Eight Medical

It is estimated that over half of all deaths in low-and-middle-income countries can be averted by effective emergency care delivery. Road traffic accidents, Obstetric emergencies, cardiac arrests, growing existing burden of diseases and climate-related health emergencies are on the rise in Africa, accounting for more than half of public health events recorded in the region over the past two decades. Compounding this challenge is that 1.52 billion Africans lack access to emergency medical services (EMS). Only 8.7% of the continent’s population is within EMS coverage areas, and this figure mostly captures urban residents. Many people on the continent do not know who to call, where to go, or what to do in an emergency. In Nigeria, that entails approximately 1,000,000 lives saved every year, or 3,000 lives every day. Out of approximately 1.6 million deaths recorded annually in Nigeria, 10%–15% occur in emergency departments. This reality is in fact personal: the founder, Dr. Ibukun Tunde-Oni, needlessly lost two of his uncles due to an asthma attack and a heart attack. He himself had a near-death experience after a car accident when he couldn’t access care for close to three hours.

Eight Medical connects emergency medical resources (medical responders, ambulances, hospitals & information) to users when and where it is needed in 10 minutes or less, through calls and API connections. Call responder process.

Eight medical product has 2 major components

1. Connecting members of the public, HMO's and those in need to the closest, most appropriate resource (responders & vehicle) through our web platform & dispatch software

2.  Connecting medical responders to user requests through a mobile application 

Our 24/7 helpline is access through phone calls or API and our dispatch  engine pushes this information digitally to responders. Responders digitally accept request through their app and proceeds to the location or site of the emergency, after which he or she is taken to the most appropriate hospital as determined by our proprietary algorithm 

The solution serves hospitals in need of ambulance transport services for their patients but currently cannot access care due to the lack of resources and highly fragmented nature of the emergency services ecosystem. We aggregate the ambulances and responders and connect them to hospitals in need of such services

The medical personnel with a low doctor to patient ratio of 1:10,000, who work long shifts, earn poor remunerations compared to work done and as such need to earn an extra income.

The members of the public who make up approximately 1.6 million deaths recorded annually in Nigeria due to road traffic accidents, obstetric emergencies, heart attacks and effects of climate change and as such requiring immediate attention provided by connecting them to the most appropriate resource in 10 mins or less

Ibukun Tunde-Oni (Founder and CEO) is a medical doctor with 10+ years of experience working, leading growth teams and experiencing first hand the effects of delayed access to healthcare in public & private hospitals. He unfortunately lost two of his uncles to needless deaths and nearly lost his life in a road accident where he was unable to receive care for 3hrs.  He is also a third time founder, having previously founded AWA Bike, a mobility startup, which is still live and growing (~50K users across 3 states), as well as exited his previous healthtech startup, PrivateMD to Helium Health, where he then led growth of the direct to consumer unit for 1.5 years. So the team is essentially led by someone who hasa a founder problem product fit

Aside from Ibukun, there are also four other members of the senior management team:

1. Folaranmi Olatunde (Head of Operations): previously headed Nigerian operations for SafeBoda, a logistics startup in Africa, as well as formerly worked in investment banking.

2. Kevwe Akpokiniovo (EMS Manager):A paramedic who previously worked at the Lagos State Ministry of Health and as a Health & Safety Officer across a couple of engineering companies, as well as earned a Master’s degree in Trauma Science in London.

3. Kelechi Oguzie (Growth Manager): previously worked as a medical doctor at a large B2B medical services company as well as held medical officer positions in the Nigerian military.

4. Damilare Babalola (Head of HR): previously led the HR team for a large B2B medical services company, as well as for the Nigerian government.

We serve, cover and are able to provide emergency services for aa population 2,500,000 people saving  6500 lives in the process

Consistent with the following section, as well as the recent support that we have been getting from the Catalyst Fund and Expert Dojo, there are 4 major areas:

1. Technology development support: we are currently in the process of developing our bespoke technology platform and collaborating with various 3rd party developers to do so. We have gone through product development workshops with Catalyst Fund to create user stories and prioritize features, but we would eventually like to optimize this technology platform even further. We believe that MIT, as a leading institution at the forefront of innovation, would be an invaluable resource to us for further improving our solution.

