Podcast
The Africa Health Ventures Podcast
Hosted by Rowena Luk · EN
Unlocking access to quality healthcare in Africa by 2030 will require radical innovations. Join veteran digital health / healthtech entrepreneur Rowena Luk in conversation with healthcare industry leaders and innovators every quarter to strategize on what the future of healthcare in Africa will look like. This podcast is for social entrepreneurs, impact investors, and global health professionals who need to stay ahead of the rapidly changing landscape of healthcare in Africa.
rowenaluk.substack.com
rowenaluk.substack.com
35episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Reinventing Yourself on the Journey to Scale with Sathy Rajasekharan of Jacaranda Health
Oct 13, 2021Tap to summarizeSathy Rajasekharan is the co-Executive Director of Jacaranda Health. Frustrated with the speed of change within larger institutions, Sathy joined Jacaranda to be part of a small, agile, and experimental team. His mission was to lead the charge on local innovation. He joined at a pivotal time, when Jacaranda Health was transforming beyond its origins as a private healthcare provider to create a digital health non-profit. At the helm of Jacaranda's operations in Africa today, Sathy is committed to Jacaranda's work to generate rapid, grounded innovation. This means he needs to make tough choices on what experiments to keep, and what to cut. Even today he's constantly asking the question of how to incubate new ideas, through what team and what structure. As he seeks to expand their influence across Kenya, he also comes head to head with the practical and policy gaps of scale. For example: Jacaranda strives to adopt the highest standards of data protection, but what happens when this approach collides with common practice in Kenya? 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) Get full access to Africa Health Ventures at rowenaluk.substack.com/subscribe
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Growing 10X in a Year with Evelyn Castle of eHealth Africa
Sep 21, 2021Summary readyEvelyn Castle is a woman who just doesn't know when to stop. She has founded multiple social ventures in the technology and health space in Africa. She is best known for her work as Executive Director and Co-Founder of eHealth Africa, a leading digital health implementer for Nigeria that was founded and run from Kano, Nigeria - and now has a growing footprint elsewhere in Africa. She also founded EHA Clinics, a private set of clinics providing quality healthcare in Nigeria, and EHA Impact Ventures, an impact investing firm targeting female-owned startups in Africa. In our conversation today, we talk about Evelyn's fateful decision to drop out of college in California so she could pursue her dream in Nigeria. She shares the explosive growth that eHealth Africa experienced - growing by 10X in a single year! - and the kind of pressures that put on the organization to expand and to deliver. She shares how she built a chain of private sector clinics, driven by the need to provide quality care to her growing staff. And finally we hear Evelyn's vision for her new impact investing work, and how it will power the next generation of tech founders to do even better. 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) Get full access to Africa Health Ventures at rowenaluk.substack.com/subscribe
Summary
Charting Your Own Course with Erica Layer of D-Tree
Sep 7, 2021Tap to summarizeErica Layer is the CEO of D-Tree International, a global digital health organization dedicated to ensuring everyone has access to quality primary healthcare through integration of digital tools into community health systems. In this conversation, Erica shares how she found her way into the field of digital health, for reasons that had nothing to do with technology. She recounts how she was scared, inspired, and guided by Dr. Marc Mitchell, the founder of D-Tree who passed away two years ago. Finally, we trace Erica's journey stepping into the role of CEO, and how she's had to carve out her own style of leadership. Erica never imagined she would take on this role... but when the time came, everyone else in the room knew she was the right woman for the job. 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) Get full access to Africa Health Ventures at rowenaluk.substack.com/subscribe
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What Stands the Test of Time with Dominic Atweam of Ghana Health Services
Aug 10, 2021Tap to summarizeAfter more than 15 years in Ghana Health Services, Dominic Atweam has seen all the major digital health systems in Ghana come and go. But one system withstands the test of time: DHIS2 (or "DHIMS2" as it is branded in Ghana). Dominic was a key actor in the decision by Ghana Health Services (GHS) to adopt DHIS2. In this walk through history, Dominic retells how he first learned about the system, how he launched it on a shoestring budget, and the reason why it continues to be used so widely in Ghana today. Dominic was a Health Information Systems Expert for over a decade within the Division of Policy, Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation (PPME), the Directorate of GHS charged with oversight on digital health deployments in Ghana. He recently joined the World Health Organization (WHO) to continue promoting effective health information systems use at all levels of the Ministry of Health. 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) Get full access to Africa Health Ventures at rowenaluk.substack.com/subscribe
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From Serial Entrepreneur to Non-Profit Founder with Gustav Praekelt of Praekelt.org
Jun 15, 2021Tap to summarizeGustav Praekelt is founder, chairman, and CEO of the African-based Praekelt Group. Praekelt has directly delivered essential health information to 100 million people around the world. Praekelt runs both the South African national COVID-19 hotline as well as the World Health Organization COVID-19 hotline, making it the most popular WhatsApp service in the globe. This is the story of the man behind the institution. We peel back the layers to uncover the tragedy which led this tech entrepreneur to dive into the aid sector. Intertwined through his story is the story of modern-day South Africa, from the HIV epidemic to Apartheid. But it's also a story of hope, of idealism, and of the endless work of making change that he continues to this day. 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) Get full access to Africa Health Ventures at rowenaluk.substack.com/subscribe
