Ola Orekunrin Brown: 2024 International Youth Day’s Theme ‘Model
‘From Clicks to Progress: The Digital Pathway for Sustainable Development’.
By David Oletu (DCM)
Technology has come to stay, it is the future, and it belongs to us!
Ola Orekunrin Brown’s digital innovations and large contributions to enhancing digital inclusion are a testament to the United Nations’ recognition of youth as digital natives who use technology to drive change and create solutions.
Happy International Youth Day!
When we were children, our teachers used to tell us that we were the leaders of tomorrow and that the future belonged to us.
Indeed, we can see their claims come into play in our 21st-century reality, where digitalisation abounds!
The future is now! And the youth own it!
Ola Orekunrin Brown: 2024 International Youth Day’s Theme ‘Model
The United Nations recognises youths as ‘digital natives’, who use technology to drive change and create solutions,
revealing that ‘Digital technologies and data contribute to at least 70% of the 169 SDG targets while potentially reducing the cost of achieving the sustainable development goals by up to 55 trillion dollars.
And young people are leading the trail in digital adoption and innovation, with three-quarters of people aged 15–24 using the internet in 2022—a higher rate than other groups.”
It was also discovered that despite so many people’s access to the internet, disparities persist,
particularly in low-income countries and among young women, who often have less access to the internet and digital skills compared to their male counterparts.
The United Nations, therefore, aims to address those issues, raising global awareness of the need to enhance digital inclusion for all from all nations of the world,
with the 2024 International Youth’s Day theme, “From Clicks to Progress: The Digital Pathway for Sustainable Development.”.
Ola Orekunrin Brown: 2024 International Youth Day’s Theme ‘Model
In commemoration of this day, we will be celebrating a global young digital icon, Ola Orekunrin Brown,
whose vision in the digital space models this year’s International Youth Day theme.
Ola Orekunrin Brown has leveraged technology to solve a global health challenge and,
at the same time, invested in and built other health and fintech startups by other young innovators.
She is a medical doctor and the founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria, West Africa’s first air ambulance service.
Her drive to build such a health tech solution stemmed from when her younger sister died tragically while travelling by air in Nigeria.
Ola thought her sister’s death could have been avoided if there were medical air services, but there were none,
so, she created Flying Doctors Tech Solutions to attend to health emergencies that occur in the air.
Aside from building her health tech solutions, she went further to found HealthCap Africa, (https://healthcap.co/ ),
where she focused on investing in early-stage fintech and health-tech startups across the continent.
Presently, with no external capital raised, HealthCap has built a portfolio of over 16 startups across the African fintech and health-tech verticals.
Among the HealthCap Africa startup beneficiaries are:
- Nestcoin nestcoin.com .
“Established in 2021 by Yele Bademosi and Joseph Orilogbon.
They are on a mission to democratise access to economic opportunities for everyday people in frontier markets.
The start-up is doing this by building, operating, and investing in simple products that make crypto accessible to everyone.”
- Helium Health (www.heliumhealth.com )
“Established in 2016 by Adegoke Olubusi, Dimeji Sofowora, Nicholas Moore, and Tito Ovia.
They specialise in developing hospital software to manage patients’ health records and data.
Helium Health helps hospitals digitise medical records, manage operations, and apply for financing while providing a telemedicine solution to doctors.
Using technology to build a modern and affordable healthcare system,
Helium aims to be the largest healthcare data exchange in Africa.”
- MDaaS Global (www.mdaas.io )
“Established in 2016 by Genevieve Barnard, Joe McCord, Oluwasoga Oni, and Opeyemi Ologun.
MDaaS Global operates tech-enabled diagnostic centres in clinically underserved communities.
MDaaS Global connects low-income and middle-income patients with modern, convenient, and affordable diagnostic services,
helping patients to identify health issues earlier, gain access to medical specialists and treatment options, and ultimately, live healthier, happier lives.”
- Infiuss Health (www.infiuss.com )
“Established in 2018 by Melissa Jane BIME, Infiuss Health is Africa’s first remote clinical research platform.
They are democratising and connecting African patients and participants to life-changing medical science.
Infiuss Health decentralises trials by providing remote access to participant screening, recruitment, engagement, e-consent, and follow-up.”