2. Impact measurement support: while the social impact that we have through the provision of our product is undeniable, we do not yet have a thoroughly rigorous way of measuring social impact; for instance: one impact KPI that we would like to track is “lives saved due to climate change-related emergencies.” In the event that we save someone’s life during a flash flood, it’s not exactly clear whether that flash flood is directly attributable to climate change or some other phenomenon. As an impact-focused and data-driven organization, we believe that MIT Solve as well as MIT more broadly can help us in this endeavor.

3. Recruiting support: with the recent funding that we have secured, we are currently actively growing our team, with key technical hires such as Head of Engineering, Product Manager and Product Designer still open for recruitment. We believe that MIT’s network can provide us unparalleled access to top human capital.

4. Marketing & branding support: As we continue to scale our solution and save more lives, we need to build awareness in order to ensure that we are top-of-mind for individuals in need of emergency services in Africa. MIT Solve—and MIT more broadly—have built incredible brand equity and we would find it useful to leverage your resources to follow a similar path.

The status quo is untenable. As stated in the “problem” section earlier in this application, it is estimated that over half of all deaths in low-and-middle-income countries can be averted by effective emergency care delivery. In Nigeria alone, this entails approximately 1 million lives per year or 3 thousand lives per day that could otherwise be saved through the provision of more effective Emergency Medical services (EMS) (source: British Medical Journal). Currently, only 8.7% of the Africa’s population is within EMS coverage areas, and this figure mostly captures urban residents (source: Current Trauma Reports).

Eight Medical’s solution is innovative because it leverages innovations in logistics (emergency care delivery using motorcycles) and technology to increase the percentage of Nigerians (and eventually, Africans) that can be served by EMS areas, ultimately reducing needless premature deaths, catalyzing broad positive impact across society and further improving health outcomes

It could change the market in a similar way to how Uber and Gojek transformed the market for ride hailing services in both developed and developing markets respectively. We are inspired by both innovators with the promise of digital technologies to create a two-sided platform that can match demand and supply for emergency medical services.

Next 1 year:

1. Goal 1: Saving 5,000 lives yearly by increasing our reach and depth fleet size and reach of our services through.

2. Goal 2: Increase our fleet size to 100 ambulances (including ambucycles) by seeking out, training and on-boarding more ambulances partners.

3. Goal 3: Help avoid 250,000 premature deaths by ensuring prompt connection and access to responders.

4. Goal 4: Decrease maternal mortality ratio by ensuring communities driven initiatives to train husbands on timely response to maternal emergencies and having timely response to emergencies.

Next 5 years:

1. Goal 1: Saving 1,000,000 lives yearly by increasing the reach of our services.

2. Goal 2: Provision of 10,000 new jobs by scaling our technology such that more medical personnel have access to urgent and emergency requests.

3. Goal 3: Increase our fleet size to 5000 ambulances by seeking out, training and on-boarding more ambulances partners.

4. Goal 4: $189M economic losses prevented overtime, based on the fact that every average low or middle income earner is one medical emergency away from poverty

5. Goal 5: $390M in out of pocket expenses saved by reducing motbidity, mortality and  hence impromtu out of pocket spends

3. Good Health and Well-being

In addition to tracking the number of completed missions (calls that were successfully dispatched and led to a provision of our service) and lives saved as a result of those, we aim to align our impact reporting with the following SDG indicators:

• 3.1: By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births

• 3.3: By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases

• 3.6: By 2030, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents

• 3.8: Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all

• 3.c: Substantially increase health financing and the recruitment, development, training and retention of the health workforce in developing countries, especially in least developed countries and small island developing States

• 3.d: Strengthen the capacity of all countries, in particular developing countries, for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth

Beyond tracking the number of jobs created by employing EMS and drivers, we aim to align our impact reporting with the following SDG indicators:

• 8.2: Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors

• 8.6: By By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training

13. Climate Action

As mentioned in an earlier section, we intend to bolster our impact measurement by distinguishing the lives saved as a direct consequence of the impacts from climate change; this is aligned with the following SDG indicator:

• 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries

• Activities: Eight Medical builds a platform for connecting those in need of emergency medical care with emergency medical services providers, onboarding for both the demand and supply sides accordingly.

