BetaLife

Tracking the spread of Infectious diseases by Promoting access to safe blood among Africans using AI.

Every day over 500 women die in Africa due to infectious diseases from blood contamination.
Blood is important, can’t be manufactured and the demand is till the end of time. While it can be used in the treatment of a wide spectrum of illnesses, it has its common application embedded in surgical procedures, the treatment of injuries, and childbirth. Re-emphasising on the need for blood and blood products, the WHO has estimated that on an average, there is a global need for blood transfusion every three minutes. 

Low Blood Supply 
In Africa, the need for blood stands more pronounced, as blood transfusion is needed every few seconds. 
The mortality rates in the African region are the highest in the world, with average regional estimates of children below five years old recording a mortality rate of 8.13%, and a neonatal mortality rate of 2.8%. 
On average, there is a 2.2% chance of new infections among adults aged between 15 and 49 years old. 
Malaria incidence is 21%, and road traffic mortality stands at 20%. Lastly, 42% of the population in the African region suffer from anaemia. Majority of these patients require transfusion, but there is no timely access to safe blood or blood components. 
In more prosaic terms, the demand for blood transfusion is high in Sub-Saharan Africa because of the high prevalence of anaemia especially due to malaria and pregnancy-related complications. However, because 
the region currently faces a 99% supply deficit, the healthcare system is therefore unable to provide patients with blood as and when needed.

Blood Safety and Compatibility 
Aside from the supply gap, the market for blood and blood products is fraught with other problems that undermine the optimisation of the little blood supply that is funnelled into the system. In addition blood collected for use is usually unsafe for transfusion because annually around 200,000 units of blood are transfused without being screened for HIV and Hepatitis B Virus, and around 1.5 million units of blood are not tested for Hepatitis C Virus.

Poor Storage Systems and Logistical Nightmares 
Furthermore, for a country like Nigeria, which boasts of a population of over 210 million people14, only 17 blood donation centres have been recognised by the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria15. For a country so large, transporting blood donated from these centres to where they are needed would cause logistical nightmares for the regulators, especially in the wake of the poor blood storage systems prevalent in the country.

As nations struggle to control the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists warn that deadly outbreaks of other viruses are inevitable. History is clear on this: more than six distinct influenza pandemics and epidemics have struck in just over a century. 

Expecting to avoid another spillover is about as realistic as stopping lightning from sparking a forest fire.Preventing a pandemic may not be possible, so being prepared is the key.

Nigeria needs about 1.8 million units of blood yearly and only about 500 thousand units are donated leaving a shortfall of about 73.3%.

We are promoting access to safe and adequate blood among Africans to alleviate blood shortage and address the spread of infectious diseases.

TRACKING SPREAD OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Integrating Blockchain technology to support monitoring and traceability from donor to patients, verifying and managing the integrity of blood units stored in blood banks to ensure safe blood free of infectious diseases. 

MOBILE APPLICATION
We have developed a mobile application for patients to request for blood and using Artificial Intelligence  we match them to compatible donors.

WEB APPLICATION
Hospitals can simply place their blood request and communicate real-time with nearby blood banks on their blood donation needs during emergency crisis.

LOGISTICS SERVICE
We also provide logistics service ensuring blood is transported in safe conditions to patients across various hospitals in due time.

Empirical data reveals that over 10% of hospital admissions need blood transfusion. Blood can only be stored for a limited amount of time, and this prompts to a constant need for blood in the healthcare system. Given this, it is imperative that any effective healthcare system should have a blood service that allows patients easy access to safe blood and other blood products.

Thousands of ill people, mothers experiencing labor complications, fathers undergoing heart surgery, children undergoing chemotherapy treatments, grandparents suffering from severe anaemia, premature babies and accident victims are benefiting immensely from our innovation.

With our innovation in place, we are bridging the gap between blood donors and patients by putting in place a smart connection where patients can receive immediate and compatible blood types at any point in time across Africa.

Blood is essential in hospitals and health facilities to prevent death or major complications in seriously ill patients who require transfusion as a result of accidents, violence, major surgery, clotting disorders or complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Blood used for transfusion must be free of pathogens that might cause illness in the person getting the blood,

The availability and safety of blood is essential to saving lives and improving the safety of the blood supply is our main priority.

Lack of resources has been cited as the main constraint to the universal serological screening of blood, and this has led to the use of pooled samples for testing blood, which may affect the sensitivity of the tests. Often, the lack of quality assurance programs in laboratories leads to false negative results, which can permit blood that is infected to be transfused.

We have developed a national quality assurance program for blood banks and laboratories screening blood. For this evaluation programs we have been able to track, identify and monitor groups at high risk for transfusion-transmitted infections. 

Safe blood supply is a critical component in improving health standards in this region and in addressing the spread of infectious diseases.

