What is the name of your solution?
Medtracka Mobile app
Provide a one-line summary of your solution.
Medvax Health is Nigeria’s first women-centric e-pharmacy that is leveraging AI-powered mobile app “Medtracka”, to ensure SRH commodity security.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Benin City, NigeriaIn what country is your solution team headquartered?
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
In Sub-Saharan Africa, about 47million women still have unmet need for contraception and family planning, as access to sexual and reproductive health products continues to be a public health challenge. In Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, the use of modern contraceptives is still comparatively low, and maternal mortality remains high.
Research has shown that a lot of barriers, ranging from political unwillingness, technical, supply chain and logistical difficulties, and even socio-cultural barriers, hinder young people from accessing a steady and uninterrupted supply of sexual and reproductive health information and products of their choice, at anytime of their choosing.
In May–July 2015, a qualitative study on experiences of contraceptive stockouts was conducted in two districts of Uganda. It comprised three data collection components: eight focus groups with 50 young women, 24 individual in-depth interviews with family planning
The result showed that contraceptives stockouts were common, particularly for long-term methods and oral contraceptives. For young girls and women, the consequences of unmet family planning needs can be serious, especially amongst adolescents, leading to unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and increased risks for morbidity and mortality, amongst others. Furthermore, teenage pregnancies can lead to school dropout, which diminishes the chances of girls finding employment opportunities later in life, continuing the poverty cycle.
The healthcare supply chains which are to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of sexual, reproductive and maternal health medications, vaccines, and other personal care products in low and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, are fraught with many problems, they are broken and fragmented, leading to the overall health system's inability to respond to the healthcare needs of the women and girls, putting sexual and reproductive health programs at risk.
Problems such as frequent stock outs of essential sexual and reproductive health products, increasingly high cost of products, infiltration of counterfeit and substandard products are all an offshoot of this single major problem.
Hence, accessing an extensive range of safe, effective and authentic sexual and reproductive health products such as medications, family planning, personal care & menstrual health products, HPV vaccination services, HIV Self-tests is needed for women and girls to attain their highest potentials. Our solution is rooted in the firm believe that improving access to quality sexual and reproductive healthcare for women and girls, is not a privilege but a fundamental human right, ultimately allowing women gain opportunities for equal participation and leadership in the frontlines of politics, public affairs and entrepreneurship.
The problem that our digital solution is addressing encompasses issues around availability, Cost, Quality, Equity and choice. The society in Sub-Saharan Africa has placed a lot of stigma around young women who actively go out, seeking for sexual health products such as contraceptives. The African society often perceives women who are sexually active outside of marriage as “wayward” or “loose”. This attitude often influences the health-seeking behavior of this population negatively, preventing them from accessing the needed services and products for fear of judgement. This is the problem our solution seeks to address.
What is your solution?
Launched in September 2022, Medvax health is bridging the sexual and reproductive healthcare gap for women and girls in rural and peri-urban communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, by making SRH education, services and products more accessible and affordable. We are leveraging the power of technology to digitize the sexual and reproductive health supply chain through our mobile application “Medtracka”.
Medtracka is a digital women-centric E-pharmacy mobile app, and one-stop shop for all sexual and reproductive health needs, for women and girls, ensuring access to affordable and uninterrupted supply of over 5,000 sexual health products.
With the Medtracka app, we are utilizing real-time data visibility, artificial intelligence and predictive data analysis, to predict demand and supply patterns of SRH products in our target communities, ultimately streamlining the SRH supply chain. Our approach is aimed at reducing frequent stockouts, counterfeiting and unnecessary price fluctuations, hence, improving access to SRH products for those who need them the most.
We’ve been able to achieve this, through our unique and re-designed SRH products supply chain model, where we procure our products directly from manufacturers/importers, eliminating the numerous and unnecessary middlemen, who often times cause delay in product delivery, compromise of product integrity, and even unnecessary price hikes and fluctuations. Through this, we’ve been able to achieve a significant 25% reduction in all our products.
Furthermore, most local retail pharmacies in Nigeria who serve as major distributors of sexual and reproductive products and information in low and middle income countries are siloed and fragmented, facing significant supply chain challenges, resulting in gross inefficiency. Some of the challenges they face range from insufficient funding, to poor logistics system, inability to leverage data and technology for supply chain efficiency, incapacity to stock a wide range of products at the same time, allowing patients access a wider range of contraceptive options.
