The Africa Health Ventures Podcast
Business
Femi Kuti is the CEO and co-Founder of Reliance Health - an HMO using tech to make quality healthcare delightful, affordable, and accessible in emerging markets. Earlier this year they raised $40M through their Series B financing. This makes it the largest raise of its kind in the history of African health tech.
Despite this success, Femi is a humble down-to-earth man. He opened up with us on the podcast last month about growing up in Ondo City, Nigeria, the child of a physician and a teacher. Even though he trained as a physician and was working as an investment banker on Wall Street, he couldn't resist the allure of Lagos, the emerging Silicon Valley of Nigeria. So he set off on his own to start a digital health venture building telemedicine technology.
The remarkable moment in this story is a fateful conversation Femi had with a partner during his time at YCombinator, the most successful startup accelerator in the world. The partner asked Femi whether digital health alone could achieve the mission Femi had set out to achieve. If not, what would it take? The answer: a LOT. It would take an integrated healthcare system, an insurance program, financing, licensing, a fleet of modern clinics, and a host of third-party clinical partners. But if you never try, you'll never succeed. So Femi pivoted Reliance Health from a pure technology player to a complete HMO solution and integrated healthcare provider.
If you're a founder, idealist, dreamer, or changemaker, listen to this episode to remind yourself of the importance of fulfilling your own mission - and the power of big goals even when those goals feel impossibly hard.
To find out more, access the show notes at https://AidEvolved.com
Let us know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@AidEvolved) or by email (hello@AidEvolved.com)
AI for Health, Part 2: A Step Ahead
AI for Health, Part 1: Promise and Perils
The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa, Part 2: The Next 10 Years
The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa: from Manufacturer to Pharmacy (Part 1)
Introducing the Africa Health Ventures Podcast
Chuck Slaughter of Living Goods: Digital First Healthcare Saving Lives at the Last Mile
Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, Former Minister of Health of Rwanda
Investing in Healthcare with the World’s Largest Pure-Play Impact Investor
Technology, Innovation, and the Global Fund
Nicole Spieker of PharmAccess Foundation
Curt LaBelle, M.D., Managing Partner of the Global Health Investment Fund and the AXA IM Global Health Fund
Margot Cooijmans of Philips Foundation
Joseph Ssentongo of the Global Innovation Fund
Pippa Yeats of Turn.io: Sending a Lifeline to the People of Ukraine
Andy Bryant of Segal Family Foundation
Andy Pattison of WHO: 12 Days to Launch the Largest WhatsApp Service in the World
Hannah Subayi: From Billion Dollar Fund Manager to Pan-African Angel Investor
Creating New Ways to Fund Innovations in Global Health with Rebecca Distler of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
Season 3 Teaser: Donors and Investors in Digital Health / HealthTech
BongoHive: Building the Zambian Tech Sector from the Ground Up
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