Ahana Banerjee had never lived abroad when she came with her family to New Delhi in 2013.  Moving to India from the UK in Grade 9 was daunting, but she soon recognized that the strong community and variety of activities at AES would help make the transition smoother.  Ahana shares that the diversity of the students and faculty enriched her experience during her two years at AES.

She developed a love of Physics from her Grade 10 Physics teacher and eventually followed that passion into her Physics degree at Imperial College London. While at Imperial College, Ahana began to explore other interests and recognized the value of internship programs in different fields, including investment banking and software engineering. A few different internship opportunities helped to spark new ideas and dreams.  She is now excited to provide similar opportunities to students through internship programs with her tech startup, Clear (https://getclearapp.com/).

While pursuing her Physics degree, Ahana and her team were accepted to the prestigious Silicon Valley-based accelerator, Y Combinator, which comes with a $125,000 investment along with guidance and mentorship. Through the process of developing their skincare tracking app, Ahana and her team encountered a series of setbacks, including having to upskill to do the coding on their own. Banerjee says “When setbacks arise we just need to stay calm and figure out our path.” She persisted through the project to successfully launch the app in June 2021, with more than 3000 users by the second month.  

About Clear 

Clear is the first social skincare mobile app; we help people find the right skincare for them, and keep track of whether their existing skincare is actually working. We’ve just launched the Clear debit card, which offers instant cashback on skincare purchases; also making Clear the cheapest way of buying skincare! Clear’s financial services will also help small businesses; we will offer no processing fees meaning the small businesses are able to retain more of their profits too (essentially, we help people save money, and also help small businesses make more money).

As our name suggests, Clear is committed to transparency, and empowering people to make educated and informed purchasing decisions. Particularly in the age of airbrushed images and people suffering with self-esteem issues caused by unrealistic beauty standards, Clear is bringing transparency to social media by providing a platform for people to openly discuss their skin issues (users can find others by their “skin tags”), and sharing skincare product diaries. This means that you’re able to see day-in, day-out, what somebody actually used to help address their skin concerns.

Learn more about Clear and Ahana’s journey on her YouTube Channel and in the following articles:  https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/223913/imperial-physics-students-launch-skincare-tracking/

https://www.efinancialcareers.co.uk/news/2021/06/decline-summer-intern-offer-bank