With the Medtracka E-pharmacy for women, we have partnered with over 60 local well-stocked and licensed pharmacies, manufacturers and major distributors of authentic and quality medicines, vaccines and sexual health commodities in Nigeria to ensure uninterrupted supply of sexual health commodities for young women and girls especially those within the ages of 15 - 45.
Our “Medtracka App” also allows young women to book consultation services online with certified medical experts at the convenience of their homes. This service provides them with confidentiality and the room for anonymity if they do choose.
Our online peer-to-peer forum feature on the app allows our users to share their experiences, perspectives, build meaningful connections, become part of a thriving community and give and receive support to peers who need them the most.
Finally, we are aware of the sociocultural stigma women face in purchasing SRH products in Sub-Saharan Africa, where women especially the unmarried, are shamed, even by some healthcare workers for using contraceptives. Our discreet logistics delivery system, allows women to receive their products in concealed packages at any location of their choice, our subscription-based auto-delivery feature also allows for regular deliveries of essential products all through the year.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Our solution is tailored to meet the unique needs of young and middle-aged black women within 15-45years, in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly those residing in low-income, rural, and peri-urban communities. These individuals face significant challenges accessing high-quality sexual and reproductive health (SRH) commodities and services, perpetuating a cycle of unmet needs and adverse health outcomes.
The devastating impact of unmet SRH needs is staggering, with over 14 million women aged 15-45 experiencing unintended pregnancies annually in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. These pregnancies often lead to unsafe abortions, contributing to an estimated 202,000 deaths among young women each year. Adolescent pregnancies frequently result in school dropout, further promoting the cycle of poverty.
Stigmatization and decreased health-seeking behaviors compound these challenges. Many young women fear judgment for their sexual choices or family planning decisions, deterring them from accessing essential SRH commodities and services. Additionally, supply chain weaknesses, stockouts, and the high cost of SRH products and services pose significant barriers to access, with local facilities and pharmacies often lacking necessary products or offering prohibitively expensive options.
Medvax Health's Medtracka app seeks to address these challenges comprehensively. By leveraging AI technology, we connect young women with licensed pharmacies, facilitating the discreet delivery of SRH products to their doorsteps. Furthermore, our platform enables consultations with healthcare professionals, empowering users to make informed decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health.
The impact of our solution on the lives of our target population is profound. By offering discreet access to SRH services, we aim to reduce the stigma associated with seeking such care, thereby encouraging more young women to access the support they need. Additionally, our distribution network addresses supply chain issues, ensuring SRH products are readily available to those who need them most.
In addition, Medtracka provides cost-effective solutions, making SRH products and services accessible to women from all economic backgrounds. Through expert consultations with doctors and pharmacists, users can access personalized guidance, promoting informed decision-making and improving health outcomes.
Our solution ultimately aims to reduce the prevalence of unplanned pregnancies, thereby lowering the risks of unsafe abortions and related complications. By addressing maternal health issues and promoting access to safe and reliable SRH services, Medvax Health contributes to reducing maternal mortality rates in Sub-Saharan Africa.
By empowering young women to stay in school and access economic opportunities, we aim to break the cycle of poverty and foster gender equality. Through Medtracka, we are creating a future where all women and girls have the resources and support they need to thrive and lead healthy, fulfilling lives.
How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
My team and I are uniquely positioned to deliver this solution, because we have highly specialized and unique blend of expertise, at the intersection of sexual and reproductive public health, technology, pharmaceutical supply chain and logistics. We have a team consisting of 2 Pharmacists, a Medical Doctor and a technical team of Supply chain and logistics experts, and software developers.
We also bring in years of experience in tropical sexual and reproductive health, with our team lead Pharm (Dr.) Chioma Uzoma, who has over 4 years of experience in public health, implementing sexual and reproductive peer education programs across over 15 universities in Nigeria and has counseled and trained over 2,500 young peer educators in the areas of Adolescent health, STD/STIs prevention.
Closely working with our team lead is our head of operations/COO, Pharm(Dr.) Favour Ogedegbe who has worked as project coordinator in the past four years for The Medaccess Initiative For Africa (TMI Africa), in the Pad-A-Girl project, the flagship project of the women-centric NGO. She was responsible for the procurement and distribution of over 6,000 sanitary pads in the sub-region in the past 4 years. This project has positively impacted the lives of over 4,500 young girls in Edo State, Nigeria.
