This post originally appeared on H innovates, a new forum to discuss and highlight innovation at Harvard University. To learn more about H innovates, please visit www.hinnovates.org.

Welcome back from the long weekend everyone!  This is going to be a big week for social enterprise innovation on-campus, with several events hosted by the Social Enterprise Club including a start-up panel, Business Plan Competition (BPC) Social Venture Track teambuilding mixer, and Ideabomb.

To warm us up to all this activity, we interviewed last year’s BPC Social Venture Track winner, Sidhant Jena, on life after HBS.  Jena is the founder and CEO of Jana Care (formerly SANA Care), and just graduated from HBS (2011 Section J).  After building the start-up while in school and winning the HBS BPC Social Venture Track, Jena has grown his mobile healthcare start-up to 5 employees and is based in Bangalore, India.  Jana Care recently raised a round of angel financing and is already performing pre-clinical trials for its novel diagnostic platform.

What does Jana Care do?

Jana Care aims to provide chronic disease patients in developing countries with self-monitoring and follow-up services. Its proprietary sensor platform plugs into any mobile phone and turns it into a cost-effective diagnostic device, thus enabling patients (e.g., diabetic and cardiac patients) to perform a battery of tests such as electrocardiogram, pulse rate, blood glucose, cholesterol and hemoglobin, and receive automated feedback and transmit the data seamlessly to a remote provider for further follow-up.

How have things gone for Jana Care since you graduated?

It has been a roller-coaster ride so far. Starting a business in India (and for that matter in most emerging markets) requires a lot more patience and persistence than in the US. So far, we have been successful in putting together a solid technical team, a strong physician advisory board and finally been able to raise some cash for product development and clinical trials next year.

We hope to finish product development and clinical trials, and then apply for regulatory approval in India.

Where did your inspiration for the idea come from?

There are only 11 million hospital beds for almost 5 billion people living in the developing world. We simply can’t build enough hospitals and clinics.

Our solution is simple– if your average mobile phone, which has more processing power than the Apollo 11 mission, can be turned into a diagnostic device capable of performing a battery of tests that can only be done in hospitals and clinics today, then patients can literally sit at home and self-diagnose. This is particularly important for chronic patients like diabetics and cardiac patients who have to see providers on a regular basis for their entire life.

What role did the Business Plan Competition play in developing Jana Care?

It really helped us in crystallizing our thoughts on paper and then fine-tuning our pitch as we went to the finals. The coup-de-grace was pitching and winning the finals in front of a packed Burden Auditorium. We took a lot of confidence from the event, especially since the idea was completely untested at the time.

Is this what you thought you’d be doing when you first entered HBS?

No way. I did write in my application that I wanted to work on chronic disease management but had never imagined that I would be starting my own company in the field.  I guess I learned to prioritize my activities, which actually allowed me a lot of spare time at HBS to work on the company.

What’s the best part of the day in the life of a social entrepreneur?

We meet a lot of patients every single day. There is nothing more satisfying than going to work everyday and interacting with little kids or old patients with diabetes, and then realizing that our work could literally transform their lives.

What’s the worst part of the day in the life of a social entrepreneur?

Honestly, I have no complaints about being an entrepreneur. One tends to get impatient at times with the pace of things in healthcare, but its all a part of the learning process.

Editor’s Note: Sidhant Jena is an HBS alum (2011 Section J) and the founder-CEO of Jana Care.  If you are interested in learning more about Jana Care, you can reach him at sidhant.jena@gmail.com (hint: they’re looking for interns!).