MamaPrime

Problem:
WHO approximates that 40 million mothers give birth each year without any help from a midwife, a situation that is closely linked to the fact that we loose one million newborns every year within the first 24 hours of their lives. WHO suggests, to prevent newborn and maternal deaths, it is essential to provide quality health services at labour, delivery, and immediately afterwards when the risks are greatest. 

Solution:
MamaPrime enables a mother (her family/friends) pay for pre-natal, delivery and post-natal care in unlimited flexible installments throughout the mother's pregnancy journey, a situation that ensures a mother is able to get quality maternal medical care throughout her pregnancy journey.

Scalability:
Enabling mothers pay for maternity in installments, will ensure mothers are able to access quality maternal healthcare, attend all clinics as per WHO recommendations, a situation that greatly reduces neonatal & maternal mortality. 

Problem: 

According to UNICEF 2015 Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) report, neonatal & maternal mortality remains one of the world’s most critical challenges despite significant progress over the past decade. Although maternal deaths worldwide have decreased by 45% since 1990, 800 women still die each day from largely preventable causes before, during, and after the time of giving birth. One million newborns also die every year within the first 24 hours of their lives. 99% of preventable maternal deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. 

According to WHO the major complications that account for nearly 75% of all maternal deaths include: severe bleeding (mostly bleeding after childbirth), infections (usually after childbirth),high blood pressure during pregnancy (pre-eclampsia and eclampsia), complications from non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and complications during delivery. Neonatal & maternal deaths arising from these situations are preventable if the mother had access to quality affordable maternal medical care throughout her entire pregnancy journey; pre-natal, delivery and post-natal care. 

All this is on the background that only 3% of Africans have an insurance cover and have to pay for the medical expenses out-of-pocket. This situation sometimes forces mothers not to attend the required clinics and/or give birth at home.

MamaPrime is a flexible, automated financial planning platform where pregnant mothers and their friends/family can make flexible piecemeal payments that go towards meeting the cost of their pre-natal, delivery, post-natal care and child wellness programme. MamaPrime provides a targeted financial planning facility that enables pregnant mothers and their friends/family to own the process and plan for their maternal journey.

With MamaPrime, mothers are able to select a hospital of their choice via our USSD (*384*67#) and start making piecemeal payments towards their preferred package i.e. pre-natal clinics, delivery & post-natal care. Payments are done majorly via mobile-money (M-pesa) or card and a receipt code is issued upon complete payment, which the mother presents to the hospital. The piecemeal payment has NO additional cost whatsoever.

Our system uses USSD, thus making it available to all, whether one has a smart phone or not. The mother incurs no extra cost on as using the USSD is free and all payments are made by mobile money, at no additional cost to the mother. 

The primary target for our product is low & middle income families in Kenya (where we are currently based) and across other 3rd world countries, especially in Africa. Most of these households earn approximately between $100 and $450. Coupled up with other responsibilities, most of these households do not have the ability to afford medical insurance and quality maternal medical care as a one-off cost.  

These families however have an income, some regular & irregular, a situation that enables them set some money aside towards their maternity. We tested and verified this with our pilot study in partnership with Jacaranda Maternity, one of our hospital partners. 

MamaPrime therefore gives mothers a chance to choose their preferred hospital based on preference, their budget and locality, and start making piece-meal payments that cater for the maternal medical expenses in their preferred facility. They are able to make payments of any amount throughout their journey, and ask for help (if need be) from their family/friends. This puts their mind at ease as the financial burden has been alleviated or removed completely.  

As MamaPrime, we seek to lower the financial barrier that stops mothers from accessing quality medical care by enabling mothers/their family/friends make piecemeal payments towards their pre-natal, delivery & post-natal care. 

For most mothers, the high one-off cost incurred during pre-natal visits & delivery largely determine how many clinics she will attend and which hospital she will deliver her baby. Partnering with credible hospitals and allowing her to make piecemeal payments however enables her make piecemeal payments and access all services as recommended by WHO and her doctor. This leads to reduces neo-natal & maternal mortality.

Lay-by payments hasn't existed as a concept in Africa, and let alone for lay-by payments for healthcare. This is mostly because of lack of technical know-how of how to automate the payment especially with the limited number of people using debit/credit card payments. We however found out a way of building our innovation on the existing mobile money and USSD technologies. This has enabled us reach all mothers even those with a feature phone, made making payments easy, seamless and immediate, a situation that makes the solution unique & scalable.  

The closest competitor we have is the different insurance covers available. While our solutions seek to primarily do the same thing, the unused funds in insurance covers 'disappears' while with us all unused finances are rolled over to the individual's health wallet. With our product also, mothers are able to get help from friends/family throughout their pregnancy, a feature not available in insurance covers. 

Our innovation runs on the following technologies:

Mobile-money
Mobile money penetration in Kenya has enabled mothers effectively make piece-meal payments anywhere, anytime without having to necessarily visit the hospital.

USSD
The USSD feature has enabled us have the feature on any phone, making the solution available to all mothers across the entire social divide. 

Web-application
The hospital and the administrator of the system have access to the system via a web application from where they are able to see all payments being done, all expected delivery dates (EDDs) of the mothers. This enables them do an appropriate follow-up on clinics attended.

Mobile money (M-pesa) is used in Kenya for all services across different industries. It enables one send money to another, pay for utility bills and pay for services rendered. M-pesa services are available throughout the country. 

We were also able to do a pilot study with Jacaranda Maternity of mothers paying for their delivery in installments before we fully rolled out the product and we had 72 mothers registering with the first one month. 

By enabling mothers pay for their maternity in flexible installments, we enable them access quality maternal medical care in throughout their journey in facilities they wouldn't have previously accessed due to cost limitations. 

As stated above, results we got from the pilot study we had with Jacaranda Maternity with 72 mothers suggest that there is need for the product and the product is being well received by the targeted mothers and families. 

* healthcare touch points includes small clinics, chemists and pharmacies

Current
Number of customers: 564

Hospital partners: 6

Healthcare touch points: 20

One-year projection

Number of customers: 

Hospital partners: 30

Healthcare touch points: 

5 yr projection:

Number of customers: 1,500,000

Hospital partners: 100

Healthcare touch points: 250

In the next 5 years, we intend to:

- increase the number of hospital partners & heathcare touchpoints we have to 100 hospital partners and 350 healthcare touchpoints.

- increased the number of mothers on our platform to 1,500,000 mothers 

- increases the number of mothers/families who know about the product by 40% per year through hospital interactions, field visits and social media education & marketing.

- have the product to at least another 2 African countries

- Financial 

We would need to heavily invest in marketing and customer education as our product and the entire lay-by system for healthcare is largely unknown and previously unused as a payment model in Kenya. 

-Market barriers

Moving to a different country will force us to learn and adopt our platform to how the healthcare system in that country works, this may prove a challenge which we will have to overcome  

- Partnerships

Looking for strategic partners will enable us move to different locations on Kenya and other African countries without much hustle as the partner is already an expert and an industry leader in that area. 

- Source for financing

Having finances will give us the required money to advertise both at local level and on mainstream media allowing us to reach a huge number of people within a short time frame.

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Our team comprises of the following workforce:

Full-time staff: 8, 4 of whom are women

contractual workers: 37 hospital and field agents

Our team comprises of experts from different backgrounds which builds to our pool of expertise.

Anne Chege, CEO has a Masters Development Communication with 3.5 years expertise in healthcare and healthcare communication. 

Moses Gathecha with a degree in Software Engineering and 5 years of expertise in IT and software programming, runs our IT department.

Sharon Shivuli is a professional nurse & doula, and has expertise is midwifery. She heads the health department and ensures our product benefits the mother & child as the end-users.

Paul Theceri, with a degree in Actuarial Science and 3 expertise in health having worked in finance-insurance runs our finance department.

Richard Machomba heads our partnership department and is also the CEO of Flexpay Technologies. 

Dennis Karanu, with a Bachelor in Commerce (Marketing option) and 5 years of Marketing and Branding expertise runs our Marketing department.

We have currently partnered with Flexpay Technologies as the providers of the IT system and platform (They are also shareholders of MamaPrime). 

We are currently in talks with Pharm Access Foundation for a partnership that enables their different clients for a product they run (MomCare) to pay for delivery in installments through MamaPrime. This partnership will enable have a wider reach for our product. 

Target Market/Segment:
- Hospitals
As we provide hospitals a chance to access a higher number of mothers they wouldn't previously have had access to due to cost inhibitions, and a surety that once a mother starts payment towards their facility, the mother will, unless in cases of emergency, deliver in that hospital, we charge the hospital a commission, for all mothers who use our platform. The information of mothers paying, the amount of money paid, the expected delivery date, is present on the hospital front of the application and is visible at anytime. This commission is between 5% & 10%

To reach hospital partners, we organize we have social media adverts and we also organize for one-on-one meetings with them. 

- Mothers
To avoid increasing maternity costs to the mother, this service is entirely free for the mother; from the use of the USSD, to all mobile money transactions. But since we only remit the money to hospital after the mother has delivered and consequently been discharged, we are able to get an interest on the money the mother has been paying from the holding escrow bank at the rate of 9% per annum. 

We reach mothers through field visits, hospital/clinic visits and social media marketing.

We are able to measure our market reach by the number of new and unique people who dial our USSD code per month, and our social impact by the number of mothers whom we have enlisted on the platform.

In the short run, we intend to apply for funding, donation and grants which will help us in effective marketing to get the product known, in development and maintenance of systems and overall operation costs. 

In the long-run however, the intend to generate enough revenue through the commission earned from the hospital and bank interests to cover our expenses and grow as well.

Solve will gives us a platform to interact with other entrepreneurs thus streamlining our business model and learn from them and the experts as well on how to effectively market and run a social entrepreneurship. 
  
Solve will also help us source for financing or look for partners who can help us know how to do it effectively with the resources we have as we grow to different part of Kenya, to other African countries and other 3rd World Countries throughout the world.

Being a start-up, our business model keeps growing and changing. Help from an expert on how to effectively define our business model as we grow and scale would ensure we are growing effectively.

Help in marketing, media and exposure, will be an huge plus in getting our product known and adopted by mothers throughout. 

Help with funding will ensure we have finances that go towards meeting our financial liabilities as well as growth. 

Among many other organizations we would love to collaborate with, we would like to work with CareMother who are seeking to help ensure mothers have safer Ante-natal care for safer pregnancies. We would want to borrow from their expertise and improve on our payment plan idea.

In line with the needs and wants of supports technology-focused projects that advance the needs of women and girls, our solution seeks to improve maternal and newborn health in low- and middle-income countries, by enabling mothers and their families pay for pre-natal, delivery and child wellness care in installments throughout their entire pregnancy journey.  Through our USSD (which is free to use for the end- user) the mother is able to choose a hospital they want and can afford from our partner hospitals and start making piece-meal payments towards that particular hospital. Currently we have partnered with 6 hospitals, which have a total of 14 branches throughout the country from which a mother can choose from. 

The mother is able to make price-meal payments at NO extra cost and get  a receipt which they present to the cashier when they visit the hospital for their care. 

As we do not charge the mother at all, we ensure sustainability by getting a commission of between 6% to 10% from the hospitals we have partnered with as well as bank interests at the rate of 9% per annum.  

We currently have 564 mothers on the platform, and have transacted $51,206. 

Mothers on our platform receive regular sms reminders to make payment and to attend their clinics. This also works to ensure the life of the mother & child is well taken care of. 

In line with the needs and wants of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, our solution seeks to improve maternal and newborn health in low- and middle-income countries, by enabling mothers and their families pay for pre-natal, delivery and child wellness care in installments throughout their entire pregnancy journey.

Through our USSD (which is free to use for the end- user) the mother is able to choose a hospital they want and can afford from our partner hospitals and start making piece-meal payments towards that particular hospital. Currently we have partnered with 6 hospitals, which have a total of 14 branches throughout the country from which a mother can choose from.

The mother is able to make price-meal payments at NO extra cost and get  a receipt which they present to the cashier when they visit the hospital for their care. 

As we do not charge the mother at all, we ensure sustainability by getting a commission of between 6% to 10% from the hospitals we have partnered with as well as bank interests at the rate of 9% per annum.  

We currently have 564 mothers on the platform, and have transacted $51,206. 

Mothers on our platform receive regular sms reminders to make payment and to attend their clinics. This also works to ensure the life of the mother & child is well taken care of.