Our Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Valentina, A software developer with over 2years of hands-on experience in designing, developing, and maintaining web and mobile applications, with proficiency in multiple programming languages including Python, JavaScript, and Dart, with a strong emphasis on full-stack development.
Valentina is skilled in utilizing various frameworks and technologies such as React, Node.js, Flutter and Fast API to build scalable and efficient solutions, with a proven track record of successfully delivering projects on time and within budget, while maintaining high code quality and adhering to best practices. Valentina has Strong problem-solving abilities and a passion for tackling complex technical challenges, especially when it comes to health in Africa.
We recently emerged winners of the #4herpower challenge, a collaboration between the United Nations Population Fund, Organon and MIT Solve, allowing us deploy our solution to various states in Nigeria.
The competence and excellence of our team in project delivery has been tried and tested over and over again, and we have always proven ourselves at every chance.
We have gained both National and international recognition, most recently emerging 1st runner up at the Bechangemaker global social entrepreneurship competition in Dublin, Ireland, after competing against 567 teams from 85 countries.
This program which is one of the best incubator program in the world, provided our team the unique opportunity of undergoing a 3-month intensive training program with Worldskills and our mentors from HP.
We were trained on leveraging technology for impact, refining our business model and measuring social impact, and equipped as a team with the best skills needed to deliver our project.
The impact we have made in the past is a testament to our future impact, we truly believe in our vision and our mission for more efficient sexual and reproductive health service delivery in Africa.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Increase capacity and resilience of health systems, including workforce, supply chains, and other infrastructure.Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?
What is your solution’s stage of development?
GrowthWhy are you applying to Solve?
We are applying to Solve for the following reasons:
1) Access to Expertise: MIT Solve provides access to a diverse network of experts across various fields, including healthcare, technology, entrepreneurship, and social impact. By participating in Solve, Medvax health can tap into this ecosystem, to gain insights, receive feedback, and refine its solution to better meet the needs of its target audience.
2) Validation and Credibility: Being selected as a Solver by MIT Solve can enhance Medvax's credibility and validate the effectiveness and potential impact of its solution. This validation can be instrumental in attracting investors, partners, and customers who may be more inclined to support a solution recognized by a prestigious institution like MIT.
3) Networking Opportunities: Solve offers numerous networking opportunities, including mentorships, workshops, and events, where Medvax can connect with potential collaborators, investors, and mentors. Building relationships within the Solve community can open doors to valuable partnerships and resources that can help Medvax accelerate its growth and scale its impact.
4) Access to Funding: While financial support is just one aspect of Solve's offerings, it can significantly enhance the effectiveness of Medvax health. Medvax Health, a female-led healthtech startup in Nigeria, faces significant challenges in securing funding due to gender disparities in the investment sector. In 2022, Nigerian startups raised $142.8 million, but only $24.1 million went to female-led startups. This inequity limits women entrepreneurs access to capital, reducing their ability to scale and thrive in competitive startup markets. Without equitable funding, many promising ventures led by women will struggle to make a meaningful impact.
Solve connects Solver teams with partners who can provide both monetary and non-monetary support, including grants, investments, in-kind resources, and technical assistance. Securing funding through Solve can provide Medvax with the financial resources needed to further develop and scale its AI driven solution.
5) Global visibility and Exposure: Being associated with MIT Solve and its mission to tackle global challenges can increase Medvax's visibility and exposure on a global scale. This increased recognition can attract attention from potential users, collaborators, and stakeholders, helping Medvax reach a broader audience and amplify its impact.
Applying to MIT Solve offers Medvax benefits beyond financial support, including access to expertise, validation, mentorship, networking opportunities, funding, and recognition, all of which can contribute to the success and scalability of its healthcare solution, Medtracka.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
Who is the Team Lead for your solution?
Chioma Favour Uzoma
What makes your solution innovative?
Our solution stands out as we are leveraging a combined power of digital technology, Artificial Intelligence, sustainable business model and a unique supply chain operations to revolutionize access to sexual and reproductive healthcare for an underserved population of women and girls in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Firstly, our underpinning cutting-edge technology, leverages Artificial Intelligence and real time data visibility into our sexual and reproductive healthcare supply chain, facilitating swift access to quality healthcare products even to the last mile.
Secondly, our AI-driven data analytics can forecast sexual and reproductive health commodity needs, helping us maintain smart inventory, hence, avoiding stock outs of essential products on one hand and wastage of supplies from product expiry on the other hand.
