Startup Spotlight: Edesia Catering
Meet Edesia
Kareem DaSilva was born to a family of Guayanese immigrants living in Nashville, Tenn. DaSilva says he inherited his entrepreneurial drive from his father, who ran a successful auto mechanic shop during his childhood.
After studying computer science at the University of Memphis, DaSilva launched his first app in 2017. Drawing inspiration from Edesia, the Roman goddess of food, DaSilva developed Edesia, a mobile application that allows users to find mobile food vendors for their events. As a software developer, Kareem was able to leverage his background to code Edesia without relying on the need to outsource to external developers.
Edesia has honed in on their primary market since its launch in 2017. The platform makes it easy for individuals or organizations to connect with food vendors for their events by streamlining the process of discovering, hiring and paying vendors all within a single platform.
Users have two options for hiring food truck vendors: They can set a predefined budget and invite food trucks to cater to their event, ensuring that the allotted budget aligns with the amount of food provided. Alternatively, event hosts can gauge the number of expected attendees and invite interested food trucks to participate and sell to guests directly.
Cummins Inc. recently partnered with Epicenter to provide funding through the Binghampton Business Incubator, of which DaSilva was a participant. The incubator was a 3-month program designed to teach participants how to strategically think about their business, financially plan, and properly pitch their business to customers and/or potential investors. At the completion of the program, DaSilva was awarded a grant to grow Edesia.
Kareem is now a friendly and familiar face at Epicenter – he utilizes coworking space in Epicenter’s Innovation Center as he grows his business, and has encouraged other entrepreneurs to work from the space as well. As an enthusiastic ambassador for other entrepreneurs, DaSilva is a frequent attendee at entrepreneur events, and will be a featured speaker at Epicenter’s Tech Insights Forum on October 24.
Edesia is currently operational in Memphis and Nashville, and is looking to scale to New York City, Indianapolis, and Atlanta in the near future. Anyone can download and use Edesia to find food for their next event – including you! If you have a wedding, corporate event, birthday party, or other event that needs delicious mobile food options, Edesia will make your search a bit simpler. Edesia can be downloaded in the App Store or on Google Play, and can also be used on mobile browsers at edesia.catering/booking.
Programs like the Binghampton Business Incubator are made
possible with the support of donors like you.
The business incubator was a 3-month program designed to teach founders how to strategically think about their business, financially plan, and properly pitch your business to your customers and/or potential investors. Powered by Cummins Inc., the business incubator was created by Epicenter to foster the growth of small businesses in the areas of Memphis that need it the most.