Mubarak Abiola Ayanniyi – Founder / Chief Executive Officer

As a medical student, at age 22 years, my experience in healthcare policy and patient experience gives me a firsthand experience of the problem Betalife is trying to solve – the scarcity of blood in hospitals and blood banks in Nigeria. My understanding of the healthcare system and its need for a blood bank information system led him to publish a paper titled ''Innovative Approach to Bridging the Gap Between Blood Donors & Patients Via a Smart Connection by Gamifying the Blood Donation Process'', which won him international recognition and a research grant in 2021. This research grant, alongside my experience in market research, product management, and artificial intelligence, have all contributed positively to the development of Betalife. Furthermore, my understanding of the market scene and its components will prove essential in developing strategies that will help Betalife achieve its vision.

Okwoli Mathew Adah - Co-Founder / Chief Operating Officer

 Okwoli is a software engineer with over 7 years of experience in the tech industry and has worked across a variety of tech-enabled projects, including applications like Skycon and Brainy Light – both of which are successful apps on the google play store. As an experienced Flutter developer, Okwoli brings to the table, a wealth of experience in the information management scene that can be leveraged in the development and management of operational processes at Betalife.

Betalife’s management team also features Pedro Joseph and Favour James, who serve as the Chief Technological Officer (CTO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) respectively. Joseph has under his belt – over 9 years of experience as a Full Stack Web Developer working across a variety of projects; designing and developing websites and easy-to-use applications. He also founded the well-known Easy School app in 2019. 

Favour on the other hand is a user interface and experience leader recognised for her ability to build consumer-facing web products and SaaS platforms at scale. She has worked with several companies to design their UX/UI strategy and lead creative teams to build a strong foundation for 
long-term product success. Their combined experience in information-led tech building and design will help in building a product that is not only effective in meeting the needs of the market, but also appeals to the market.

Of 850 surveys, 703 donors responded (80.6% response rate). Most participants were males (61%) and females(39%). More than half (68.5%) of the survey respondents described themselves as versatile with technology(using Android devices). The highest ranked features by our respondent were the ability to ask for donors when needed and the ability to locate the nearest blood center (81.8% and 71.8% considering these very vital or vital respectively).  Most (51%) respondents were really concerned about their personal information. There was a significant increase in the likelihood of using the app (by 78%) correspondents who picked of necessity compared to correspondents who picked important. When asked about the likelihood of using the app, 62% of respondents claimed that they were "very likely" to use the app, and more than two-third (29%) of respondents agreed that they were "extremely likely" to use the app. However, 1.1% and 9.7% of respondents indicated that they were "not likely to use the blood donation app" and "somewhat likely to use the app", respectively. Also, 11.5% of respondents chose "neutral" for their app usage likelihood.  Most participants emphasized the importance of enlightenment and sensitization like organizing rallies, showing the blood donation center's location or patient's location on a map, and sharing blood requests on social media handles.

We also discovered that blood is needed at an outrageously alarming rate because every 2 seconds somewhere in some place in Africa needs blood and one in every 7 patients that visits an hospital needs blood. In Nigeria about 1.5 million pints of blood is needed yearly, but only about 500 thousand pints of blood are donated. This leaves a shortfall of about 73.3%.  Conclusion  Donors were highly interested in using Betalife blood donation app. However, areas of concern, including privacy and confidentiality, which was considered during design and development. One of our research mentors also suggested we focused on the educational features of the app and emphasized the importance of the app providing statistics and sending notifications and reminders to donors.

Deployed our Web/Mobile Solution in June 2022, and has since 
onboarded over 286 hospitals who have requested blood for over 1000 patients in the past one year. It has also developed strategic partnerships with 8 out of 17 blood banks across Nigeria, showing growing 
market penetration. 
Betalife currently boasts of over 1400 donors, recording a record compounded monthly growth rate of 63% over the past twelve months. Furthermore, the application boasts of an 81% retention rate, which indicates developing brand awareness and customer loyalty.

Betalife has developed Africa’s first Blood Banking Management System, which connects donors and blood 
banks to patients in urgent need of compatible blood types across various hospitals in Africa, and by so 
doing, is promoting access to affordable, timely and safe blood to Africans in need.

On the local front, Betalife faces competition from LifeBank and traditional blood banks. Betalife eliminates the competition from traditional blood banks by integrating them into its business model’s customer base. Betalife’s business model presents it as a middleman between blood banks and those who need blood, thereby proving that it and traditional blood banks can coexist in the same ecosystem without the pressure of competition stifling their operations. By giving traditional blood banks access to a broader customer base comprising hospitals and pharmacies, Betalife has established itself a strategic ally and an ancillary to the achievement of their goals.

It however differentiates itself from LifeBank, by providing essential features like real-time tracking and communication, which make it more attractive to the demand side customer segment. Additional features like emergency alerts, AI-compatibility matching, Blood request sharing, Database of donors, and an automated Inventory system also improve the attractiveness of Betalife over LifeBank, as hospitals can get blood directly from our Blood Banking Management System without having to pass through the bureaucratic processes at LifeBank.

