BarEl application for increased access to quality care and good health

About 2 billion people are facing financial hardships including 1 billion experiencing catastrophic out-of-pocket health spending of 10% or more of their household budget.

Currently, half the world lacks access to comprehensive health services. Some 408.6 million people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have healthcare.  An estimated 9.7 million people in Malawi lack access to health care. 

Failing to access quality health services is attributable to transportation barriers, lack of health facilities, shortage of health-workers, drug theft and  fuel theft by health-workers etc. 

Globally and in Malawi, Universal Health Coverage  is facing challenges. There is no or limited access to and quality of health services for medically underserved groups. These underserved groups face reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases or conditions. Therefore, there exists high death rate and disability due to HIV/AIDS, Neonatal disorders, Malaria, respiratory infection, Diarrhoea diseases, Tuberculosis, Stroke,  heart diseases etc. 

In Malawi and globally, access to quality health services is a big challenge, resulting in high mortality rate vis a vis high maternal mortality ratio, high infant mortality rate etc. 

No or limited Universal Health Coverage is attributable to the following factors:

1. Inefficiencies in delivery of health services. 

2.Poor transport system that affect ambulatory services badly. This has resulted in many expectant mothers and serious cases to die because of lack of transport or delays to ferry them to referral hospitals.

Transportation barriers are as a result of limited or lack of public ambulances, lack of money to ferry patients to health facilities and prolonged travel time to a health facility. Public ambulatory services which are provided for free face challenges because most of the times the fleet of ambulances is unavailable due to breakdowns; lack of fuel due to budgetary constraints and abuse or theft by hospital workers. In addition, the ambulances are often unavailable for intended purposes because they are used for personal things  or for administrative purposes. The challenges emanate from lack of skills in transport management or purely poor transport management. 

3.Poor quality of health services with focus on medical products, human resources for health, medical infrastructure and equipment. 

4. Malnutrition, which is commonplace because of poor education on nutrition

5. Shortage of drugs due to poor management of drugs and drug theft.

6. Poor human resource management resulting in shortage of health-workers due to demotivation as a consequence of poor appraisal systems and poor human resource planning. Health-workers are often low qualified and hardly receive any in-service training. 

7. Poor sanitation, poor quality and shortage of water, which result in waterborne diseases.

8. Poor financial management. Health facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa encounter huge financial resource challenge. 

9. Poor primary health care performance measurement; especially, in rural areas; resulting in unsatisfactory primary health care performance. This is so because of lack of comprehensive vision and purpose for data collection; poor quality or impractical data and lack of data for frontline health staff.

My team and I believe in positive lasting change.  Our solution uses technology; specifically, BarEl application, which we developed. It provides and improves quality health care.

Our solution provides majority of essential interventions  for universal health coverage, which can be delivered using a PHC approach.

It is committed to social justice, equity, solidarity and participation. 

It is designed for people with people. 

It focuses on aspects of physical, mental and social health and wellbeing. 

It improves equity and access, health care performance, accountability of health systems and health outcomes. It  improves a broad range of factors beyond health services that play a critical role in shaping health and well-being like food systems and education.

It helps to improve the economic prosperity of nations and reduces poverty among the population; hence, reversing or stopping catastrophic out-of-pocket health spending of 10% or more of their household budget.

Our solution includes tracer interventions that include reproductive, maternal,  newborn and child health, infectious and non-communicable diseases, service capacity and access.

It leverages technology to increase access to quality care and good health. 

It is affordable, scalable, sustainable and community-focused. 

BarEl application provides a holistic approach.  It reduces workload of health-workers associated with monitoring and analysis. It provides decision support. It captures vital signs. It is intuitive and easy to use. With easy-to-understand patient records, vital signs like pulse rate, body temperature, blood pressure, blood oxygen, respiratory rate, body weight and blood glucose level are monitored and analysed to assess the condition of a patient. 

It gives frontline health-workers tools they need to capture all the existing health Indicators like mortality rates.

It contributes to equity in health care and timely access to quality health services, with the goal of reducing preventable deaths and achieving health for all.

It is an application that enables health-workers to work smarter by providing them with the right information at the right time; hence, improving the quality and efficiency of health care.

BarEl application can be customized to the needs of its users. It has local technical support available and is economically sustainable. 

It improves transport management  by curbing or reducing fuel fraud, ensuring maintenance of vehicles and reduction or elimination of abuse of vehicles by hospital workers.

With BarEl application, delays in procuring drugs, stock-outs cost of procuring drugs, pilferage and shortage of drugs are eradicated or reduced. With the aid of BarEl application, different forecasting methods are employed in planning for drugs.