• Outputs: Individuals in need of emergency medical care are able to receive treatment in-time, while emergency medical services providers are more optimally utilized

• Short-term Outcomes: local communities become more resilient as a result of more effective and efficient emergency medical care, while better employment and earning opportunities are secured for those providing the services.

• Long-term Outcomes: regional communities become more resilient as a result of more effective emergency medical care, while better employment opportunities and overall quality of life are secured for those providing the services.

1. A web platform: A Customer relationship management & dispatch software that connects members of the public, HMO's and those in need to the closest, most appropriate resource (responders & vehicle) through 2.  Connecting medical responders to user requests through a mobile application 

2. Mobile app: Our responders digitally accept request through their app and proceeds to the location or site of the emergency, after which he or  she is taken to the most appropriate hospital as determined by our proprietary algorithm 

3. Mobile app: Users access our  24/7 helpline  through API or phone calls and our dispatch engine pushes this information digitally to responders.

4. GIS and Geospatial Technology to pin point exact locations of emergencies to ensure adequate use of resources

Eight Medical is strongly committed to diversity within its community. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we welcome people from all backgrounds who seek the opportunity to work with Eight Medical. 

Our EEO Statement: "Eight Medical is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, political affiliation or any other protected characteristic."

We leverage a network of pre-hospital providers from doctors & nurse to paramedics and medical lab technicians to ensure equal opportunities for all disciplines in the medical field. 

We provide job opportunities in the emergency care space by up-skilling and converting non-medical personnel into emergency medical technicians and ensuring a great deal of task shifting which empowers personnel and gives them the opportunity to do, be more and earn more. 

We also ensure we have an equal blend of male and female gig workers from all tribes and ethnic groups in Nigeria to foster a sense of inclusion

Beyond employment, Eight Medical does not discriminate in its provision of emergency medical services. We will not deny access to our service based on gender, race, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, political affiliation or any other protected characteristic. 

We have four business models at the moment:

1. Transactional model: Out-of-pocket payment for the emergency care. This is provided on both a B2B and B2C basis.

2. Subscription model:Subscription fee: pay for emergency cover & response on a month to month basis (similar to an insurance product). This is B2B revenue model is relevant to other businesses such as hospitals, schools, residential estates who require access to our emergency medical services on call.

3. Commission: all the hospitals, responders (hospitals where the patients are dropped at, the emergency centers) etc. pay a commission for each job they get (B2B, B2C)

4. Care now, pay later: as a complement to the transactional invoicing, Eight Medical also offers the ability for customers to receive the services and then pay for it later, with accrued interest similar to the “Buy Now, Pay Later” models that are popular on e-commerce sites across the world.

Eight Medical is currently fundraising for an additional $350K out of a total round of $600K (of which Catalyst Fund & Expert Dojo have already covered $250K). We are also actively applying for grants through organizations like MIT Solve.

In terms of our revenue streams, we charge the following:

• Transactional fee for service of $35-$50 per emergency response.

• Transactional fee fo $35-$1000 for ambulance transport.

• Subscription fee of $500-$1500 for emergency as a service where we respond and transport their patients to hospitals on a monthly basis.

• Commissions: we charge our responders a 10% commission for requests given to them from being on the platform.

• Care now, pay later: where we charge an accrued interest 2.5-10% for credit provided as a service to allow for care provision when transitioning from pre-hospital to hospital care.

Eight Medical has generated $600,000 in revenue through the provision of our services so far. We have also recently raised $280,000 so far from investors like the Catalyst Fund ($200,000), Expert Dojo ($50,000), Mudiaga mowoe($20,000); HOAQ fund ($5000), TA ventures ($5,000)