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Learning How to Speak Up with Joy Kamunyori of JSI
May 25, 2021Tap to summarizeToday we speak with Joy Kamunyori. Joy has a long career in digital health, and most recently was the Program Director at the Center for Digital Health at John Snow Inc (JSI). JSI is one of the largest global health firms, with thousands of staff and dozens of offices around the world, and the Center for Digital Health played a key role in enabling and facilitating technology use across its programs.In this intimate conversation with Joy, we explore Joy's personal journey from growing up in Nairobi to joining JSI in the USA. Joy has a deep respect for the power of education, which was put to the test when she enrolled - and dropped out - of a Computer Science PhD program. Uncertain about how she could use her skills in the aid sector, she eventually found her way to return to Africa, and to share the life lessons she picked up along the way. To find out more, download 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) Get full access to Africa Health Ventures at rowenaluk.substack.com/subscribe
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Side Chat: Wandering in the Woods in West Africa
Feb 23, 2021Tap to summarizeThis short episode is the first in our experimental ‘side chat’ format. It started out as I (your host, Rowena) was writing a ‘thank you’ note to our guest from last week, Eric Brewer. Somehow that email ballooned into a 3-page story about how Eric’s work set off a chain reaction which changed my life forever. I go deep to share a pretty formative period of my early career, which I often describe as my years ‘wandering in the woods’ in Ghana. I learned a tonne from that time, lessons which still guide me to this day. I’m sharing this story now in case some of you might also get value from this experience.Let us know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@AidEvolved) or by email (hello@AidEvolved.com) Get full access to Africa Health Ventures at rowenaluk.substack.com/subscribe
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The Many Sides of Digital Health with Liz Peloso
Feb 2, 2021Tap to summarizeLiz Peloso has experienced digital health from many sides. With roughly a decade's experience as a practicing nurse, a decade in private sector health consulting, and a decade in global health, she can speak for multiple actors in this field. In this episode, Liz recounts how technology has helped and hurt her work, as a neonatal intensive care nurse, as a clinical transformation consultant, and as a responder to the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia. In each chapter of her life, Liz shares key insights into the business of making change in healthcare. Most recently, Liz was the Global Director for the Better Immunization Data (BID) Initiative, a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project, to improve the collection and use of immunization data in sub-Saharan Africa. This included the development and implementation of electronic immunization registries in both Tanzania and Zambia. She has been a special advisor to the Ministry of Health in Rwanda overseeing the Rwanda Health Enterprise Architecture Project, which saw the successful implementation of a full Health Information Exchange. She worked as a senior manager in the National Health practice of a large consulting company, as well as for one of the largest EMR system vendors, before leaving to focus on Global Health exclusively. Get full access to Africa Health Ventures at rowenaluk.substack.com/subscribe
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Starting Up in South Africa with Nneile Nkohlise of 3DIMO
Jan 26, 2021Tap to summarizeNneile Nkohlise is well known in South Africa for her work as an innovator, founder, technologist, and risk-taker. She was recognized by the World Economic Forum in Rwanda in 2016 as one of Africa’s Top 5 Female Innovators for her efforts to found iMedTech, a biotech startup with a focus on prosthetics. In this episode, Nneile reveals the early support and mentorship which started her down her career as an impact entrepreneur. She speaks openly about the struggles to innovate in South Africa, the challenges of local manufacturing, and the market dynamics which continue to limit iMedTech’s growth. Her story provides a glimpse into the energy and potential of the next generation of South African innovators, juxtaposed against the realities which still constrain their growth. Nneile was recognized in 2017 as the South African Youth of the Year by the Office of the Presidency. In 2018 Forbes Africa magazine named her as one of the Top 30 under 30. In the same year, the All Africa Business Leaders Awards awarded her Industrialist of the Year in Southern Africa. Today she is a Harambean Entrepreneurship fellow in the class of 2018. She is actively growing her latest venture, 3DIMO, which provides data analytics to strengthen the livestock sector. Get full access to Africa Health Ventures at rowenaluk.substack.com/subscribe
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Punching Above Your Weight with Karl Brown and the Rockefeller Foundation
Jan 19, 2021Tap to summarizeKarl Brown spent 8 years at the Rockefeller Foundation, investing across multiple domains, including pandemic response, digital health, health systems, and youth unemployment, before he joined ThoughtWorks as the Director of Technology for the Office of Social Change Initiatives. In this episode, Karl shares his experiences working in the donor community, from his unexpected entry into the field, to strengthening pandemic response in the Mekong basin, and even building open source communities with OpenMRS. Along the way, we learn about the heavy responsibility that grant officers bear, how the Rockefeller Foundation thinks about catalytic funding, the value of honesty from grantees, and how donors can sometimes act like “herd animals”. If you’re interested in hearing a first-hand account of the work and decisions made by one grant officer in digital health, you’ll enjoy Karl’s reflections on his time at Rockefeller. Get full access to Africa Health Ventures at rowenaluk.substack.com/subscribe
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