Online Clinic Yathu (OCLIYA)

We are committed to solving the problem of insufficient doctors and high medical costs in low-resource communities like where am coming from; Malawi in Africa.

Training more doctors is not the solution due to brain drain and neither is building more clinics. 

At Ocliya we are providing a third place between home and hospital where people can access healthcare remotely and virtually.

During COVID19 this is even more important. Patients are asked to isolate and be quarantined and using our platform patients are empowered. During pandemics as COVID19, patients will still be in contact with healthcare at a very minimal price. At the same time doctors are able to attend to more patients within a short time compared to physical clinics. This is a game changer as doctors meet on one place for patients.

People especially in Africa still experience lack of access to healthcare as the largest challenge. On a good note, there has been increase in mobile penetration in Africa in the last 5 years. In 2018 at some point more than 500 million Africans were online. Due to this factor, there has been a rise in mHealth startups trying to tap into this US$120 billion industry. There's over 330 million middle income Africans who face this challenge. 

As more Africans get online with more than 50% being the youthful population leaves us a chance to tap into this resource as the current healthcare system leaves a lot to be desired.

Our solution is simple. Online medical consultations and remote monitoring using technology.

We currently use our website to connect doctors to patients to do consultations and monitor them virtually. We are currently building a mobile application to supplement this process.

So a person goes on the website and clicks online consultation and it takes him to a place where he's linked to a doctor. The process usually lasts 5 mins. 

During COVID19 we are using it as a remote monitoring system as well during the quarantine. A person reports on the first day and is checked throughout the incubation period.

Our Target population is the 18-55 year olds who are in urban and semiurban cities of Malawi. They are employees and tech savvy. We engage them through feedback after accessing the service. This solution addresses their needs in that they are usually busy people and this provides a space where they can access fast and reliable healthcare at an affordable price. They don't have to spend hours in a queue at a hospital to have their medical needs met. This is their third place between home and the hospital.

This solution is closely aligned to health security and pandemics challenge. COVID19 has taught us that we shouldn't continue doing some things the way they have always been done. Offices closed, people are being asked to stay home and avoid crowded places like hospitals. But these people might have underlying medical conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and other non communicable diseases. This means more people are dying because they are cut off from healthcare.

All they need is that third place which we are provind at OCLIYA.

There is no company in Malawi that offers this third place of online medical consultations and remote monitoring space for patients and doctors to meet. Most African startups like doctor mom, vula mobile are condition specific and do not offer any preparedness to pandemics.

Our innovation is that we are integrating healthcare in one space. This is where we are leveraging technology to up the low human capital in the healthcare system. With remote (virtual) medical consultation and monitoring people are able to to have power in the decisions that affect their health.

As data is being processed across the spectrum we will be able to predict areas that are heavily hit by certain diseases and pandemics and thereby able to make informed choices. This is simple to do with Artificial intelligence.

The core technology is website and mobile application with Artificial intelligence for predicting cases.

We are not reinventing the wheel- through the web and mobile application we are bringing doctors on a space where patients can find them easily. After that data is collected we can use it to predict cases and different diseases which is crucial in epidemics and pandemics.

This technology works. In Africa it's still in infancy but that is why am here. In the West the list might be long like babyscripts platform in the US, doctorconnect in the UK which validates our point. Artificial intelligence has been used to predict different data mostly not in the medical field by the way. I completed a training on Artificial intelligence on Microsoft which part of it showed examples of using AI to predict cases like diabetes. 

Remote monitoring is usually combined with online consultations but at Ocliya we are treating it a separate entity because it is crucial especially in rare conditions like covid19.

Using our capital (and from this challenge) together with the human resource (doctors) we have created the third place between home and the hospital. Our clients are able to save time and money as much as 50% per transaction. Doctors on the platform are also able to earn extra income and find meaning as they are contributing to making a difference in the world. Due all of this we are able to reduce complications and deaths from patients. We are providing quality healthcare remotely at an affordable cost for everyone. Jobs are created for doctors and IT personnel.

Research has shown that up to 80% of cases can be managed virtually which is a great breakthrough. Our target population has shown increased awareness in their medical conditions which is great. With that they are able to take informed choices without heavily relying on the doctor.

 Pandemics will always come without notice and health systems that suffer most are those without enough data and medical preparedness. 

We are currently serving 2,500 people and we will be serving 10,000 in the next year.

Our goal is to serve 1,000,000 people in 5 years.

