A new start for a Start-Up Chile family

“When you’re a new person in the country, you start to live in a very closed environment. It’s your office and your home. You’re jailed there […] But when I was accepted onto BIG 4, we had no hesitation”.

Welcome to Humans of SUP, a new project brought to you by Start-Up Chile that explores the real stories of our entrepreneurs. It’s not all about raising capital or allocating public funds. Just as Start-Up Chile has always focused on the positive human impact we can have, now we want to bring you an insight into the next generation of startup rockstars. 

I am Georgie Cutmore and this week I was in conversation with Elmira Safarova, Founder and CEO of Rarus Health. 

In honour of Rare Disease Day, we wanted to highlight the groundbreaking work of Rarus Health. The data-driven platform helps families with rare genetic diseases by: assigning digital medical assistants; collecting data to improve quality of life and patient outcomes; and accelerating drug development. I spoke to Elmira about her experiences.

We’re perched round a patio table on the sunny Co-Work terrace, but the 30℃ heat of Santiago only seems to be getting to one of us – and it’s not my guest, Elmira Safarova. She’s the type of person who appears perennially comfortable, relaxed even, no matter her surroundings. The profile fits. Rarus Health formed part of BIG’s fourth generation, participating in the Build program last year; in order to do this, Elmira moved with her young family all the way from Russia to Chile.

I ask her what it was like to make such a significant life change. “It’s our first big move as a family. All of us were born and raised in Moscow – we’re Muscovites. But when I was accepted onto BIG 4, we had no hesitation and decided it was a great opportunity for the whole family, especially with regard to our girls”.

Elmira and her husband, Ilya, who works alongside her in Quality Assurance for Rarus Health, have two daughters, Vlada (17) and Ksenia (5). Ksenia attends a local kindergarten. In March, Vlada will finish online school in Moscow and enrol in a Chilean high school for the new academic year. There’s an earnestness that comes into Elmira’s tone as she speaks about her daughters: “It’s a great opportunity at their ages to see the world, to see different cultures, to be in an absolutely different environment – it really opens the mind.”

But I want to know how that optimism has played out. Having recently moved from the UK to Chile myself, I’m conscious that the excitement and pull of new experiences do not come without their challenges and culture shocks. 

“When you’re a new person in the country”, Elmira confides, “you start to live in a very closed environment. It’s your office and your home. You’re jailed there. You don’t have any friends, nor any comfortable and familiar places, like a favourite cinema, or gallery or whatever. This has been a big personal stress for me because I’m an introvert – for me, it’s very important to be on my own, but here there is no place to hide – you’re always either at home with family or in the office with coworkers.”

I thank her for her sincerity, but I’m finding it difficult to hide my surprise. This is the entrepreneur who, in the Graduation Party for BIG 4 startups, won the “SUP Spirit” award. The warmth, social energy and friendliness that Elmira radiates seems to come so naturally to her. Her secret? “You have to create networks and you should spend a lot of energy on this. Without friends, without familiar places, you have no support. It is a big challenge. It’s really not easy.”

Having purpose is crucial. She adds: “I’m very lucky – we moved to participate in Start-Up Chile; the Co-Work is full of my mates, my peers. A lot of them are in the same position, they are not Chilean, they come from abroad.” 

Santiago in particular has proved to be a fortuitous choice for Elmira and her family. With daily duolingo practice, and group language classes twice a week, the Spanish is quickly falling into place. And apart from her friends, the family cat and dog, and the snowy landscapes of Russia, she tells me that she doesn’t miss much from home. While it’s a “completely different culture” here in Chile, this has also been a blessing: “People are very open here, very supportive and they are always smiling. There are a lot of hugs, lots of touching.” 

The Co-Work, with its network of entrepreneurs from all over the world, is an undeniably supportive and lively environment. Elmira reminisces on the Russian food party she held with a couple of other fellow SUP startup leaders. “We decided to bring the traditional salad, and salted cabbage… It was a chance for all our mates and the SUP team to taste Russian food.” 

Her daughter Ksenia also seems to be a fan of the Co-Work. She’s been twirling up and down the space in full princess dress and train and now, curled up on a sofa watching her device, I ask her what she likes about Chile. Her mother translates for the both of us. “I like you mummy”, comes the heart-melting reply, before a quick addition, “and the swimming pool”. As for opinions on the Co-Work, though Ksenia’s response is “I don’t know”, Elmira assures me that it’s the complimentary coca-cola and the coveted chance to watch youtube. On my next question she is much more certain: “when I grow up I want to be Elsa, the princess from Frozen”. 

Fittingly, my conversation with Elmira also turns to the future. I ask her what comes next – a permanent stay in Chile, a move back home? She tells me that the plan is to be in Chile during the next one or two years, as a minimum, to take advantage of the business opportunities and market potential in Latam. 

I nudge her to consider the timeline beyond that, and she answers me with a candour that’s hard not to respect. “Frankly speaking, we are living in such unpredictable and complicated times with regard to everything, so to plan 5 years in advance, as one might have done before, is absolutely impossible. So no plans. Just do business, help people, and we will see.”

It’s an admirable end to the interview of an admirable entrepreneur.

Find out more about Rarus Health here.