BarEl application improves Human Resource Management  through  appraisal system, payroll system, human resource planning, leave application process and staff returns preparation. This in turn results in the optimal retention of health-workers; and thus, preventing shortage or overage of them.

It improves financial management through proper budgeting, which results in efficient allocation of financial resources.

It facilitates nutrition education and management; hence, reduces malnutrition and non-communicable diseases.

It improves water management by providing sufficient, quality water; thereby, reducing waterborne diseases. 

Our solution improves waste and toilet management; hence, reducing the incidence of diarrhoea diseases.

Our solution serves patients,   adults, medical and non-medical personnel, health providers, women,  girls, youths, everyone, the Ministry of Health, children,  everyone,  LGBTQ+,  rural, peri-urban, poor, low-Income, middle-income, high-income, refugees and internally displaced,  minorities and previously excluded populations, and persons with disabilities.

Class attendance improves with reduction of learners falling ill, leading to better educational outcomes. In addition, the economic situation of affected communities improves as healthier individuals are more productive. 

We target health-workers in developing countries. Our mission is to improve the productivity of health-workers.

We target both public and private hospitals. The quality of health services in these hospitals will greatly improve with our application. 

We also target implementing partners all over the world. 

At present, our target population is underserved in the following ways:

1. They are not getting the expected health outcomes because of poor delivery of services.

2. They have a challenge to access to  quality health-care.

3.They lack health-workers.

4. They can not get drugs because of theft or shortage of drugs.

5. Critically ill patients or pregnant women end up dying because of lack of transport to take them to referral health facilities.

6. There is high prevalence and incidence of waterborne diseases due to poor quality of water and shortage of water.

7. They do not have enough right tools to support them in their work.

The solution will address their needs by:

a. promoting use of safe water and good sanitation practices and improving food safety and hygiene and nutrition services.

b.increasing equitable access to and quality of health care services.

c. reducing environmental and social risk factors that have a direct impact on health.

d. improving the availability and quality of health medical equipment and strengthening transport system at all levels.

e. improving  availability, recruitment, retention, capacity, performance and motivation of human resources for health for effective, efficient and equitable health service delivery,  enforcement of implementation of performance based management, and strengthening the human resource planning process and accountability mechanisms.

g. improving the availability, quality and utilization of medicines and medical supplies by promoting an uninterrupted supply of quality essential medicines and medical supplies to end-users.

h. generating quality information and make it accessible to all intended users for evidence-based decision-making.

I. enhancing adoption of ICT systems for routine data management.

j. strengthening monitoring and evaluation of health plans.

k. implementing and strengthening expenditure analysis to monitor effective allocation of resources.

l. enhancing local capacities to conduct research.

m. establishing the means for improving financial management and audit.

The solution will impact their lives by ensuring the following:

1. Improved health and quality of the population for sustainable socio-economic development.

2. Considerable reduction of death rate.

3. Promotion, prevention, treatment and universal health coverage as well as, physical, mental, social health and wellbeing.

3. Clean water and sanitation. 

4. Improved financial management.

5. Improved transport management.

6.Reduction or elimination of shortage or theft of drugs.

Below is the explanation of how and why my team and I, are well-positioned to deliver this solution:

TK Computers & Consultancy team members are professionals. 

Thumbiko Shumba, the Chief Executive Officer, leads our team. He brings over 20 years of experience in management. He retired as Deputy Director of Finance in the Malawi Government. He worked as a secondary school teacher. He developed BarEl application, which is providing efficient intervention in Malawi. He has extensive experience in research, data analysis, monitoring and  evaluation.

Tiwonge Kuyokwa, Mwawi Mbewe and  Mphatso Simfukwe add value to the team with their experience. They are experienced trainers.

We are professionals with a diverse range of skills, knowledge, hands-on experience in project management, IT,  education, business administration and financial management that help us to enhance outcomes.  We leverage our expertise together to foster creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills; thereby, achieving better outcomes and overall development.  

We incorporate human-centred design. Inclusive and equitable outcomes are considered in the design, implementation, and internal operations of our solution.

Our team is ethnically diverse and inclusive. We are gender-balanced.

We  have direct experience with the communities that we serve. We   were all born, raised, live and work in the communities we serve. We interact with our target audience on almost daily basis, enabling us to  understand the challenges they encounter.

We nurture human potential.

We are fluent in the language of our target market; hence, enabling effective communication. 

We  utilise human-centered design principles to ensure that our solution is user-friendly and accessible.

The design and implementation of our solution is meaningfully guided by the communities’ input, ideas, and agendas. We prioritise communities' input and feedback.  We get feedback on our solution from community leaders and members to understand their needs and experiences. We involve community leaders in our undertakings: This makes their people to accept us; thereby, ensuring lasting commitment and local ownership.   We collect data through surveys, focus groups, interviews and consultations.   

We are capable of coordinating, organizing, planning, directing and delivering results.

We are compact, agile and motivated to drive the innovation towards scale.

Our team has a strong commitment to accountability and delivering quality outputs. 

We have a deep understanding of our organisation's goals.

We have a realistic, practical plan for implementing the solution, and it is feasible.

We have set up robust communication channels that facilitate communication and quick decision-making. 

We have a network of  partners, including community-based organizations, giving us the opportunity to tap knowledge and experience through collaboration.

We are a team that has supported one another in many ways. 

We are geared  to create positive lasting change.  

We have a sound theory of change.

We provide consulting services. 

We have an active advisory board.

Lastly, we are well-positioned to deliver the solution to the target population; owing to our proximity to the communities we serve and our commitment to human-centered solutions. We leverage our dexterity and expertise, promote partnerships, maintain robust communication channels and prioritise activities.

The detailed reasons we  selected the stage above are explained below:

We already moved from the concept stage and prototype stage, and we are now in the pilot stage. So far, we have developed an application called BarEl. 

Our solution has been launched in at least one community, but is still iterating on design or business model. It is working to gain traction.  It has 10+ users/direct beneficiaries. It is a full product but released on a small scale to a select group of users or a small audience aimed at collecting valuable feedback. 

We conducted the following studies under pilot stage: baseline survey and foundational study.  Under baseline survey and foundational study (literature reviews, desktop research) we found out that Malawi, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the entire world are going through health crises. Globally access to quality health or universal health coverage  leaves a lot to be desired. 

We are carried surveys through focus groups and interviews from the community we target. Data gathered from the surveys is informing the design.

We have just concluded  formative study (usability studies; feasibility studies; case studies; user interviews;  process evaluations and correlational studies). The formative study revealed that there is a correlation between health outcomes and use of BarEl application. The study showed that healthy facilities that were using BarEl application registered reduction in the number of maternal deaths,increase in the number of patients, improvements in financial management, transport management and human resources management; and reductions in fuel and drug thefts by health-workers. The study showed that users of BarEl application used it, without any problem. The study also revealed that the application passed the following feasibility tests: technical, operational, economic or financial,  legal, market, cultural and political.

We measured user experience qualities like usability, functionality and desirability to mitigate risk so as to save us from making a large investment into something users will not adopt.

Focus groups, case studies, and user interviews were  conducted: They revealed that respondents scored highly on preference and favourability tests. 

We are currently using live data and we are delivering a live service or activity. Our product is actually going through the normal implementation and service transition processes.

We are at the first stage of an implementation. It is an initial small-scale implementation to prove the viability of our solution. It is a test release of our product to a select group of users, designed to gather feedback and validate assumptions.  We are   exploring a novel approach.  We are using or modifying live data. We are  limited in scope in that we have a limited number of  users.

Our product is at a pilot stage where it can be useful to iron out any minor creases, or understand how it works in reality, before expanding use. We are at a stage of identifying any deficiencies,  to make minor changes to the solution and to manage the risk of the product  before substantial resources are committed.

So far outcomes of the pilot stage are compelling us to  roll out the full implementation after making minor changes to the solution. We are carrying out surveys through focus groups and interviews from the community we target. Data gathered from the surveys is  informing the design and the pricing model. 

Our solution is hybrid of for-profit and nonprofit. It has raised little investment capital through the personal savings of the CEO, Mr Thumbiko Shumba. 

Before our solution entered the pilot stage, it passed through the concept stage and the prototype stage.

During concept stage, we did a small exercise to test the real-world potential of our idea in the early stages of developing our product. We did not deliver the idea for live use but demonstrated whether it was feasible. And we came to the conclusion that our product can be developed.

During prototype stage, we conducted prototype testing to evaluate performance quality, conformance quality, durability, reliability, repairability, style, design, usability, favourability,  desirability and preference of BarEl application. The application passed the prototype testing.

The prototype was put through rigorous functional tests and customer tests. We did the alpha testing to see how our prototype performs in different scenarios. We also did beta testing by enlisting customers to use the prototype and give feedback on their experiences. 

We also did consumer testing by offering freemium. We have achieved an impressive migration rate from the freemium to the subscription model.We have sold the product to very few end-users.

We also did market testing to learn how large the market is, and how consumers and dealers react to handling, using, and repurchasing our application. 