-We are changing the African Healthcare System Narrative by our tech-driven solutions to save thousands of innocent lives.
- We reduce the mortality rate as a result of blood shortages in hospital blood banks
- We provide a smart connection to reduce blood scarcity
- We sensitive Africans about the health benefits of blood donation
-Our innovation is aimed at improving life expectancy, allowing real-time communications, improving healthcare processes, immediate delivery of interventions at any time and in any place.
- We facilitate faster emergency response, enhance patient safety and support healthier lifestyles.

Mission: The Journey we have chosen to tread upon is not to accommodate our interests but we find ourselves entrusted with the responsibility to bring an end to the problem of the scarcity of blood availability to the needy ones. The growing menace owing to the non-availability of blood has taken a bad shape leading to emergence of; black marketing in the collection and supply of blood also has led to the rise in crimes of kidnapping, killing for the sake of making money out of the helplessness of the other fellow being. These grave problems are to be put to an end.

Vision: We have set to sail on the vast ocean of possibilities to bring the change which might sound or can be seen by people to be a farce reality but with the consistent effort of our Organization, we will realize our dream for better healthy Nigeria and no life will go wasted due to the shortage or non-availability of blood. Confirming to the guidelines of World Health Organization as well as objectives of the National Blood Policy of Nigeria, our organization has taken essential steps while building Betalife application to manifest the objective of providing resources to meet the growing demand of the blood and to curb the menace created by the paid donors and to unload the burden thrown on the blood banks. We are striving hard in the direction to make it easy for all.

We are Integrating Artificial intelligence to help connect patients to compatible donors and Hospitals to nearby Blood banks.

We also integrate Blockchain technology to support monitoring and traceability from donor to patients, verifying and managing the integrity of blood units stored in blood banks to ensure safe blood free of infectious diseases.

Deployed our Web/Mobile Solution in June 2022, and has since onboarded over 286 hospitals who have requested blood for over 1000 patients in the past one year. It has also developed strategic partnerships with 8 out of 17 blood banks across Nigeria, showing growing market penetration. Betalife currently boasts of over 1400 donors, recording a record compounded monthly growth rate of 63% over the past twelve months. Furthermore, the application boasts of an 81% retention rate, which indicates developing brand awareness and customer loyalty

Optimistic Market Projections: Betalife’s projections of the obtainable market are quite optimistic and may require aggressive marketing and expansionary strategies to ensure their achievement. 

BetaLife is currently fundraising to help it achieve the level of customer growth that have been forecasted in the company’s estimates.

Betalife has partnered with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to facilitate the verification of user data. This will be particularly useful for verifying the identity of blood donors.

We have also partnered with the Federal Ministry of Health and National Blood service Commission to help manage communication between blood banks and hospitals across the country.

It boasts of international partnerships with the European Union, and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, which are expected to fuel its expansion strategies into other countries.
We have also partnered with IBM for our cloud infrastructure and data protection

The centre of Betalife’s business model revolves around its application which connects blood supply actors together. This is particularly dependent on its strategic partnerships with these actors and differentiating itself with the logistic services it offers on blood products.

Betalife identifies  hospitals that experience shortfalls in their blood supply and establish partnerships with them. This partnership usually involve onboarding them on to the Betalife app and creating user profiles for them. These user profiles will enable blood request orders on the app and allow access to Betalife’s database of blood banks and donors.

However, as it penetrates the market and establish its market presence, Betalife plans to operate a three pronged revenue model, tailored specifically for its different customer segments. Aside from charging the demand side (patients and hospitals) – a flat rate of $20, Betalife will also charge the supply side (blood banks).

For its blood bank customers, Betalife plans to take a different approach by utilizing a subscription model.
 
The rationale behind the use of this model is underpinned by the fact that blood banks should be able to pay for access to Betalife’s comprehensive customer base comprising hospitals, patients and pharmacies. 
Furthermore, the Betalife app provides a financial planning service for blood bank operators, and this fee is expected to cover the full spectrum of services Betalife offers to them.

The demand for blood in Nigeria stands at 1.9 million donations yearly.

Currently, as a blood bank information management system, Betalife charges a flat rate of $20 per blood request made on the Betalife application. This flat rate is charged on hospitals, to cover the cost of couriering blood products to the location of need, on a per order basis. When combined with Betalife’s estimated market coverage of 100,000 blood units per annum by 2025, the $20 flat rate on every order will result in a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of $3.6 million annually.

Betalife’s revenue model, alongside its deployment of a customer relationship management software, will enable market penetration in the long-haul. By fostering a working relationship between all its customers, comprising hospitals, pharmacies, blood banks, and donors, will have ripple effects on market penetration as Betalife tends to benefit from the network effect.

BetaLife is also open to investment opportunities and looking to raise funds to expand its reach across other African countries.

Given its strategic expansion, funding will go into hiring top talents to increase productivity.

Funding will also be used to effect marketing strategies which are in the pipeline, to attract and retain customers across the customer segments it serves – hospitals and pharmacies, blood banks, and donors.