Startup Story
Kenechukwu Augusta Okafor is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Gusta-Vines Global Limited and Africa Medical Marketplace Enterprise in Nigeria. She is passionate about women's empowerment, Africa, growth, and quality, accessible and affordable healthcare at the grassroots level. Kenechukwu has strong skills in organizational management, customer service relationships, and building positive human relationships.
Under Kenechukwu’s leadership, Gusta-Vines Medical Supplies has been nominated for and received numerous international awards and invitations, including the Excellence in Quality Awards Project (UK) at Cannes, France; Rise Summit in Hong Kong; Arab Health Events in Germany; East Africa Medical Fair; Medic West Africa, and more. Kenechukwu began her career in 2014 as a brand ambassador for Procter and Gamble Nigeria, before taking up a similar position in Heinz Nigeria later that same year, both located in Enugu State.
In early 2015, while waiting to be mobilized for National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), she briefly worked as an office assistant in the Enugu office of Support to National Malaria Programme (SuNMaP), a UK Aid initiative. During her NYSC year, she worked as a National Officer in Quintessential Group (QG) Abuja Nigeria, a consortium of companies offering various products and services in the Agricultural and Solid Minerals sectors. She was specifically responsible for the management of an average of 50 women in each of the 774 Local Governments in Nigeria under the Quintessential Women Professional Unit. The primary objective of the unit is to create an enabling environment for members' businesses to thrive and excel in a society where the odds are stacked against them. Kenechukwu graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literary Studies at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. She is currently pursuing a Master's in Business Administration (MBA in View) from Rome Business School, Nigeria.
LoA chatted to the passion driven Kenechukwu Augusta Okafor to learn more about her vision to be the leading global medical marketplace in Africa, setting the standard for excellence.
“We serve as a comprehensive online business to business marketplace for the laboratory, diagnostic, surgical, scientific, analytical, pharmacy, and biomedical engineering industries.”
What does your company do?
The Africa Medical Marketplace is revolutionizing healthcare in Africa. As a subsidiary of Gusta-Vines Medical Supplies, we serve as a comprehensive online business to business marketplace for the laboratory, diagnostic, surgical, scientific, analytical, pharmacy, and biomedical engineering industries. Registered in Nigeria and Kenya, we provide local support and understanding to our customers.
Our Mission
It is to offer world-class, accessible, affordable, and personalized online marketing services for medical supplies in Africa and beyond. We achieve this through ongoing research, capacity building, and strategic partnerships.
Our Vision
Our vision is to be the leading global medical marketplace in Africa, setting the standard for excellence.
Our core values
They include teamwork, accessibility, affordability, personalization, innovation, service, transparency, and networking. We believe in working together and leveraging the expertise of healthcare providers, patients, and biomedical engineers to create a platform that offers unparalleled access to quality medical care and products.
What inspired you to start your company?
My Mom. In 2014, my mom had breast cancer after the death of my father, which led to the removal of her left breast. During the radiotherapy session, the hospital machines broke down, so many people died as a result of not completing their sessions. It was in the course of looking for alternatives that we found out that Nigeria had only two functional machines in the whole country. The number of people waiting to be attended to in those two hospitals were nothing to write home about. I vividly remember them leaving the house around 4 am in the morning just to get number 220 because some were sleeping in the hospital. Even with that stress, there were series of stories about machines breaking down thereby affecting the radiotherapy session for days and in some cases weeks. People died massively as well as a result of the inadequate access to good healthcare and quality equipment.
In numbers, a lot of people lost their lives due to lack of good equipment and more due to lack of funds to access these facilities.
“Our mission is to offer world-class, accessible, affordable, and personalized online marketing services for medical supplies in Africa and beyond. We achieve this through ongoing research, capacity building, and strategic partnerships.”
Why should anyone use your service or product?
We cover the 54 countries in Africa through Africa Medical Marketplace.
Tell us a little about your team
Our Africa Medical Marketplace team consists of members including the founder/CEO, chief technical officer, field manager and others. Each team member brings unique skills and expertise to the table, and we collaborate closely to ensure that our marketplace runs smoothly and efficiently. We prioritize open communication, ongoing learning and development, and a positive team culture. Our goals for the coming year include expanding our marketplace's reach and impact across the continent.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
The pain of what my mom went through was agonizing. This inspired me to ensure that to the best of my capacity, families especially the grassroots masses, don't go through the equitable pain of losing their loved ones due to lack of quality and affordable healthcare.
“We believe in working together and leveraging the expertise of healthcare providers, patients, and biomedical engineers to create a platform that offers unparalleled access to quality medical care and products.”
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
Our goals for the coming year include expanding our marketplace's reach and impact across the continent.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
Knowing that lives are saved especially at the grassroots level. Reducing the mortality rate due to poor healthcare.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
If you can dream it, you can achieve it! Your input gives greater output in creating a better ecosystem.
Contact or follow Africa Medical Marketplace Enterprise
WEBSITE | EMAIL augustakene@gmail.com
Why LoA loves it…
At Lionesses of Africa, we always love to hear about women entrepreneurs who are positively changing the lives of others through their businesses, and Kenechukwu Augusta Okafor is certainly doing that with Africa Medical Marketplace. Her mission to make quality medical care and products affordable and accessible in Africa is a worthy one and is making a real difference to people’s lives. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa