Nigeria: e-health startup Mobicure wins $100,000 Expo Live grant
Nigerian e-health startup Mobicure wins Expo Live grant.
Nigerian e-health startup Mobicure has been awarded an Expo Live grant from organisers of the next World Expo, being held in Dubai in 2020, for its child focused application called OMOMI. The app helps expectant mothers and parents of children under the age of five to monitor the well being of their children from home.
Mobicure was one of 16 global startups selected as a part of the World Expo Innovation Impact Grant Programme, where the winners will receive a grant of up to US$100,000 per initiative, which will be made available incrementally depending on progress and results, according to a report by Disrupt Africa.
Mobicure’s platform, OMOMI, is a mobile platform that at the touch of a button enables mothers to easily monitor their children’s health, as well as provides access to life-saving maternal and child health information plus medical expertise.
The service was launched in Benin City in 2015 and has so far amassed 31,000 users with over 4,000 active users monthly and there has been a 450% increase in user engagement over the last 9 months.
The funding from the Expo Live programme will help it reach even more families.
Owobu Emmanuel Osayi, a doctor and co-founder of OMOMI, said the service was inspired by painful memories.
“While I was a medical doctor, I had a very painful experience. A young mother came into the emergency room crying and holding a baby. Looking at the baby, I knew he was severely dehydrated, and looking into his history, I saw he had been suffering from diarrhoea for some time, so I asked the mother why she took so long to bring him into the hospital. She said she thought she could wait until the morning.” Though attempts were made to resuscitate the baby and give him fluids, he eventually died, revealed Osayi.
“The mother, crying, picked up her phone and called her family members. I asked her why she hadn’t used her phone to get information or help online, and she said she didn’t know how; she didn’t have a platform to help her do that. A few months later a friend called and told me about a very similar situation. We talked and decided we needed to find a solution,” concluded Osayi.
He said the Expo Live grant would help Mobicure further build on the OMOMI platform, providing more features and health information, as well as bring it to the attention of more parents in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Edited by Dean Workman
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