The major methods of market testing we applied are: sales-wave research, test markets and market-tested at trade shows. 

We also conducted the following feasibility tests to check if our prototype is feasible or infeasible.

Technical Feasibility Test: . Our application passed the test. Below are some key elements which we assessed for technical feasibility :

• Technological Stack - programming languages and operating systems, front-end framework, back-end framework, data storage and querying.
• Availability of resources: the availability of a skilled workforce with diverse expertise and knowledge.
• Integration and compatibility: Our application functions smoothly with different types of hardware .
• Risk assessment:  We assessed the possible risks that could arise during product development and we strategized contingency plans.
• Security and compliance: We identified and evaluated security vulnerabilities to avoid situations like data breaches, loss of data, or severe system malfunction. Our application has a security  feature that has multifactor aunthentication, in other words, password security with multiple layers of  protection. It also has a backup for data recovery.
• Scalability: Our product has the ability to accommodate future growth due to increasing user demand without major glitches in performance.
• Monetary constraints: Our project’s budget is not enough if we are to scale. We need support from Solve.

Operational Feasibility Test:  Our application passed the test.  We did tests on whether our application is easy to operate or maintain after deployment or usable. 

Economic or Financial Feasibility Test:  We analysed whether or not our project is fiscally viable.  We conducted cost-benefit analysis and it revealed that the benefits of the solution outweigh their costs.  

Legal Feasibility Test:  The test revealed that our solution conforms to the legal and ethical requirements in Malawi and beyond.

Cultural and Political Feasibility Test : The test showed that we will manage change. The suggested changes would be received owing to the involvement of the target population in the project. 

Market Feasibility Test : We evaluated how  the project’s deliverables will perform in the market through a market analysis, market competition breakdown, and sales projections. The test found that  there is a feasible market for our solution.

The following are specific financial, technical, legal, cultural, or market barriers that we  face and hope Solve can help us to overcome:

Financial barriers: This includes: challenges in pitching to investors and lack of easy fundraising process that  diminishes our financial position, which negatively impacts our operations.

Technical barriers: This includes challenges in accessing cloud services, managing time, navigating team dynamics, adapting to new technologies and compatibility issues.

Legal: We face challenges in  license and distribution agreement,  intellectual property and  international laws for applications.

Cultural:  We face challenges in cultural compatibility where  beliefs, values, and customs may mismatch. We work in communities where the local populace can not comprehend the language we have used in our application. We anticipate language barriers in countries where French, Portuguese and Swahili are used as languages of instruction.

Market barriers: They include: competitive rivalry, threat of substitution, threat of new entrants, challenges in distributing our product, and in web development or design.

Our solution would benefit from some of the resources that the Solve community can provide. 

We are applying to Solve because of the following reasons:

• We want Solve to help us to access in kind and pro-bono resources to empower our innovation journey and support our growth. We need financial help for operations. We need funding in the form of grants and investments, including through prizes and Solve Innovation Future. We  want funding opportunities to scale up the solution. 
• We want Solve to support us in pitching to investors.
• We want Solve to help us in Product / Service Distribution (e.g. expanding client base)
• We want Solve to help us in web development/design.

• We want Solve to help us to join a class of impressive peers that act as a trusted support group, offering inspiration and guidance.
• We want Solve to help us to join a powerful network of impact-minded leaders across industries and sectors, with dedicated spaces to meet year-round and during Solve’s flagship events such as Solve at MIT.  We are excited to connect with Solve, as we believe that by associating with it and the connections it offers, we can reach the next level in our work.

• We want Solve to help us to access leadership coaching and strategic advice from experts in the Solve and MIT networks. 
• We want Solve to help us to receive monitoring and evaluation support to build an impact measurement practice. 
• We want Solve to help us to gain exposure in the media and at conferences.
• We want  Solve to help us to access relevant in-kind resources such as software licenses and legal services from Solve supporters.
• We are looking for support from Solve to access more partners, mentorship, technical expertise, media publicity and exposure, impact measuring and monitoring, and business development assistance, that can help us scale our solution and make a greater impact. We want to tap into a network so as to leverage international and local partnerships to grow and scale up the solution.  

The following make our solution innovative:

It approaches the problem in a new or significantly improved way. It catalyses broader positive impacts from others in this space. It changes the market/landscape. 

It is a new application of an existing technology.

 It is high-tech, low-end and end-to-end solution.

It addresses bottlenecks connected to sustainable development goals; particularly, health.

It is scalable, replicable, sustainable,  easy to manage and maintain. It is highly scalable. It can be cascaded to the entire market ecosystem. It is scalable owing to a huge potential market world-wide.

It is designed to be easily transferred to community-based organizations. It increases participation in a personalized manner. 

It can be customized.

It enables inclusivity and accessibility.  Training local communities on how to use BarEl application allows for acceptance of the project. 

It brings lasting and  huge impact. It decreases workload of its users.  It uses Big Data, Machine learning and Internet Of Things. 

BarEl application catalyses sustainable health in emerging markets by empowering health-workers with skills. It catalyses the application in that the database provides 24/7 information about health stakeholders. It catalyses by providing the application freely to disadvantaged individuals or institutions. It catalyses positive change in  knowledge.

BarEl application does not solely rely on internet or require expensive devices and technology to operate. It can be used both online and offline.

Our solution has distinct differences that set it apart from every rival solution. It is delivered in a distinctive and superior way of obtaining the benefit and cannot be copied easily by competitors. It is affordable, profitable and sustainable. It is differentiated along these dimensions: product, service, personnel, and image.

Product Differentiation: It excels in performance, conformance, durability, reliability, repairability, style, design and features.

BarEl application is feature rich. It has a back-up for data recovery, audit trail and multifactor aunthentication, in other words, password security with multiple layers of  protection. It has many functions.

Services Differentiation: It excels in ordering ease, delivery, installation, customer training, customer consulting, maintenance and repair.

Our personnel are competent, courteous, credible, reliable, responsive and communicable. 

Our distribution channels are found in more locations. Our staff is better trained, and perform more reliably than competitors.

Our image is conveyed through logos, media, special events, symbols and atmosphere.

Our solution is a positive improvement. It stands out from the rest and truly makes lives of its users easier. It is something different and unique. It is multipurpose. It is a successful change.  

It is feasible. It saves time. It improves productivity.  It brings about cost reduction. It is a very easy application to use and learn. It enhances security and  internal control environment. It increases quality and accuracy of information. 

It is centered on the needs of communities, patients and health-workers; and  complements rather than replace human interaction. It facilitates efficient network and scale. It provides skills that people need to thrive in both their community and a complex world, including problem-solving  around technology.

The target population whose lives we are working to improve is bout 400 million worldwide.

Context

Health-workers, transport officers, NGOs and governments are engaged in the project because they are change agents.

Project beneficiaries are:

• NGOs
• Governments
• Health-workers
• Patients
• women.
• girls.
• youths.
• everyone.
• ethnic minorities.
• people with disabilities.

The assumptions and risks are:

• Funding provided.
• No inflation.
• No electricity outages.

Enablers

• Staff quality.
• Vehicles' availability.

Inputs: staff, funds,  fuel, workshop and equipment.

Activities

Training of leaders, influencers and users of BarEl application .

Provide office services and routine activities for management of the project.

Conduct tests, studies, tests, research, monitoring and evaluation.

Achieve policy dialogue, coordination and knowledge management.

Promote project results.

Customer service.

Support and participation activities. 

Increasing utilisation of Health Management System.

Strengthening health care systems.

Increasing allocation of budget to health.

Building human resources capacity at all levels.

Strengthening prevention and management of infectious diseases.

Promoting nutrition education and counselling.

Improving management and disposal of both liquid and solid waste; and promoting safe hygiene practices.

Outputs

• 10 million individuals trained on how to use BarEl  application.

• 1 million BarEl applications installed.
• 100% of installed BarEl applications monitored and evaluated.
• 100% of installed BarEl applications maintained and technical support provided.
• Installed BarEl application, the solution or project  monitored and evaluated monthly.
• Literature review conducted of similar solutions.
• Interviews done with the implementation team:
• Focus groups done to  identify areas of strength and improvement.
• Formative study that might contribute to design.
• Research report, including analysis of data and recommendations.
• Feasibility studies done to evaluate  BarEl application.

Outcomes:

• Better healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages. 
• More prevention of diseases, better curing of diseases and promotion of wellness and improvement of quality of health care services.
• Better healthy care and healthy life for all people and reduction in death rate.
•  Effective health sector planning at all levels.
• Improved access and equitable health service delivery. 
• Improved domestic financing for health.
• Increased retention of human resources for health. 
• Reduced incidence and prevalence of diseases, stunting, wasting, underweight and other forms of malnutrition
• Improved hygienic and sanitation practices.
• Increased maternal, neonatal, infant and child survival.
• Improved Primary Health Care .
• Improved capacity of researchers in research or studies or tests.
• Dissemination of research or test or study results.
• Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing among stakeholders. 
• Inclusive Practices.
• Policy Influence.
• Concrete evidence of the value of BarEl application to bring funders and partners.
• Scaling and replication of BarEl application.
• Exposure and buy-in with stakeholders. 

Impacts 

Healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages. 

Robust 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.

Increased access to the full range of quality health services, when and where they are needed. 

Increased food security. 

Increased economic prosperity, improved standard of living, poverty eradication, no hunger, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth,  innovation, and Infrastructure and reduced inequalities.

The impact goals for our solution are as follows:

Poverty eradication, no hunger, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation, and Infrastructure and reduced inequalities.

Improved health and quality of the population for sustainable socio-economic development.

Better healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages.

Effective health sector planning at all levels.

Improved access and equitable health service delivery.

Improved domestic financing for health.

Increased retention of human resources for health.

Reduced incidence and prevalence of diseases.

Reduced prevalence of stunting, wasting, underweight and other forms of malnutrition.

Improved hygienic and sanitation practices.

Reduction of  maternal mortality ratio. 

End of preventable deaths of newborns and
children under 5 years of age, and reduction of  neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per
1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births

Achievement of 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.

End  of the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases.

More universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes.

Substantially reduction of the number of
deaths and illnesses from water pollution and contamination.

Substantially increase health financing and the recruitment, development, training and retention of the health workforce.

The metrics to help track our success towards the goals we have set across the following SDGs:

SDG 1. No Poverty,
SDG 2. Zero Hunger,
SDG 3. Good Health and Well-Being,
SDG 4. Quality Education,
SDG 5. Gender Equality,
SDG 6. Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
and SDG 10. Reduced Inequalities

We are measuring our progress toward our impact goals by using the following indicators: incidence rate, prevalence rate, diagnosis rate,  maternal mortality ratio, proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel, under-five mortality rate, neonatal mortality rate, number of new HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population, by sex, age and key populations, Tuberculosis incidence per 1,000 population, Malaria incidence per 1,000 population, Hepatitis B incidence per 100,000 population, number of people requiring interventions against neglected tropical diseases, mortality rate attributed to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory disease, adolescent birth rate, coverage of essential health services, mortality rate attributed to unsafe water, unsafe sanitation and lack of hygiene, proportion of the population with access to affordable medicines and vaccines on a sustainable basis, health worker density and distribution, percent of funds spent or utilised and percent of funds allocated.

The core technologies that power our solution are described below:

Our solution is an  application called BarEl, which we developed using database management and Microsoft Excel. Though BarEl application is based on Microsoft Access, it can be upgraded to Express Edition, which has a bigger capacity to store information. It can also be upgraded to SQL Microsoft Azure, which can enable it to reach many users worldwide through cloud services.

BaEl application is interactive, friendly and easily accessible. 

It needs simple training.

It leverages technology, data and expertise. 

It uses predictive modelling to predict patterns.

It delivers a seamless and comprehensive user experience.

It easily saves records and accesses a wealth of valuable information.

It analyzes vast amounts of user data, extracting valuable insights with remarkable accuracy. 

It is a data management tool. 

BarEl application is on-premise.  It is an application for decision support. With it, one can save time on a daily basis; thereby, improving productivity. One can save money because less paper and less labour is used; thereby, enhancing profit margin or surplus. BarEl application provides effective solutions to existing problems; thereby, eliminating a certain amount of stress and saving mental sanity. It is a very easy application to use and learn. It enhances customer management, security and the internal control environment through segregation of duties as a result of multifactor aunthentication, in other words, password security with multiple layers of  protection. It also has a backup for data recovery.. It has security features which prevent unauthorized users from accessing the application to deter manipulation of data.  BarEl application reduces costs, provides clear cut job with authorization. It enables comparison and analysis of data across an organization within a specific period and between two or more periods. It facilitates integration and collaboration across departments. It increases quality and accuracy of information.  It is accurate and fast. It provides up to date information. It is reliable. It produces automated documents. It facilitates the real time production of management information reports. It has an audit trail component. It is capable of easy customization or personalization.  It permits fast and accurate retrieval of data and information. It is flexible e.g availability and design of various reports.  It is able to interact with excel through exporting and importing data facility; thereby, enabling flexible reporting. In many instances, it interprets results or makes decisions - an aspect of Artificial intelligence. It has a training manual as well as videos for training on YouTube and Facebook or Meta.

TK Computers & Consultancy has 4 full-time staff, 3 part-time staff and 6 volunteers.

The four full-time staff are: Thumbiko Shumba,Tiwonge Kuyokwa, Mphatso Simfukwe and Mwayi Mbewe.

