LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
Wazima, a Nigerian Health Tech company providing care through smart diagnostic devices and telemedicine
Elizabeth Adeshina is the founder and ceo of Wazima, a Health Tech company based in Nigeria but with a Sub-Saharan Africa focus. She is an avid entrepreneur with a medical background who has over 18 years’ experience with building businesses in the UK and Africa. She successfully set up and for over 12 years ran and grew her own brand pharmaceutical wholesale business targeting 7 Sub-Saharan African countries with several high quality ethical and OTC products in various markets before exiting in 2016 to launch Wazima. She is passionate about health and improving the access to and delivery of quality healthcare services. She has worked on various projects in the UK NHS and with the UN and WHO in Africa.
Lioness Weekender spoke to the passion-driven Elizabeth Adeshina to learn what it takes to build a health-tech business with big impact ambitions in Africa.
When did your start your business?
We started in 2016 and launched our first software in September 2018. Today we have 20 employees.
What does your company do?
Wazima is a Health Tech company which provides continuous connected wrap-around care in Sub-Saharan Africa through smart diagnostic devices and Telemedicine for point of care screening. We help those impacted by Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) to manage their health by providing access to early online diagnosis, support, monitoring and follow-up with all stakeholders involved in their care to improve quality of life and reduce preventable deaths. We have so far served over 170,000 users, carried out over 140,000 screenings, made over 65,000 referrals and have over 93 partnerships.
What inspired you to start your company?
I have always had a keen eye for spotting opportunities where others may see only challenges. As a Pharmacist, I started my career early on working on various healthcare projects in Sub-Saharan Africa with the UN and WHO which ignited my drive to impact for change and opened my eyes to the gap in the availability of high quality medicines. I set out to address this challenge by setting up my own brand pharmaceutical company which started in Nigeria and grew to six additional countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was whilst I was on that journey that I knew I wanted to address a more holistic problem in the healthcare system in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It dawned on me in 2016 that technology could and would ultimately be a good bridge and my Health Tech company was birthed after deep market research and product planning. We have grown organically and pivoted along the way as it is crucial to use to continually meet the needs of our target users. We have a special interest in NCDs like diabetes, hypertension and cardiac diseases, cancers, and so on which are a growing global health challenge and projected by WHO to surpass infectious diseases as the leading cause of death in SSA by 2030. This is a pretty scary projection, so we are helping to disrupt that upward trend by providing affordable access to early diagnosis, management and support in a convenient way.
What makes your business, service or product special?
We are focused on ensuring that all Africans are able to affordably and conveniently access and check for the most common NCDs and receive the needed health management and support through our connected wrap-around software and Apps which incorporates smart diagnostic devices for a number of point of care screenings. This means that for about $1, users are able to receive end-to-end access to care from the point of diagnosis through to management and support by the medical professional in a continuous way through our Software solution.
With the current and growing brain drain happening in the healthcare sector in many SSA countries, the ability of the medical profession to manage as many of their patients online will become increasingly crucial to health outcomes and quality of life. A greater majority of people, (about 65%), do not require an in-person visit to a hospital as has been the practice. We improve access to care on both ends and reduce costs while promoting efficiencies for the healthcare ecosystem and corporate organisations.
Tell us a little about your team
Our diverse and experienced team are from a range of ethnic and professional backgrounds including healthcare, business, technology, corporate, marketing and sales. Having teams in the UK, Nigeria, Ghana and Mozambique brings a dynamism to the business which helps us to continue to grow and stay on top of customer needs. We also apply a gender lens within Wazima and where possible actively look to recruit qualified women to our team.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And, do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
My father was entrepreneurial even though he was a Barrister, and very early on in my life I would spend some parts of my vacations at his business premises. I also have always had a natural tendency towards spotting opportunities and creating solutions. I recall my first ever venture into a proper business being in the UK within the Residential Social Care sector shortly after my post graduate studies which was a steep learning experience. I would later exit that to set up my own wholesale pharmaceutical business in Sub-Saharan Africa. I enjoy building and growing businesses, working with dynamic teams, and making positive impact to health and well-being.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
Wazima Health has a pan-African vision and is on a steady growth course, we launched into two new countries, Ghana and Mozambique, in 2022 and have plans to expand to additional territories in subsequent years. We also have various plans, including to compensate for the low Doctor to Patient ratio on the Sub-Saharan African continent by augmenting our solutions with AI to further enhance access to affordable quality healthcare in partnership with the ecosystem. We also look forward to expanding the offerings of our Software Services to Family Planning, Maternal and Infant care in addition to Non-Communicable Diseases.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
For me, the greatest satisfaction is seeing and receiving testimonials of tangible interruptions of what would have been negative health outcomes for users. For example when women are being diagnosed with cervical and breast cancer earlier and being able to triage them for specialist care; reduction in maternal mortality when high risk pregnancies are identified early and triaged through to specialist care; as well as the more general day to day healthcare management. Wazima is also big on forging partnerships with other organisations where our goals align for a more synergistic outcome for users within our ecosystem. It is exciting when I meet such founders.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Solve a problem or tackle a challenge, do what you are passionate about and do your research. Keep learning, keep listening to your target users, don't be afraid to pivot or even fail, be consistent and keep moving forward. It may take awhile but if you don't give up, you will achieve your goals.
If you would like to learn more about the work of Wazima Health, or to contact Elizabeth Adeshina directly, send an email to: eadeshina@wazima.health or visit the company’s website and social media platforms:
