Business

Local Business Q&A: Dil Figaro

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For today’s Q&A with a local business, we hear from New Canaan resident Usman Shaikh of dil figaro. Here’s our exchange. New Canaanite: It’s been one year since you launched your business, dil figaro, and since that time New Canaan has seen scores of new residents buy homes—just one offshoot of the pandemic. What would you like to tell those families about dil figaro’s service? Usman Shaikh: Ever since we launched our service last year, we have been relentlessly learning from the community in terms of how to personalize our whole platform for them.

Business

New Canaan Man Launches Personalized Nutrition Start-Up ‘Dil Figaro’

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Usman Shaikh felt his heart stop for a few seconds while driving in Dubai in February 2016. 

Though just 45 at the time and never overweight—and though his wife, Dr. Nadia Ahmad, is a Harvard-trained specialist in obesity medicine and nutrition—Shaikh himself hadn’t been physically active, hadn’t focused on what he ate and worked a stressful job in investment banking. Ultimately, the New Canaan resident found he had multiple heart blockages and would undergo surgery to have stents put in. 

The experience changed his life and profession, and led to the creation, earlier this year, of a personalized nutrition company based in town. “The thing that opened my eyes is that this is really doable,” Shaikh told NewCanaanite.com. “If I can control what I put in my mouth, I can control the outcome of my health. I walk every day, 30 to 40 minutes, rain or shine, and I really think about what I am eating.