We would like to serve over 1 million people in 5 years and to be in over 5 countries. Our goal is to replicate it in African countries and part of Asia that has health challenges similar to Africa.

The overall goal is to make OCLIYA the one sufficient resource for healthcare in Africa. Think of us like the Amazon.com of healthcare in Africa.

Financial resource and technical support.

I have heard instances where people say money doesn't matter in business but that's not entirely true. Quoting one venture capitalist; he said money is an enabler and that's true. 

At OCLIYA we have been in operation for over 1 year but funds has been a challenge. Most things in our business plan are not yet in operation. OCLIYA has won major contests in Malawi all of them with 0 funding. I have represented Ocliya in Kenya and South Africa with 0 funds in return. We are still hoping for a breakthrough with that Proverbial home run of a startup.

Cultural barriers are not something to worry about because the similar technology has a profound impact in sectors like agriculture. 

Technical support will be hired if we cannot afford a free one. Funding shall be sought in contests and grants as we are building a sustainable business. We started with $1000 and we are still thriving. We are working on raising a funding round to boost our operations and make a product that is easily scalable. Our efforts to make the mobile application is still underway.

Full time : 8 people

Semicontracted: 30 people.

We have medical personnel, IT personnel and an accountant.

Emmanuel Chatina the founder is a Physical therapist and an intermediate web developer. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy and certificates in Business from Young African Leaders among others.

Dr. Grace Mzumara is a medical doctor and holds a Master's Degree in International Health from the University of Oxford. She has worked closely with consultant connect in the UK and at Skoll foundation.

Dr. Joel Kalua is a medical doctor with a Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Medicine. He has experience in medical expertise and management.

Raphael Kazidule has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Midwifery.

Peter Mwamlima has a Bachelor of Science in Laboratory sciences.

Juaoquinar Zulu is our accountant. She holds a Diploma.

Kenneth and Reuben hold Degree in Computer Engineering and Diploma in ICT Business respectively.

With these skills and expertise we are a killer team.

We working with Seedstars World (Switzerland) and Flame Tree Initiative (USA) for one year. We are also working with Digital opportunity Trust (Canada) in improving health outcomes of people using innovations.

We also partner with local clinics on patient referral.

Our business model is through subscriptions and commissions.

Those that deal with medical personnel at Ocliya pay through subscriptions while those that receive clients from us pay us commissions.

So we provide the online medical consultations and remote monitoring. Those that need physical sessions also get therapists from us.

So we provide these services through our website which we are on the way of adding mobile application to supplement and complement the website.

Our customers need our services because of their busy schedules and their habits. We provide them such convenience and affordable pricing.

The 18-55 year olds are our paying customers and the elderly and children are beneficiaries of this service.

We are embedded where we provide paying services for the clients and also free services for children as a social mission. On this side we depend on grants which we haven't received any till date but continue using the money in the paying section.

We are also working closely with other programs to raise our first round of investment. MIT might be our first if this application goes through.

I am applying to SOLVE to join this incredible supportive community of innovators, mentors and ecosystem builders. Coming from an African background which is booming in entrepreneurship and joining this wonderful community is very helpful. 

I am also applying to get access to mentorship from the mentors of this program. After that my attendance at Solve at MIT is also of importance. I would like to share my experiences as I learn from other leaders.

Finally but not least is to get access to these prize funding. Ocliya has been in operation for a year without funding and this is very timely. We bootstrapped and scrapped to get our initial $1000 and MIT's $10,000 will be highly appreciated on our way of raising $100,000.

We need partners to provide media exposure for our work and introduce us to people who really care about entrepreneurship. That's basically what happened to companies like Facebook.

We also would like help in our distribution methods that we should scale to other countries soon.

Funding as well. When we are introduced to other players at MIT as well we would be able to accomplish our goals.

MIT and solve members and basically everyone who really cares about entrepreneurship especially in Africa.

They can help us at OCLIYA to introduce us to investors, mentors and provide us with that funding if need be.

We are radically diverse, resilient and purpose driven.

I am an applicant from a tiny African country most people probably have never heard about. The country is Malawi neighbouring with Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania. It might be the first time this prize comes to this far part of the globe. But what is interesting is that now our challenges are global and we are part of a group of people providing solutions for that.

We are very purpose driven and resilient. I quit my job at age 23 and started this company. The journey has been rewarding in seeing how people access healthcare differently and innovatively. 

We are doing this to make a lasting impact on the continent. Our long term view is what makes us enjoy what we do as we are making the world a better place to live in.