Afrigather Anosele Kotu is the founding father of Femconnect, a South African femtech that gives entry to reproductive healthcare for ladies. After leaving her job at a software program growth firm, she was decided to not search for employment elsewhere however to concentrate on engaged on a imaginative and prescient she’s nursed for a very long time, Femconnect.
The corporate launched in 2020, and he or she was decided to make Femconnect a localised product that was tailored for South African girls like her. Kotu believes that women and girls should navigate their sexual and reproductive well being with dignity, which incorporates having correct data and supplies.
Kotu’s work with Femconnect has earned her a number of recognitions, together with the Digital Girl class on the beforehand concluded GovTech SITA awards. TechCabal had a chat with Kotu about what challenged her to start her startup and the place Femconnect is headed.
What expertise(s) formed your choice to begin Femconnect?
Anosele Kotu: I used to be raised in a small neighborhood with a small hospital the place I noticed that getting access to sanitary merchandise or contraceptives was restricted. Folks needed to queue for hours to entry these merchandise, and typically, when it lastly will get to your flip, they’re out of inventory. Different instances, younger women couldn’t even go to the clinics for contraceptive wants as a result of they had been scared that they’d run into somebody they knew. As I grew older, I realised that there’s an absence of entry to high quality companies in relation to reproductive well being in South Africa, particularly inside black communities.
Inform me about Femconnect and what your operations are targeted on
AK: We’ve acquired three main areas that we’re at the moment specializing in. The primary one is menstrual well being administration which is linked to decreasing interval poverty. We now have a interval monitoring function and we additionally hyperlink younger people who find themselves in want of sanitary merchandise with individuals who wish to donate. We accumulate all the information by our web site.
At first, our interval campaigns had been primarily supported by NGOs operating tasks in communities or colleges, however that was inconsistent as a result of the NGOs usually donate as soon as after which the pupils must wait till the subsequent batch of donations got here in. So, we got here up with a extra sustainable technique of offering underprivileged women with pads: we join women with donors who’re prepared to pay for his or her pads for an extended interval.
Secondly, we offer household planning companies to people. Folks can entry digital consultations with well being practitioners who may help with household planning-related points through our app. After the discuss, we get the household planning suggestions delivered to you.
The third space we’re targeted on is digital advocacy the place our purpose is to get rid of interval poverty for South African women.
What has the reception been like?
AK: The reception has been fairly good. In 2019 after we planning to launch, lots of people had been skeptical as as to whether or not it was a good suggestion. Fortunately, that has considerably modified and folks now love the thought and are even impressed that one thing like this exists in South Africa. Folks are actually extra open to utilizing the platform for varied issues —whether or not it’s to discover the household planning bit, or simply donating. Femconnect brings all of the roleplayers onto one platform and ensures that there’s one thing for everybody. We’re at the moment working to get it rolled out into public well being services and get extra well being practitioners to enroll to supply digital consultations and to succeed in extra folks.
What are a number of the challenges that you simply’ve skilled or that you simply confronted in operating a femtech?
AK: The primary problem we face is financing. Progress has been slower as a result of this main downside. There’s a lot which you can plan to execute, however there are loads of limitations if you don’t have the financials to again the plans. On the time that I began, loads of traders weren’t eager on getting into the reproductive well being and femtech area, as a result of they had been not sure in regards to the market.
We’ve achieved loads of coaching and accelerator programmes and whereas they’ve been instrumental to our studying, they’re typically overwhelming. As a girl within the African tech area, we typically get overtrained and underfunded, which is a large problem for us as a result of you possibly can solely do as a lot coaching. What is essential for all of us to thrive in our respective areas is to have monetary backing.
What are the subsequent steps for Femconnect?
AK: The subsequent step is to broaden and collaborate with healthcare suppliers as a telehealth platform for them. We already work with direct customers however we wish to collaborate with household planning clinics, hospitals and personal practitioners. We’d wish to deliver Femconnect as a telehealth platform that may assist them shorten service instances, do consultations nearly, and now have them be a part of this neighborhood.
We’re additionally working to broaden past South Africa. These points should not distinctive to South Africa, however to African communities as an entire. We’d wish to have a footprint in several African international locations. This implies having our product obtainable within the totally different languages or vernaculars of the international locations.