With our web-based app and AI-powered app, we are providing remote telemedicine and sexual health digital consultation services, by utilizing chat bots to interact with young females, just like a friendly customer service representative, answering questions and helping with sexual health concerns, in a discreet way, without fear of judgment or criticism. We also ensure human team members to take over such cases when there’s a particularly challenging question, hence, enabling a more personalized communication. We also offer patients video chats with health professionals to meet their specialized needs.
This gives our users direct access to information on their family planning questions, empowering them to ask sensitive questions and learn about method choices without leaving their homes, making it easier for people to begin using a family planning method and can save them a trip to a provider until they are ready to make a decision.
We also directly connect customers with family planning products, allowing them to browse brands and prices from their mobile phones or computers and, depending on the method, have them delivered directly and discreetly to their homes. This direct connection can help family planning users overcome stockout challenges, provider stigma, or geographic barriers that limit their choices.
Relying on technology in this way is highly cost-effective, while enhancing the value proposition for customers, providing convenience and reducing transportation costs.
Our unique product procurement process has been designed in a way that allows us eliminate the long queue of third party suppliers which inadvertently increases the cost of these products to our end user.
Notably, our product integrates a barcode scanning feature to help customers to authenticate their products using a barcode scanner in our app, by doing this, we seeks to reduce the risk of substandard and counterfeit medicines and products in Africa.
Describe in simple terms how and why you expect your solution to have an impact on the problem.
Medvax Health’s unique approach in Digitizing the sexual and reproductive health supply chain for women and girls in Sub-Saharan Africa, has a huge positive long and short-term impact on the SRH supply chain problem which we have highlighted.
Theory of Change for Medtracka, Nigeria's E-Pharmacy:
1. App Development: we have developed the "Medtracka" mobile app with user-friendly features and interfaces to ensure ease of access to sexual reproductive health commodities and teleconsultations
2. Education and Information: we aim to create educational content within the app to inform young female adolescents about sexual and reproductive health.
3. Product catalog: We aim to establish a comprehensive product catalog that includes contraceptives, hygiene products, and other essential items.
4. AI-Powered Delivery: Implement an AI-powered last mile delivery system to optimize routes and schedules for discreet and efficient product delivery.
5. Streamlined SRH Supply chain: By leveraging predictive data analysis, we are able to predict and forecast product demand, hence greatly reducing SRH product stockouts and improving SRH supply chain efficiency.
Short-Term Outcomes:
1. Increased Awareness: Women and girls gain access to accurate, evidence- based information about sexual and reproductive health, leading to increased awareness and knowledge.
2.Access to Products: Users can easily browse, order, and receive sexual and reproductive health products discreetly, ensuring uninterrupted supply of essential products, while maintaining privacy and discretion.
3. Reduced Stigma: By offering discreet delivery, Medtracka helps reduce the stigma associated with purchasing these products in traditional settings.
4. Improved Decision-Making: Empowerment through information leads to improved decision-making, enabling young women to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health.
5. Efficient Delivery: The AI-powered delivery system ensures timely and reliable access to products, reducing wait times.
Long-Term Outcomes:
1. Healthier Lives: With improved access to products and information, young women can take control of their sexual and reproductive health, leading to healthier lives.
2. Reduced Unintended Pregnancies: Informed choices about contraception lead to a reduction in unintended pregnancies.
3. Lower STI Rates: Increased access to protective products results in lower rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
4. Empowerment and Gender Equality: Young women are empowered to take charge of their lives, contributing to increased gender equality in society.
5. Community Benefits: A healthier and more informed population can result in reduced healthcare costs and societal benefits.
Supporting Evidence:
a. Third-party research shows that access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and products reduces risky behaviors among young women
(Source: https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-020-00937-4).
b. Findings from similar e-pharmacy models in other countries shows that discreet delivery of SRH products improved self-confidence and informed decision-making among young women (Source:
c. Research shows that interviews with the target population (women with the age range of 15-29 years) indicates a desire for more accessible sexual and reproductive health resources (Source:
d. Evaluation studies on similar interventions in other countries have shown a decrease in unintended pregnancies and STIs (Source:
f. Research also shows that there is a reduction in demand for emergency contraceptive services for people using e-pharmacy models which indicates a positive shift in behavior
What are your impact goals for your solution and how are you measuring your progress towards them?
