As baby boomers age, they face many of the same issues their parents and grandparents face — but one Georgia Tech engineer aims for modern technology to make the experience healthier and more dignified.
Kareem Elfoulie, a recent mechanical engineering graduate from Georgia Tech, won over judges at the University of Georgia Next Top Entrepreneur competition on April 3. With the promise of bringing more dignity to incontinence care with Senior Shield, Elfoulie took home the top prize of $10,000.
“We have learned that nurses and families are in distress,” Elfoulie told the judges. “Incontinence causes isolation, depression, embarrassment, and a fear of asking for help. Facilities are suffering. Medicare claims the average ratio of nurses to patients is one nurse for every 12 patients. But in our customer discovery, we fear a ratio of one nurse to 16 patients, or one nurse to 21 patients, which is not sustainable.”
Elfoulie’s product is a non-invasive sensor pad that detects soiled incontinence briefs and notifies caretakers before the situation endangers the patient’s health or comfort. The pad, pending FDA approval, is worn outside the incontinence brief and does not contact the patient’s skin.
While Elfoulie studied at Georgia Tech, he completed the UGA Entrepreneurship Idea Accelerator boot camp in 2024. Since founding Senior Shield, he has won pitch competitions sponsored by UGA, the Mayo Clinic, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State University.
Elfoulie plans to use the $10,000 to create enough prototypes to begin the clinical testing needed to secure approval as an FDA-approved medical device and Medicare authorization for reimbursement.
Atlanta-based financial data firm Fiserv and Athens-based D12 Commercial Interiors co-sponsored the contest.
Judges for this year’s contest included Kenneth Duncan (BBA ’16), founder of Renegade Golf; Gary Jackson, a former marketing executive with Google; Lena Hepburn, a pre-construction manager with D12 Commercial Interiors, and Rob Shier (MBA ’04), founder of D12 Commercial Interiors.
In addition to Senior Shield, Next Top Entrepreneur judges recognized West Virginia University junior and former hockey player Logan Cuvo’s Best Dam Tape — a line of hockey tape and wax hoping to upend a near monopoly on hockey staples. Cuvo won $5,000.
The third-place $2,500 prize went to Meet Your Class, co-created by recent University of Michigan computer science graduate Blake Mischley. Meet Your Class is a digital platform allowing colleges and universities to engage with incoming freshmen on multiple social media platforms to build community and boost enrollment.
Teams traveled from as far away as McMaster University in Ontario and University of Massachusetts-Lowell to compete in this year’s contest.
Next Top Entrepreneur is hosted by the UGA Entrepreneurship Program, whose mission is to develop the mindset of future entrepreneurs and prepare students for business leadership roles. It provides a comprehensive academic program that encompasses experiential learning and equips students with the tools and resources to pursue their startup ventures.