPhone apps. This experience gave me the desire to work in monozukuri from the start in a team environment. Around the same time that I was completing the program, I decided to change my career. I chose a company that focused on the omni-channel theme as my new job. The work I did was PBL itself. Each member maximizes the strength of him/herself on the team to contribute to developing a system according to their roles. Naturally, team members have different opinions. However, a small group of people can work on a development project like being through PBL. Monozukuri in a team environment holds the promise of reaching an unattainable level with one person in the end. PBL was what showed me the real thrill.

AIIT's professor became an intermediary to help start my own company.

I could say that I was in an ideal environment, and three years later, I started my own company with an acquaintance. A professor who I kept in touch with after graduating acted as the middleperson.

Because my company has just started, it has only two staff, including myself, at present.
Although it is still far from working as a team, my current goal is to put my company on track to succeed as soon as possible. In the future, I want to remain one of the developers even when my company has more personnel who can work on projects together.