Neto Ikpeme is a Nigerian medical doctor, founder and CEO of Wella Health, a cost-effective technology solution for easy access and affordable healthcare for the underserved. With the plan, the doctor, who left a thriving practice in Europe, has served over 200,000 Nigerians with quality, yet affordable healthcare.
The solution-based initiative beat over 27,000 entries by innovative entrepreneurs across Africa to win the 2023 Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) awards in Kigali, Rwanda in November.
In this interview, the doctor, who is now $250,000 richer, tells Obinna Emelike the impact of the prize money, his initiative, need for platforms like the ABH, expansion plans, among others. Excerpts:
How do you feel as the overall winner of the ABH 2023?
I feel great. It is good to talk about the work that we do and on the behalf of my team. I know this is about the hero but it is really the presentation of the work of many people and I am delighted to present that on their behalf.
The victory is not just about me, but my team, those we have impacted with our easy access and affordable healthcare plan and the providers who partner with us on this journey so far.
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What is Wella Health all about?
At Wella Health we provide affordable access to healthcare through our affordable plan. It starts at just $1 a month and you will get cover for common conditions like malaria, typhoid and more.
We serve over 200,000 with good healthcare and are excited to do more.
The ABH programme will help us to expand across Africa and reach more people.
We serve over 200,000 people across Nigeria and work with 25 insurance companies.
What are you going to do with your $250,000 prize money?
The money is going deeper. We need to do more work with a lot of partnerships we have, doing more sales and marketing because a lot of people have not heard about us and Nigeria is a big country.
We will use the fund to increase our network because the more people get on board, the more providers we need.
About 2000 providers we have now are fine. But if we are going to serve one million people a month, which is our target, we cannot do that with 2000 healthcare providers. We will need 10,000 to 55,000 providers on board.
So, the fund will essentially go into growing the capacity to serve more people and also for expansion to other countries.
Now that you are $250,000 richer, are you considering building a hospital?
That is not our model. Our model is not to directly own hospitals, but to enable people to get quality healthcare from providers. The hospitals are not enough, but there is a lot to do with the ones that are available.
Our problem is not to build more things, but make good use of the ones we have, upgrade and maintain them.
The problem our politicians have is that they like to cut ribbons and do shiny things.
Healthcare does not need new buildings. In Nigeria, for instance, we have over 50,000 healthcare facilities and most of them are rundown.
So, it is not new buildings, but people in there, good coordination, good access and that is the way to go.
How do you operate in Africa where there are lots of economic instabilities?
I think one advantage of healthcare, according to economists, is that it is countercyclical. It means whether there is inflation, currency devaluation or no money, if you are sick, you are sick and you cannot run away from getting treatment.
So, that is the advantage of healthcare, there will always be demand. It may not be the best healthcare service in the world, but there will always be demand, especially for what we provide; low-cost quality healthcare.
I think we are prime to take advantage of the economic challenges because we give you good value for a good price.
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Are you still practicing as a medical doctor?
Yes. The reason is to keep in touch with the medical side of things. I stopped practicing some time ago, now I see patients because it always helps me to keep in touch with my skills, which are valuable and it is terrible to waste them.
How do you marry the people that use the app and the available pharmacists?
It is difficult and one of the judges recognised that. The work we do is very important and a lot of people do not want to do that and progress is slow.
But our concern is how to ensure that the quality of healthcare that the provider is offering is high and this is where we have done processing, algorithm, quality scoring and working even with the Network of Community Pharmacists.
It is really difficult but you need someone like me who is crazy enough to come back to Africa to do it.
Considering cost, how do you run the business?
When you start off as a startup, the early days are difficult. There is no clear path because you are not in a retail business, but in healthcare and a crucial service provider.
It requires that you have to understand the market, develop different products and test a lot of things.
So, with the understanding, patience and commitment to make a difference, we are moving despite the challenges
What about trust and payment for your offerings?
That is a big problem for us because people do not trust that we can actually deliver the service. It depends on the channel. We work with a big mobile network operator and it is embedded in your data plan. Anytime you have an active data plan you are covered. If you are going to pay via an agent for instance, the agent will come back to you every week or every month depending on how you pay the agent.
If you have a bank that gives you credit, and it is inside that credit, as long as you have that credit, you will have access.
We have multiple ways to meet the people depending on how they pay and how they want to access it.
Trust is really a problem.
But $1 is a reference point, some people pay less, just 50 cents. The plan you get determines the kind of cover. So, if you take a $1 plan, you get cover for common conditions like malaria, typhoid and if you get admitted in hospital we give you cash back. In some other minor things we can call our doctor, talk to the doctor and get advice as well using the app.
Depending on how much you pay, we give you the cap of things you can access and most times it covers the majority of what people need.
Day to day problems are what we are trying to solve.
What message do you have for African doctors and professionals abroad?
Sadly, our best people are leaving the continent. The reverse should have been the case. More professional African Diasporas should be returning now to impact the people and the continent because the people need them and they said Africa is the last frontier for growth, business and so many other things. So, why are many not seeing the opportunities, rather leaving for greener pastures.
I think entrepreneurship empowerment programmes like the African Business Heroes (ABH) are what innovative Africans need.
The ABH has given me a stage to tell that story that I have come back and I am doing something worthwhile that helps to inspire people here.
But when I speak to Africans across the world, they actually want to come back, it is rare you see an African abroad that has given up on Africa. Most African professionals want to come back to impact and the ABH is giving us the platform to tell the story that you can come back, and you can be successful here. I am a testimony to that success story.
