Simba Nyazika: We Believe Good Mental Health Is a Basic Human Right

We believe good mental health is a basic human right. Our mission is to transform global mental health by designing precision tools to better assess, monitor and improve overall brain function.

Tell us about yourself?

I believe in a world where everyone lives with good mental health. To achieve this vision, we have created a collaborative ecosystem to build the next generation of mental fitness solutions.

Upon graduation from the University of Alberta with a degree in psychology and another degree in neuroscience, I worked as a Behaviour Consultant with children with neurodevelopment challenges such as autism, ADHD and OCD.

In 2017, I co-founded Lenica Research Group, a collaborative framework of researchers, healthcare professionals and technology experts developing precision tools to empower people with their mental health.

If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?

Keep going, keep pushing forward. No storm ever lasted forever.

What problem does your business solve?

According to the world health organization, mental health impairments will affect 1 in 3 people by 2025. If you are one of the lucky people not affected, you will most likely know someone who is. Lenica Research Group’s platform empowers people to achieve their mental fitness goals.

For athletes, this includes achieving peak performance and reducing recovery time after an injury. For seniors it is remaining mentally fit as they face age-related cognitive requirements and for the general public it is preventing potential mental health-related impairments such as dementia.

What is the inspiration behind your business?

I am originally from Zimbabwe and have been living in Canada since 2005. When I return home in 2013, I discovered that my grandmother had no recollection of who I was. At that time I was not aware but she had dementia.

There are very limited tools to support dementia patients in Canada, let alone in a country like Zimbabwe. I believe if we can inform people early enough of their risk factors of developing such neurological conditions they can take the necessary steps to prevent or mitigate the impact of such diseas

What is your magic sauce?

We believe through collaboration are creating a future of mental wellness. Our platform allows individuals to leverage technology from different companies so they can personalize their mental fitness routine.

What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?

By 2027 our platform, Peak Cognition will be the gold standard for mental fitness in sports and healthcare. People using Peak Cognition will feel empowered about their overall mental health since they will have both tools and clinical support to achieve their goals.

Clinicians will be able to streamline their services through remote biometric monitoring and efficient two-way communication based on each unique patient needs.

From an economic perspective, Peak Cognition will help reduce healthcare expenses by allowing for remote therapy, group rehabilitation and new efficient esearch processes.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

We are developing a digital health platform so significant financial resources are required to develop the product. Funding has been constraint we have had to address especially during corvid.

How do people get involved/buy into your vision?

We would love to hear from you! If you want to join Peak Cognition, you can register for a 14-day trial by visiting www.peakcognition.app. New programs and devices are continuously been added. If you have specific questions you can email Simba at simba@lenica.ca.