Our impact goals include
1. Enhance Accessibility to SRH Commodities and Services: Our startup secured a grant from the Worldskills and HP foundation through the Bechangemaker competition, which supports tech-driven community change. With this funding, we aim to expand our reach and provide telemedicine and SRH products to 100,000 young women in Nigeria in the next year.
Strategies:
a. Using our Medtracka app users get easy access to 5,000+ affordable SRH products with doorstep delivery.
b. Strengthen partnerships with local healthcare providers in 5 cities and then expand to other Sub-Saharan Counties
c. Improve inventory management using data analytics to prevent product shortages and streamline supply chains.
2. Reduce Stigmatization and Discrimination: Our mission is to reduce stigma and discrimination against young women (ages 15-29) seeking SRH services and products in Nigeria.
Strategies:
a. Launch initiatives within the Medtracka app promoting gender equality and women's empowerment.
b. Collaborate with NGOs for community awareness and empowerment campaigns that address stereotypes and promote self-empowerment.
3. *Providing Accurate SRH Information and Anonymity:* Improve in-app educational resources so at least 80% of users find the information accurate and reliable.
Strategies:
a. Enhance the app's educational content, ensuring it is comprehensive and up-to-date.
b. Implement features in the app that protect user privacy and offer confidential consultation services.
c. Establish online forums or chat support within the app for users to connect, share experiences, and seek information.
Our goals for the next five years and strategies for achieving them includes:
1. Expansion and Outreach: In the next five years, we aim to expand Medtracka's services to cover 500,000 young women in Nigeria and expand to 2 other Sub-Saharan African countries with similar socioeconomic contexts.
Strategies:
a. We will achieve this by continuing to build partnerships with local pharmacies and healthcare facilities, expanding to more cities, rural communities in Nigeria and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa
b. We will Invest in marketing and outreach campaigns to raise awareness about Medtracka in new regions.
c. We know that the Medtracka model might evolve differently in other countries. We will investigate regulatory requirements and potential challenges in the new target country and make necessary adaptations.
2. Advocacy and Policy Change: Advocating for policy changes that support women's access to SRH commodities and services while reducing stigma and discrimination against women is one of our top priorities
Strategies:
a. We will collaborate and build relationships with government officials and policymakers to influence decision-making in healthcare policies and regulations.
b. We will also continue to engage in public awareness campaigns about the importance of sexual and reproductive health rights.
3. Sustainability and Scalability:
Our goal is to guarantee Medtracka's long-term viability and scalability.
Our strategies includes:
a. Securing additional funding or investments to support expansion and innovation.
b. Encourage a robust internal culture of creativity and flexibility to successfully negotiate the changing healthcare environment
Describe the core technology that powers your solution.
The core technology that powers our mobile application and supply chain operations, is Artificial intelligence, which we are leveraging to address challenges, to ensure improved access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) products, services and information, and in rural and peri-urban communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. This technology enables us to:
1. Forecast demand and supply patterns of SRH products: Our operation utilizes AI algorithms, to analyze data from various sources, including historical consumption patterns, demographic data, and healthcare facility records, and forecast the demand for SRH products accurately. This helps prevent stockouts and overstocking, ensuring that essential products are available when needed.
2. Inventory Management: Our solution leverages AI to optimize inventory levels by continuously analyzing demand patterns and adjusting stock levels accordingly. This ensures that healthcare facilities have an adequate supply of SRH products while minimizing excess inventory and associated costs.
3. SRH Supply Chain Visibility: The SRH supply chain in Nigeria is siloed and fragmented, leading to inefficiencies and waste. We utilize AI-powered tools to provide real-time visibility into the entire supply chain, allowing us track the movement of SRH products from manufacturers to end-users. This transparency helps identify potential challenges, including infiltration of substandard and counterfeit SRH products into the supply chain, amongst others.
4. Climate-Friendly solution: As part of our efforts to ensure environmental sustainability, we have incorporated innovative eco-friendly practices into our packaging operations. Here's how Medvax Health implements these eco-friendly practices:
a. Eco-Friendly Carrier Bags: Our eco-friendly carrier bags made from sustainable materials such as recycled paper or biodegradable plastics are designed to minimize environmental impact and reduce reliance on single-use plastics, contributing to the company's efforts to minimizing plastic pollution and supporting a circular economy.
b. Packaging Refill Program: To further minimize waste and encourage sustainable consumption, Medvax Health implements a packaging refill program. Users are encouraged to return their empty packaging, such as medication bottles or product containers, to designated collection points. Once collected, the returned packaging is sent to recycling companies specializing in processing and repurposing recyclable materials. These companies utilize advanced recycling technologies to sort, clean, and process the packaging materials for reuse.
