What does it take to disrupt traditional ways of fighting poverty, delivering aid, and providing healthcare in Africa? Veteran digital health / healthtech entrepreneur Rowena Luk interviews social entrepreneurs, impact investors, and activists on how they went from an idea to demonstrating impact, raising funds, and creating sustainable social enterprises. For anyone looking for a better way to do good, explore the strategies and tools successful innovators are applying to make change that lasts. AidEvolved.com
Episodes
Tuesday Dec 15, 2020
Fostering a Culture of Innovation in Malawi with Gerry Douglas
Tuesday Dec 15, 2020
Tuesday Dec 15, 2020
Gerry Douglas is known for many things: for founding Baobab Health Trust in Malawi, for his work as the Director of the Center for Health Informatics for the Underserved at the University of Pittsburgh, and most recently as the founder of the Global Health Informatics Institute (GHII) in Lilongwe, Malawi. Anyone working in digital health in Malawi has likely worked with Gerry, or with an organization he founded, or with a student he helped to train.
In this episode of Aid, Evolved, we uncover the little-known story of Gerry’s career before he went to Malawi or started Baobab. We talk through the early years of Baobab and the many technical and financial risks involved. And we hear what inspired Gerry to do it all again with the recent creation of GHII. Along the way, we discuss hardware prototyping using parts from eBay, the next generation of social enterprises Gerry hopes to launch, and the one thing Gerry would do differently if he had it all to do over again.
To find out more, access the show notes at https://AidEvolved.com
Let us know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@AidEvolved) or by email (hello@AidEvolved.com)
Tuesday Dec 08, 2020
Starting by Luck and Succeeding by Grit with Yaw Anokwa of ODK
Tuesday Dec 08, 2020
Tuesday Dec 08, 2020
Yaw Anokwa is founder and CEO of ODK. ODK's mission is to design, build, deploy and support offline data collection software for low-resource settings. ODK is one of the most popular data collection tools used in the aid sector, and forms the foundation for a rich global community of users active in every country on the planet. In this episode, Yaw shares the story of ODK's humble beginnings as a sabbatical project. He recounts the serendipitous start of the effort, how to build the community needed to support open-source software, and the persistence required to create a career building free software.
To find out more, access the show notes at https://AidEvolved.com
Let us know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@AidEvolved) or by email (hello@AidEvolved.com)
Tuesday Dec 01, 2020
Finding Your Way into Digital Health with Derek Treatman of Vital Wave
Tuesday Dec 01, 2020
Tuesday Dec 01, 2020
Derek Treatman is a Senior Director of Technology Solutions at Vital Wave, where he supports governments and nonprofits in low-resource countries to use readily-available technologies to improve health services.
In this episode, we hear about the risks, perseverance and creativity with which Derek pursued and ultimately landed his dream job. We trace his journey from college graduate through the various twists and turns of life across four continents, in order to break into the challenging sector of digital health and development. Through it all, we also touch on the role of language in opening doors and fostering communication across countries, cultures, and partners.
To find out more, access the show notes or subscribe to our newsletter at https://AidEvolved.com
Let us know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@AidEvolved) or by email (hello@AidEvolved.com)