Thumbiko Shumba is the CEO & Founder. He holds the Bachelor of Business Administration Degree. He is a writer.  He won Peer Gynt Literary Prize. He retired as Deputy Director of Finance in the Malawi Government.  

Tiwonge Kuyokwa is the Data Analyst.

 Mwayi Mbewe is also the Data analyst. She adds value to the team with her experience in education.   

Humphreys Simfukwe is the IT Coordinator with relevant experience.

We have been working on our solution for seven years.

TK Computers & Consultancy started working on  BarEl application in 2017. It was founded in 2017 in Malawi. 

Below is the explanation of how we ensure that our team is diverse, minimizes barriers to opportunity for staff and provides a welcoming and inclusive environment for all team members.

We incorporate human-centred design. Inclusive and equitable outcomes are considered in the design, implementation, and internal operations of the solution.

TK Computers & Consultancy has a diverse, educated team with different tribes, ages, gender, backgrounds and experiences.

We foster a culture of inclusivity and anti-discrimination. 

We have a diversity policy for hiring.  We hire local talents and the best people. We prioritise diversity, equity and inclusion in our operations, leadership and managerial roles.

We ensure that our leadership team is diverse by promoting women, people with disabilities, youths and ethnic minorities into leadership positions.

Our approach incorporates inclusivity by empowering our target beneficiaries regardless of their socio-economic status, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, or political affiliations. 

We have collaborations and partnership opportunities with organisations and individuals that vigorously promote diversity, equity and inclusion. 

We focus on minority demographics that lack job opportunities . We do not exclude women and the youth.  

We do community involvement. We have gender and inclusive policies and practices. We encourage training and awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusivity among our team members.  We respect everyone regardless of their background. Everyone’s voice is heard. We encourage open dialogue, collaboration and a culture of respect and empathy.  We provide equal opportunities for growth and professional development. We conduct diversity training that helps employees understand how cultural differences can impact how people work and interact at work.  We train and provide support on diversity-related issues. We  advocate an atmosphere of empathy, understanding, acceptance, equal rights and opportunities for all; including, diversity, equity, and inclusivity in everything we do.  We intend to employ multiple individuals with disabilities. 

We train, develop and promote those who would not be able to traditionally access such opportunities.  We work with people from underrepresented groups.  

Diversity, equity, and inclusivity are at the heart of our culture and policies.  Violation of diversity, equity, and inclusivity is punishable.  

We seek feedback from our team members to ensure that their needs are taken into account.  

We collaborate with communities we serve to customize with their needs. We partner with community organizations.  

We oftentimes review our progress on diversity, equity, and inclusivity for continuous improvement.

We ensure that our leadership team is diverse by promoting women, people with disabilities, youths and ethnic minorities into leadership positions.

Our team includes  women, men and the youth. Some of the women we have are as follows: Tiwonge Kuyokwa and Mwayi Mbewe. 

We help employees to understand how individuals are impacted by unconscious bias, and what actions continue to reinforce biases. 

We respect and embrace other people's experiences and realities. 

We observe equal pay for equal work.

We promote awareness of, and acknowledge a variety of upcoming religious and cultural holidays. 

We ensure that people of different gender, cultural background or age are working together. 

We believe in equity and justice.

Our business model has various revenue streams. We provide end-to-end solution via our application under monthly subscription. We sell the application on upfront basis.  Other services that include consulting and training are on fee basis. 

Key Partners  and stakeholders

Entrepreneurs, teachers, learners, government,  NGOs, CBOs,  schools, community leaders, media, social networks, opinion leaders, associations and businesses. 

Knowledge partners:  Axel Angeli of Logos! Informatik GmbH (Germany) and Jasper Bhaumick of UMa Soft GmbH( Switzerland).

Collaborative partners:  Youth and Society (Malawi). Research Partners: Research Software and Systems Engineers  Africa. 

Business and inclusive partners: EMD Consulting Engineers (Malawi) and  BIZ-LOGIC SOLUTIONS LIMITED (Tanzania).

Key Activities 

Mobilisation and training of partners.

Developing training materials.

Training of leaders, influencers and users of BarEl application.

Provide office services and routine activities for management of the project.

Set up monitoring mechanisms and conducting evaluation.

Achieve policy dialogue, coordination and knowledge management through advocacy.

Promote project results.

Customer service.

Support and participation activities. 

Key Resources 

Human – employees and volunteers.

Financial – cash, research, monitoring and evaluation.

Physical - computers.

Cost-driven:

Fixed costs –  salary, rent etc  Variable costs – fuel, allowances, training,  impact assessment costs.

Economies of scale - facilitation allowance.

Intellectual - copyright, knowledge, skills etc.