5. Accessible SRH education and Counselling: We are integrating AI Chatbots and NLP/LLM Bots for Health Literacy Improvement especially for woman and girls in rural and peri-urban communities:
Medvax Health is integrating AI-driven chatbots, as well as Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLM) bots, to enhance health literacy and communication with users from rural communities. Our AI-powered chatbots provide round-the-clock support to users, answering common non-medical sexual related health questions, providing educational resources, and guiding users towards appropriate healthcare services in several local African languages.
Our AI-driven chatbots deliver personalized health education content, interactive quizzes, and informational resources to improve users understanding of sexual reproductive health enabling them make informed decisions about their health. Language Accessibility: NLP and LLM bots enable Medtracka to communicate with users in their preferred language, overcoming language barriers and improving accessibility for diverse populations.
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new business model or process that relies on technology to be successful
Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:
If your solution has a website or an app, provide the links here:
1) https://www.instagram.com/medvax_health?igsh=MXBjaG9hcGJobTJvbA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 2) https://medvaxhealth.com/
In which countries do you currently operate?
How many people work on your solution team?
For our solution, we have a total of 12 team members working on our solution:
1) Full-time: We have 5 Full-time Staff, including our CEO, CTO and COO and 2 software engineers.
2) Part-time: We have 4 Part-time staff including external developers and software engineers
3) Interns: We currently have 3 intern working on our team
How long have you been working on your solution?
Since our launch in 2022, our team has tirelessly worked on developing and refining our sexual and reproductive healthcare supply chain solution. Over the course of the past two years, we have dedicated ourselves to understanding the complexities of the supply chain landscape in sub-Saharan Africa, identifying pain points, and innovating to provide effective solutions. Through rigorous research, collaboration, and iteration, we have continuously evolved our solution to meet the dynamic needs of the industry. As we celebrate our journey thus far, we remain committed to advancing our solution to empower businesses and optimize supply chain operations for years to come.
Tell us about how you ensure that your team is diverse, minimizes barriers to opportunity for staff, and provides a welcoming and inclusive environment for all team members.
We are deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our leadership team consists of individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, including women leaders who are passionate about addressing the unique healthcare needs of young women in sub-Saharan Africa. We believe in creating a work environment that embraces diversity so as to create workplace harmony and as a result improve work outcome capability. We also believe that diversity in leadership is essential to understand and cater to the needs of our diverse user base.
Our team's goals for becoming more diverse, equitable, and inclusive are multifaceted. We are actively working on the following actions:
1. Hiring of Employees: We actively seek diverse talent to join our team. Having an inclusive and diverse environment allows more wider perspectives to be integrated when brainstorming, problem solving and developing new ideas that ensures that we have a workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We will also be implementing blind recruitment practices and offering training on unconscious bias to eliminate barriers.
2. Embrace inclusivity in app development: The unique demands of young women in sub-Saharan Africa are the focus of our product's design. To guarantee that their opinions are heard and that their particular needs are satisfied, we actively involve them in the design and development process by performing user research through surveys, interviews, and observations to learn about their needs, preferences, and challenges in accessing sexual reproductive health commodities and services
3. Embrace Cultural Sensitivity: We are developing a workforce that is not only comprised of, but values, employees from different cultures. We are also committed to understanding and respecting the cultural and identity-based attributes of our users. Our content and services are tailored to be culturally sensitive and respectful.
4. Ensuring Accessibility: We are striving to ensure equitable access to our services for all members of the community, including those with disabilities. Our app will be designed to be accessible and easy to use for a wide range of users guaranteeing that everyone who uses our product can perceive it, operate, comprehend it, and find it robust.
5. Eliminating inequalities in accessing Healthcare: We recognize that sexual and reproductive health disparities exist in sub-Saharan Africa. Medtracka actively works to address these disparities and provides education and resources to marginalized groups.
6. Ensuring Community Engagement: Inclusion is a top priority for us. We actively engage with the community, listen to their feedback, and adjust our services to meet their needs. We create environments where all members are welcomed, respected, supported, and valued.
7. Getting Feedback: We have established feedback mechanisms within our app to allow users to report any issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This feedback is taken seriously, and we take prompt actions to address any concerns.
