HSAs for African MSMEs
Clafiya is solving for the inequity MSMEs face while paying for the healthcare of their employees and their families.
There are 41 Million MSMEs in Nigeria of which 5% have access to health insurance. This is due to cost, small size of business that disqualifies them from health insurance, and lack of understanding of health insurance. As such, MSMEs struggle to build and retain a health workforce that has downstream affects on the business 1.) reduced productivity when an employee falls sick, high attrition rate, reduced revenue which could lead to bankruptcy.
MSMEs need a alternative that is affordable, flexible and convenient to pay and provide healthcare for the employees.
Clafiya - a Nigerian based digital healthcare startup changing the way individuals and businesses access, receive and pay for primary healthcare services in Africa. We do this by connecting our customers to licensed health practitioners to provide on demand hybrid primary care services; and for continuum of care, refer to partners in our trusted network through their mobile phones
Our customers have access to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) where they they can save and provide healthcare for their employees. They have flexibility on the occurrence of deposits and the money never expires (meaning its always there for their employees to use). Additionally, the funds are invested in high yielding vehicles that allow them to earn more money and generate wealth overtime. Finally, we leverage AI to help build credit worthiness so that they can have access to credit and loans for their businesses.
Clafiya's solution serves MSMEs in semi formal and informal settings. They are largely underserved because Health Insurance companies in Nigeria do not offer products that are suitable for MSMEs who dont have steady monthly income to afford health insurance. Additionally, they are excluded due to the number of employees they have.
With Clafiya, MSMEs are not restricted due to size and monthly revenue. They can save any amount at any time and pace in their HSAs
Clafiya is a women led start up with over 40 years of experience across healthcare, tech, engineering and sales/marketing. We have all been impacted by the inability of accessing timely primary healthcare services and passionate about addressing the healthcare disparities and social challenges faced by underserved communities.
Jennie Nwokoye (Founder & CEO): Jennie Nwokoye is a seasoned systems engineer and a visionary entrepreneur. With over 9 years of experience working at major tech companies, management consulting firms, and the US Federal Government, Jennie brings a wealth of technical knowledge and business acumen to the table. Holding a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science and a Minor in Anthropology from the University of South Florida, a Master of Forensic Science from Stevenson University, and a Master of Science in Systems Engineering from Georgetown University,
Nnenna West (Head of Operations): Experienced operations and marketing professional with over 7 years experience in business development, marketing and distribution of pharmaceutical products.
Yewande Maborukoje (Product Marketer/Growth Lead): Licesnced Pharmacist with 15 years of experience marketing with big pharma companies such as Roche and Medplus.
Goodness Ehizode (Product Manager): 5 years of experience leading product development in the education and finance industry.
Clafiya is inspired by Jennie Nwokoye's experience living in Nigeria as a child for 6 year. It was then she experienced first hand the challenges of accessing healthcare with her family. 10 years later, she visited Nigeria every year and realized the same challenges experienced 10 years ago had either stayed the same or gotten worse.
The team spent 1259 hours doing customer discovery with 126 MSMEs in Nigeria. Additionally, we co created the product with them by allowing them to be our beta testers every step of the way.
Also as business own herself building a company in Nigeria, these are the challenges she experiences herself.
- Make it easier and more affordable for individuals and MSMEs to make investments and transfer payments, across geographies and across different types of platforms
- Nigeria
- United States
- Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model that is rolled out in one or more communities
- 225 paying MSMEs paying for healthcare needs of their employees and families (1,567 combined)
We are a social enterprise focused on improving access to healthcare for MSMEs in Africa. Our innovative solution involves providing health savings wallets to MSMEs to enable them to provide affordable and quality healthcare to their employees.
However, we are facing significant financial, technical, legal, and cultural barriers that are preventing us from fully implementing and scaling our solution. One of the primary financial barriers we face is the lack of funding to cover the costs of developing and implementing the health savings wallet platform. We need financial support to invest in the necessary technology, equipment, and infrastructure, as well as to conduct outreach and education to MSMEs to raise awareness of the benefits of the health savings wallet.
Additionally, we recognize that MSMEs may face technical challenges in adopting the health savings wallet, such as limited access to digital technology or internet connectivity. We may need technical support to adapt our platform to accommodate these challenges and ensure that our solution is accessible to all MSMEs, regardless of their technological capabilities.
We are hoping that the program can help us connect with partners who can provide us with both monetary and non-monetary support to overcome these barriers. With the right support and resources, we believe that our solution has the potential to make a significant impact on improving access to healthcare for MSMEs in Africa and positively impacting the lives of their employees.
- Financial (e.g. accounting practices, pitching to investors)
- Product / Service Distribution (e.g. delivery, logistics, expanding client base)
- Public Relations (e.g. branding/marketing strategy, social and global media)
- 1. No Poverty
- 3. Good Health and Well-being
- 5. Gender Equality
- 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
- 17. Partnerships for the Goals
- A new business model or process that relies on technology to be successful
- Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
- Software and Mobile Applications
- Nigeria
- Nigeria
- Senegal
- For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
Clafiya incorporates diversity, equity, and inclusion in our work through the following ways:
1.) Clafiya is a women lead team with women leading all 3 departments
2.) Clafiya's workforce is 60% women
3.) Clafiya is providing job opportunities for 200 health practitioners across Nigeria that is 95% women.
4.) Clafiya's first product is a USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) platform that allows us to reach people without smartphones and internet
Clafiya provides HSAs to MSMEs who cant afford health insurance due to cost or size. This gives them a flexible and affordable alternative to provide healthcare for their employees and their families. Clafiya generates revenue in the following ways
1.) One time activation fee: $50-200 depending on size
2.) Services provided by Clafiya: $6-12 for virtual of in person consultations
3.) Commissions: we earn a commission for every referral to our health partners
4.) Spread from investment
- Organizations (B2B)
1.) Combination of VCs and grants
2.) Revenue generated from services
3.) Government Contracts
1.) Combination of VCs and grants - $666,500
Equity
- Microtraction: $25K for 7% post valuation
SAFEs
- Angels: $29K at $5M post valuation
- Norrsken Impact Fund: $125K at 1,715,785 post valuation
- Hustle Fund: $50K at $3M Valuation
- Voltron Capital: $30K at 3M Valuation
- AWF VC: $75K at 3M Valuation
- Bold Angel Fund: $10K at 3M Valuation
- HOAQ: $17,500 at 3M Valuation
- Hernes Director Limited: $50K at 5M Valuation
- Ajim Capital: $25K at 5M Valuation
Grants
- Google: $50,000.00
- Moravia Cares: $140,000.00
- Acumen: $10,000.00
- Novartis Foundation: $10,000.00
- Georgetown University: $20,000.00
2.) Revenue: $6,000 MRR to date
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Founder\CEO