Folarinle T. Akinrinlola is the Channels Sales Director at General Electric Health Care. She is a graduate of the University of East London, United Kingdom in Economics and an alumnus of City of Westminster College, London, United Kingdom in Physiology.
Folarinle is the first Cardiac Physiologist in Nigeria and to date is responsible for training a significant number of physiologists within Nigeria. She began her career in the United Kingdom where she worked, over a period of eleven years, with several top-notch hospitals as a cardiac physiologist.
In 2006, she left her position as Chief Cardiac Physiologist with St. Anthony’s Hospital, Surrey, United Kingdom to return to Nigeria where she joined the pioneer cardiac surgery team of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos (LASUTH) as its Head Cardiac Physiologist.
As Head Cardiac Physiologist, she set up and managed LASUTH’s cardiac and echocardiogram services as well as its Pacemaker Implantation Program and Clinic. She also acted as Consultant, Non-Invasive Services to First Cardiology Consultants Hospital, Ikoyi, Lagos (FCC) for which she coordinated its Non-Invasive Department and the Cardiac Catheter Laboratory.
Indeed, she was a member of the FCC team that in 2009 performed the first angioplasty (a minimally invasive endovascular procedure used to widen narrowed or obstructed arteries or veins, typically to treat arterial atherosclerosis) in Nigeria.
In 2011, she moved to Medtronic Nigeria, a medical device company (and part of the Medtronic Group which is a global leader in medical technology, services, and solutions), as Country Consultant. Four years later, in recognition of her immense contribution as a team member in successfully establishing operations for Medtronic in West Africa, building a sustainable business model and capturing over 80% of the cardiovascular products market share in Nigeria, she was elevated to the position of Lead Cardiovascular Group Manager, West Africa.
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Since 2018, she has worked for General Electric Healthcare (a leading global medical technology and life sciences company) in Lagos Nigeria, as Channels Sales Director overseeing indirect channels business, which she has successfully made an essential and integral part of the entire General Electric Healthcare business.
Folarinle certainly is a seasoned, resourceful and results-oriented Healthcare Professional with wide-ranging 25 years+ experience, garnered in the United Kingdom and Africa, in clinical cardiology services, medical devices sales & marketing, business development, market development and senior-level management.
She is also a non-executive director on the boards of a few private companies and is a member of Rising Tide Africa (a group of women angel investors harnessing their power, network, passion and capital to positively impact and actively create a New Africa). Additionally, she is a founding member of GAIA Africa, Africa’s members only club dedicated to serving the top 5% of female executives, entrepreneurs, professionals and creatives.
In the beginning
Growing up was quite interesting. I’m the first of three women; I was raised by my mum, she brought me into this role that I do today. She single-handedly raised three amazing women as we always say, and we are all ‘fighters’ we don’t quit. My home was a very happy home. In our home, there is no such thing as girl or boy, we all did everything. I can change the tyre of a car, I can cook, I can clean, we did everything.
We were raised to be very strong women. I went to Staff School University Lagos, and I went to Federal Government Girls’ College Akure boarding school. I like to say my days in boarding were probably my best years till date. I remember in those days, you had no responsibility, the most interesting thing in my life those days, if I remember, was visiting days and I liked my food. Then after that, I moved back to England where I went to school. So yes, growing up was definitely fun and it definitely laid a strong foundation to what I am today absolutely, so kudos to my mother!
Who is a Cardiac Physiologist?
So, basically, a Cardiac Physiologist is somebody who does all cardiac investigations, there are a lots of cardiac investigations and they are divided into Invasive and Non-invasive. A cardiac Physiologist is trained to do all of them from the simple ECG’s all the way up to putting appropriate devices into people to keep them alive, so it is a huge range.
When I was training a long time ago as you can imagine, they did it only a certain way were you get trained for invasive and non-invasive, and I remember telling my boss that one day, I want to go back home (Nigeria) so can I be trained in invasive and non-invasive? And he said no one had done it before, but let’s try, and I did it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have a saying, ‘whatever you are going to use to succeed in life is natural in you’. I just had a natural inclination to it. I trained in ECGs, echocardiograms, implanting pacemakers and so on, to help people with heart problems. That’s who a Cardiac Physiologist is.
Experience at Anthony’s Hospital, Surrey, United Kingdom
Fantastic. It was a lovely private hospital. I learnt a lot. I was a newly married woman and they really supported me. That was where I learnt my Echo skills and I met a lot of people. I thoroughly enjoyed it. When I was working at St. Anthony’s, I used to do some private work for General Electric because I liked their machines, their resolutions, they were fantastic. I actually used to do a bit of work for them. St. Anthony’s was fun. I met a lot of lifelong friends there.
Being the first Cardiac Physiologist in Nigeria
When I was living in England, I used to come home a lot on holidays. I remember I came home a particular year and my sister reached out to Lagos State to say ‘my sister has this skill, would it be needed?’ and I remember the then commissioner said, ‘absolutely we need this.’ I didn’t know I was the first. I just knew I had a set of skills that was unique, then I got to Nigeria and found out there is no such thing as a Cardiac Physiologist.