Cost Structure

Field activities and operating costs (35%) Salaries, Payroll tax (15%),  fees for facilitators and coordinators 20%, accounting and auditing 10%,  evaluation  10%, marketing and communication 10%.   Medical fees and  logistics expenses.

Classes of business structures: Economies of scope –  computer costs, labour, utilities and stationery.

Characteristics of cost structures

Cost of delivery

marketing and logistics.

Social Innovation. Service subsidization, Awareness & Cause, Environmental, Entrepreneur support and Low-income client.

Format of the intervention Provision of BarEl application.

Training workshops on how to use BarEl application.

Development program and collaborative work.

Value Proposition 

Better health.

Better education.

Price of BarEl application is reasonably low.

BarEl application is a quality , convenient, cost-effective, efficient and customizable brand. 

Cost savings.

Time savings. 

Revenue increase. 

Customer satisfaction.

Vertical scaling.

Coverage and impact of workshops.

Coverage and effectiveness of the network.

Network of beneficiaries integrated.

Revenue streams 

Grants.

Revenues due to training workshops and consultancies.

Donations.

Asset sales: revenue from sales of BarEl application.

Participation and support funding.

Subscription fee.

Surplus

This is how we intend to use the surplus:

Make a donation to a social mission-aligned organization.

Reach out to more customers, stakeholders and beneficiaries.

Community reinvestment: reinvest our surplus into growing our social business.

Customer Relationships Personal assistance e.g. social media, forums.

Self-service: user manuals.

Personalized service, repeat custom, loyalty etc.

Consumer benefits

Better health, better education, economic opportunity, better environment and reduction in costs associated with health.

Distribution channels Types of channels

1. Owned channels: website, social media and store front.

2. Partner channels:  retail and social media.

Customer segments: 

Mass market: General public. 

Niche market: 

3: Diversify:  Government, NGOs,  businesses, ethical consumers.

Beneficiaries Entrepreneurs, learners, women, children, girls, youths and everyone,  

Impact measure will be done through these Indicators: economic growth, mortality rates etc 

The solution has a plan for financial viability and the potential to be scaled to affect the lives of more people. 

Our plan for financial sustainability is to combine  different revenue streams to fund our work. 

One of our primary revenue streams will come from selling our product. 

We plan to secure grants and sustained donations . We will diversify donor base, beneficiaries and stakeholders. We are also looking forward for grants or donations from MIT Solve.

We will  partner with governments and other organizations to secure service contracts.   

We will collaborate with our partners on the operational aspects.  

We will engage with a com­mu­nity of investors who are inter­ested in invest­ing in the mis­sion of social busi­nesses. 

We plan to raise investment capital. We will attract equity investors to scale our operations and reach more beneficiaries.

We plan to scale through vertical and horizontal scaling. We will increase customer base through promotional activities. We will use internet and enter more markets; including national, regional and global markets. BarEl application is on YouTube and Face Book marketplaces. We want to join other platforms or marketplaces like MIT Solve.

Our solution can be replicated, enabling it to reach scale and achieve wider and sustainable impact .

Our customers can access our products through subscription, fee-based service, license fee and Software as a Service.

We offer freemium to our potential customers. 

We plan to charge a small fee for installation, maintenance, consultancy and training. 

We plan to charge different prices to different customers,  depending on size, location and type of customer.  

We will effectively and efficiently manage financial and physical resources. We want to achieve profit or  improve our gross and oper­at­ing profit margins or revenue optimization through cost minimization or cost efficiency. We will ensure input efficiency by conducting trainings en-masse and at once; hence, reducing training cost per unit, resulting in higher profit margins. 

We will also be advertising our application called BarEl on partner websites. 

We partnered with Axel Angeli who facilitated a trip to New Delhi for some of our staff for India Soft Event which was organized by the Government of India in 2022 and 2023.

Locally, we partnered with EMD Consulting Engineers and NBM Development Bank.

We invested around $1000 as seed investment capital. We are eyeing for angel investors.

Our plan to achieve financial sustainability has already yielded promising results, as evidenced by the following successful milestones: Freemium to subscription migration: We have secured some paying customers.

We raised $2000 through events and collaborations.

We  also had some revenue through provision of consultancy services. This business activity has the potential of generating $12.5 million annually in Malawi.

We have raised $2000.00 from monthly pension of Thumbiko Shumba, our CEO.

We  man­aged work­ing capital through proper cash management.

We effi­ciently invested cap­i­tal by implementing  investment appraisal techniques and  break-even analy­sis.

The Total Addressable Market for our solution in Malawi is $30 million; and for Africa, it is $3 billion.