What is your business model?
Our business model combines so many components to achieve our robust financial goals. We are first a B2C company, offering a diverse range of quality and safe sexual health products and services which range from consultation, education programs and drives especially among vulnerable populations in sub-Saharan Africa.
Our major revenue sources include: Sales of products, mobile app subscription, ads on website, data analytics insights provided to manufacturers and logistics fees for those who would prefer to order our products discreetly using our last mile delivery solution rather than pay a visit to a mortar and brick pharmacy.
Sales from these products both online and offline is done by applying various sales strategies within the company.
By utilizing influencer marketing, social media marketing and sales funnels, we are ensuring that our sales team, meet our current daily sales target of 800$ which we hope to get to 2,000$ daily within the next 6months.
Also, our mobile app operates a subscription-based model, consisting of three major plans, Freemium, basic and premium, depending on the financial capacity of the customer.
FREEMIUM allows our customers with very little means to afford a monthly subscription fee, to still enjoy some benefits of our platform. This plan allows them access to our community of women and young girls, providing them with a robust peer-to-peer community to learn, support and get answers to their burning questions. This online community is being managed by our community manager, Nurse Goldie, who is a registered Nurse and helps to direct the conversations on the platform to avoid misinformation.
Although, members who make use of this free subscription do not have access to personalized consultations with seasoned sexual and reproductive health doctors and experts, they are able to order an extensive range of over 5,000 essential sexual and reproductive health products.
Our final subscription model is the premium model, this allows users to have at least 8 personalized consultations with our experts including a 25% discount on delivery.
In coming months we hope to raise more revenue to expand into the B2B market, supplying products directly from manufacturers to other local pharmacies and community patent medicine shops situated especially within rural regions to improve access of these products.
Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?
Individual consumers or stakeholders (B2C)What is your plan for becoming financially sustainable, and what evidence can you provide that this plan has been successful so far?
For financial sustainability for a business as ours, we have a created a strategic financial map to become financially sustainable to ensure consistent revenue in funding our work. Some of our key strategies which we have already been implementing since our launch includes, Booststrapping, crowdfunding, joining multiple accelerator and incubator programs, raising funds through gender-lens focused venture capitalists, selling our products through our online channels, referral programs, affiliate marketing programs, partnerships with international organizations and Government-owned health facilities and private health facilities.
1) Grants from incubator and accelerator programs: As an early stage startup, this is one of our key strategies for achieving financial sustainability, we have been a part of a few of them and we recently emerged won the Global Bechangemaker Social entrepreneurship competition in Dublin, Ireland. This came after an intensive competition round that saw us through 567 teams from 86 countries globally, eventually taking second place. This earned us the much-needed mentorship to help upgrade our business operations, networking opportunity, and an immersive learning experience, with accompanying capital to further expand our operations. We have raised $22,000USD in grants from the the United Nations Population Fund and Bechangemaker Grant. Eventhough, which has helped us get to where we are currently.
2) Revenue From Product Sales: Our subscription models also help us to provide subscription-based services, we are looking at hitting 5,000 subscribers within the next 3 months.
Sales of our other pharmaceutical products is a major revenue source, over-the-counter products, contraceptives, and our extensive range of sexual and reproductive health products. We hope to scale and expand our product offerings even more, in coming months.
We have consistently maintained a monthly revenue stream of $800USD since launching our mobile application, through product sales and commissions.
3) We are also leveraging the need for data insights by pharmaceutical manufacturers and companies who require data for research and to inform their procurement decisions. Exchanging these data for fee is also a revenue source, enable accurate forecasting of product demand and supply.
4) Logistics Revenue: We are optimizing our logistics operations and system for profitability, we are ensuring that our logistics bikes serve other businesses when not actively delivering orders to our customers. This way, we are able to maximize our revenue sources.
5) Venture Capital Funding: Within the next two years post-operation, we are looking at raising our series A funding from both international and African-focused venture capitalists firms such as Y-combinator. We believe that the exponential growth that comes from being venture-backed will be greatly beneficial in ensuring our financial sustainability.
Above all, we proritize building a strong brand, strong and aggressive marketing channels and offering quality products and excellent service delivery. By regularly evaluating market trend, our products, receiving customers feedback and criticism, adjusting our strategies and engaging the philosophy of lean startup, which involves applying the most cost-effective approach for running daily business operations, we believe that without a doubt, our financial sustainability is sure.
Solution Team
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