Dubai: Indian expat lost friend, $60K to fake job – now his AI transforms hiring in UAE

It began with a tragedy that no amount of money could fix. For Indian expat Avinav Nigam, the journey into AI-driven recruitment didn't start in a boardroom, but in a hospital ward. It was born from the grief of losing a close friend to healthcare workforce shortages and the outrage of seeing his nanny lose her life savings to a predatory recruitment scam.
Those personal tragedies became the driving force behind a mission: to build a recruitment system that is fair, ethical and removes barriers for healthcare professionals worldwide.

Years ago, Nigam’s friend undergoing chemotherapy was asked to leave a UK hospital because there weren’t enough beds or staff. When she needed care again, it was too late. “In 24 hours, she was gone,” he recalled while narrating the incident.
The experience left a lasting impression: inefficiencies in staffing weren’t just inconvenient – they could be deadly.

A second incident highlighted the global scale of the problem. His nanny, a nurse from Gujarat eager to work in the UK’s NHS, paid $60,000 to a recruitment agent, with her family selling their home to cover the cost. When she arrived in Britain, the job turned out to be fake.

“These scams are still happening repeatedly,” Nigam, a Dubai resident, said.

These experiences inspired Nigam’s vision, which has become a fully AI-driven recruitment and career growth platform. It’s a shield against the two forces that devastated his inner circle: clinical inefficiency and recruitment fraud. The IIT Bombay alumnus described it as the “world’s first fully AI-powered, end-to-end platform for recruitment and career growth.”

In the UAE, the system is already helping hire nurses for Emirates Health Services (EHS), which operates 134 hospitals and health centres. It conducts structured AI interviews, evaluates clinical reasoning, and identifies top candidates – all remotely. Fraud detection and document verification ensure a secure and transparent process.

“The idea was to create a fair and ethical system where everyone has a real chance – without the need for intermediaries. That’s the genesis of the company,” said Nigam, Founder and CEO of TERN Group.

Beyond hiring, the platform doubles as a career coach. AI agents track professional growth over time, helping nurses plan careers, manage burnout, and build leadership skills.

For Nigam, the platform is more than technology – it’s a mission to prevent unnecessary hardship and save lives. By removing bottlenecks in healthcare recruitment, the system ensures qualified professionals reach the right roles quickly and ethically, ultimately helping save lives.