In those days, Cardiologists used to do things as Echos and Physiologist didn’t do that. It took about six of them to have trust that I could do what I could do. From there we ‘flew’. From there, I started meeting university graduates who thought, ‘oh my God, I’ve done this course I could get a job with it?’ Then we started training them and today I’ve lost count of the number of Cardiac Physiologists in different institutions providing support to the Cardiologist.
Transitioning from UK to Nigeria
It wasn’t easy. I always tell everybody, ‘when you get to the airport, forget that you travelled abroad’. I remember I didn’t leave this country for two years. And the reason I didn’t leave for two years was so that I could settle. I felt if I kept on going back, I would never settle. I had fantastic support from my CMD, the then commissioner for health and Lagos State really supported me.
You can imagine where there is no light, we had some interesting days, I met some interesting people. But I made up my mind that I was coming home. There were millions of me in the UK, at that time there was only one person who had that skillset in Nigeria, and I felt this was where I could really make a difference and I have.
Did you feel the pressure of being the only one?
It was a lot of hard work. In the beginning, I was the only one in the department who did Physiology-led Echos. It was a new concept. So, I spent a lot of time training people and letting people know that they could do this and this is the way it could be done. I spent a lot of time trying to change people’s mindset and when it changed, things became easier.
You need Cardiac-Physiologists to do your Echos, your pacing, while the doctors concentrate on doing other things. Cardiologists still do Echos, but Cardiac Physiologists do Echos as well.
Nigeria’s health care system
Covid-19 is happening and that showed up a lot flaws in our health care system however, my pain point is the lack of education. I believe if we can educate people, especially the women, it would be the beginning of our success. Prevention is better than cure. We need to educate our people.
When I moved home, there was no such thing as a Cardiac Physiologist. It was through education that people came onboard and hospitals started realising that we need these people. We need to go back to our grassroots. If we know what to do, we would follow but many people don’t know what to do. We all know what is going on at the moment. We need to push education and I’m talking about going back to the grassroots level, educating people right from the bottom-up. So, for me, it’s education in healthcare.
How important is it for people in leadership to act right?
Our government needs to come out like they did in March, a lot more. They need to be out there, in the news, on social media and all. They need to put things out there, not just ‘Covid-19 is real’. Put pictures, if people don’t mind, put videos of people in the isolation centres, so that people can see people in the isolation centres and what is going on. I think it would help more people to really believe that Covid-19 is real.
Message to those in Nigeria who believe Covid-19 is a scam
It’s such a shame because there are a lot of Nigerians who are really saying that and it’s so sad. A lot of us have experienced the loss of someone due to covid-19. For people saying that, what I would suggest is for them to go and spend some time in the Intensive Care Unit and see people dying. Real people. The sad part is that, when people go into these centres, their family members can’t even see them. They die alone. It’s heart-wrenching, it is sad and very personal to me. Such people should go and spend some time there and see what is going on, see the pain that health care workers are battling with then maybe we can come back and have another conversation. Covid-19 is real and it’s affecting people every day.
Hospitals lacking oxygen
It depends on the hospitals. If it’s a Primary Health Centre, you don’t need oxygen there. But if it’s a normal hospital, you should have oxygen or have access to oxygen. A proper hospital where you admit patients, you really need to have oxygen. Especially in this season, people who have covid-19 need it. Our government opened an oxygen plant a few days ago. Let’s see what comes out of it.
Your take on PPP
In this current covid-19, I feel the private industry has actually risen up. Obviously, we need to do a lot more, but we’ve started. There are certified private labs that do your test. There are some private hospitals that take covid-19 patients. So, the private sector needs to get up. We are doing so, but not all. We need to do a lot more. The government can’t do it on their own. More private hospitals need to come into this fight, get their certification from Lagos State and make sure that everything is fine. Even private equipment companies. I know there are things we are doing in the back burner in my company to bring in equipment and work with some government hospitals. Some other companies have started doing that too, but a lot more needs to be done.
When should you become worried about your health especially in this season?
Once you’ve gone out and you come home and you feel unwell, I would advise that you get tested to save yourself and your family members. Most likely, you may get it and recover, but think about the other person you might unknowingly infect who might not recover. You don’t want that on your conscience.
To every young lady out there
Whatever you need to succeed is in you. Whatever it is you choose to do, do it well. It’s not when somebody is seeing you or watching you, that is eye service, just ensure you do your work well. Be known in that field. Be known for what you do and do it well. When you do it well, people will come and recognize you in that field. Do it to the best of your ability. Don’t say it’s small, how much is the money? No. you will earn the money.
The little thing you find to do now, whatever level you are now, middle management, just out of university, whatever you find to do, do it to the best of your ability. You will be recognised there.
Greatest lesson of life
Time waits for no one. Whatever it is you find to do, do it now. Don’t wait. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Whatever you find to do, do it well and do it now.
