Scaling a Nigerian Healthcare start-up from 8,000 miles away

About the author: Samantha Lee '21 was a summer intern for ISN Medical as part of the Stanford SEED program. She is a current second-year student in the Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy (MIP) program at Stanford University.  

Co-funded by Stanford's SEED Program  

Nigeria is a fascinating country – it is the most populous country in Africa and the 7^th most populous in the world with 206 million inhabitants (2019). In the recent years, it has gained the reputation of being the “Giant of Africa” and is considered an emerging market by the World Bank, and a regional power in Africa. However, its Human Development Index ranks 158^th in the world. Yet, to let that statistic belie Nigeria’s human potential is to ignore the good work of many domestic and international players.

One such player is Stanford’s Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (SEED), which partners entrepreneurs in emerging markets to build thriving enterprises that transform lives.

Over this summer, I had the chance to work with a Nigerian healthcare company – ISN Medical to commercialize and scale their chronic care services to more than 5,000 people in Nigeria. As a result of their interactions with diabetes patients, ISN has identified a need in the market for more holistic and individualized disease management services. In order to better address this need, ISN incorporated a subsidiary company called Chonicare, which is aimed at providing disease management services primarily to diabetes patients. Through this Chronicare subsidiary, ISN is currently piloting a subscription-based disease management offering with a pool of diabetes patients. By subscribing to one of three tiers, patients get their blood glucose meters and strips, insulin, diabetes medication and other supplies. They also receive clinical services such as doctor consultations, therapy adjustments, laboratory tests, wound care, nutritional counselling, and more. Their near-term goal is to make Chronicare a one-stop shop for diabetes care and supplies.

As part of the effort to scale their products and services, I worked closely with the Chronicare team to interview more than 20 patients with diabetes and stakeholders to gain a deep and comprehensive understanding of the emotional journey of patients and their needs. One thing that surprised me was how positive the patients were and how many of them saw this as a chance to live a healthier, fuller life, with many of them even extolling the benefits they’ve seen in losing weight and looking and feeling younger. It was touching to also hear how their interactions with the Chronicare medical team had a big role to play in the shift in their mindset and as a result, their level of motivation in adhering to their treatment which often involved lifestyle changes in following an exercise regime and diet.

Many patients we spoke to praised the warmth, care and dedication of the nurses and doctors they had met at the Chronicare clinics, crediting them with helping to provide the much needed encouragement in this long journey. Working remotely can sometimes feel isolating and detached from the real world, but hearing these stories gave me greater inspiration to produce even better work so that more people in Nigeria could benefit from the good work that Chronicare and ISN Medical were doing.

Some of my key summer goals was to learn more about doing development work in Africa and to deepen my understanding of the healthcare sector. My internship with ISN Medical, especially through SEED, has helped me achieve my goals in a meaningful and impactful way. I am immensely grateful to the ISN Medical team for their warmth and hospitality, and for sharing their vision and allowing us to journey with them. I am also thankful for an amazing team and fellow intern Maitane for the camaraderie and friendship, and to SEED and MIP for making all of this possible. I had one of the most memorable summers this year and this internship has inspired me to visit the team in Nigeria and to do more work in Africa when the world opens up again!