Nishi Bhagat understands the value of community. 

As a student entrepreneur at UC Davis, she found community in many places, including the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Girls Who Code, the Keller Pathway Fellowship and the Big Bang! Business Competition. She knows the role that a healthy community plays in supporting and nurturing growth.

As a student in the Diversity and Disparities Lab at UC Davis Health, she had a chance to study how community can have positive impacts on long-term caregivers. She co-authored a paper showing the relationship between community support and caregivers’ cognitive abilities, such as memory and problem solving. 

Based on this research, Bhagat, a 2024 UC Davis alum with a degree in computational cognitive science and a minor in computer science, developed Caregiva, a user-friendly app to support caregivers with resources and community. 

 Bhagat was accepted into the Keller Pathway Fellowship, a program designed to support and encourage aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs at UC Davis. Fellows attend the UC Entrepreneurship Academy and participate in the Big Bang! She said the experience was a defining moment in her entrepreneurial journey. 

“It gave me access to experienced mentors, hands-on workshops, and a community of like-minded innovators,” she said. “It reinforced my belief that technology and entrepreneurship can drive meaningful change and gave me the confidence to take my idea to the Big Bang! Competition. To this day, I am still close with the friends I made as a Keller Pathway Fellow.”

 Bhagat won the social entrepreneurship sector award in the 2023 Big Bang! She said it was a transformational experience. “It was a platform where I learned to articulate ideas, validate solutions and turn concepts into actionable strategies.” These skills have been essential to her professional growth. 

“The Big Bang! is more than a competition—it’s a unique learning experience that pushes you to think creatively, dream big, and grow as an innovator,” Bhagat said. She urged competitors to make the most of the benefits the competition offers, particularly the chance to develop a professional community. “The skills and relationships you develop will stay with you long after the competition ends.”

When she graduated from UC Davis in the spring of 2024, she spoke of her entrepreneurial journey as the commencement’s Student Speaker. She told her fellow graduates: “As an entrepreneur, I poured my heart and soul into founding Caregiva. The road was far from smooth, and at times, I felt like giving up. But it was through these moments of struggle that I learned the most valuable lessons about perseverance, adaptability, and the power of resilience. I also learned the important skill of how to ask for help. Within the UC Davis community, I found willing mentors and advice were in all corners.”