‘Go with your gut’ – Solène Declas, founder of Aibo and Ignite winner 2025
Good Leaders podcast: Two years ago, university graduate Solène Declas ditched business school to found Aibo, a platform that tackles loneliness by pairing young adults with elderly people looking for companionship. She shares the joys and challenges she faces as a young social entrepreneur at the very beginning of her journey.
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What does it mean to become a leader while you're at the very beginning of your career? In this episode, Tim West speaks to young social entrepreneur Solène Declas, founder of Aibo, a startup that aims to tackle loneliness by bringing older people and younger generations together through companionship and practical support.
Declas launched Aibo in 2024 following a conversation with her grandparents. The platform matches young people, called “buddies”, with elderly people looking for companionship and practical help. Buddies are paid and are expected to do “anything a grandchild would do”, from having a cup of tea to helping with technology – not regulated care that is delivered by professionals.
She started the business fresh out of university – turning down business school in Copenhagen to start her own enterprise, while she was still living with her parents. The platform now numbers 1,300 buddies, mostly in London and the south of England, with some scattered around the rest of the country. Her objective is to have enough supply and demand so that buddies and elderly people can be matched according to their interests as well as location – and she already dreams about going international, inspired by some gig economy platforms she has herself used as a flexible source of income.
Declas shares the challenges and uncertainties she faces as a young impact startup founder, including “decision paralysis”, how she learned to listen to her gut, and how winning the Ignite competition last year was a turning point for her as an entrepreneur.
It's one of those things, I think people don't quite realise how meaningful and how much value you get out of it until you've done it
Listen to the episode to hear Tim West and Solène Declas discuss:
- How the issue of loneliness affects both the elderly and the young generation
- How she developed her initial idea and the challenges she has faced
- The business model of Aibo
Pioneers Post is a media partner of the Ignite competition. Applications for this year’s cohort are open until 12 August 2026 – find out more here.
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