Ola Orekunrin Brown: 2024 International Youth Day’s Theme ‘Model
- Lifestores Healthcare (www.lifestorespharmacy.com )
“Established in 2017 by Andrew Garza and Bryan Mezue.
Lifestores Healthcare is a retail pharmacy start-up bringing disruptive innovation to the pharmaceutical sector by democratising access to quality healthcare.
Lifestores Healthcare is using technology to democratise access to quality and affordable primary healthcare in Africa.”
- Syngen (www.sygenpharma.com )
“Established in 2019 by Charles Ogunwuyi. It is an innovative branded generics life sciences organisation.
Their mission is to develop and create access to high-quality medicines that yield successful outcomes and improve the quality of life of patients in our community.”
- Reelfruit (www.reelfruit.com )
“Established in 2012 by Affiong Williams. ReelFruit is on a mission to inspire delightfulness by offering the tastiest snacks in town.
A first-of-its-kind that offers dried fruit snacks, made in Nigeria but sold around the world.
They are motivated every day to offer the best range of products to their customers across the world.”
- InstantRad (www.instantrad.com )
“Established in 2018 by Seth Quansah. InstantRad is on a mission to provide an instant, secure, and quality platform for radiology reporting.
They provide a platform for connecting medical professionals with the medical images and data needed to produce medical reports.
InstantRad offers a teleradiology platform-as-a-service (TPaas) and a marketplace for healthcare and imaging facilities.
Teleradiology service providers can create and manage their imaging centres, radiologists, patients, and referring physicians.”
- Payhippo (www.payhippo.ng)
“Established in 2018 by Chioma Ruky Okotcha, Uche Nnadi, and Zach Bijesse. PayHippo is making it easier to finance small and medium-sized businesses in Africa.
PayHippo helps SMEs access and spend lender capital effectively.
Their goal is to support growth by providing accessible financing solutions, ensuring quick and seamless access to funds.”
- Healthtracka (www.healthtracka.com )
“Established in 2021 by Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson and Victor Amusan.
Healthtracka is a health innovation company leveraging its seamless operations, digital technology, and innovation to improve access to seamless healthcare in Africa.
Healthtracka provides a digital health platform that allows consumers direct access to lab test bookings, at-home sample collection, and digital results in 1-3 days.”
- Lifebank (www.lifebankcares.com )
“Established in 2015 by Temie Giwa Tubosun to digitise the supply chain for healthcare facilities in Africa.
They connect hospitals to the products they need and the best blood banks across the region in a bid to build the future of African healthcare.”
Ola Orekunrin Brown: 2024 International Youth Day’s Theme ‘Model
- Vesti (www.wevesti.com )
“Established in 2020 by Abimbola Amusan and Olusola Amusan.
Their mission is to be the go-to legal and financial services solution provider for the next 1 billion immigrants.
Vesti is a legal immigration and global migration provider.
They provide financial payments and settlement of migration-related fees, enabling users to move from one place to another and transfer money.
Vesti uses artificial intelligence and blockchain for transactions.”
- Termii (www.termii.com )
“Established in 2014 by Atinuke Idowu, Ayomide Awe, and Emmanuel Gbolade.
Their mission is to provide customer messaging for the next generation of African technology businesses.
Termii provides an online platform that helps teams secure repeat customers by sending personalised emails and SMS through multiple channels.
Termii helps African businesses communicate with customers across SMS, email, voice, and instant messaging channels.”
- Get Equity (www.getequity.io )
“Established in 2021 by Jude Dike, Temitope Babatunde Ekundayo, and Williams Okafor.
GetEquity Inc. is a Nigeria-based investment platform seeking to make funding easy and quick for African start-ups,
while providing the common people with a bite of the booming start-up ecosystem.
The company provides its services through a private marketplace where investors and companies can trade digital securities and assets privately and securely.
The platform allows companies or enterprises to digitalise their assets and create liquidity by managing and syndicating investments.”
- Emergency Response Africa (www.emergencyresponseafrica.com )
“Established in 2019 by Folake Owodunni and Maame Yaa Afriyie Poku.
Emergency Response Africa is a healthcare technology company that is transforming the way medical emergencies are managed in Africa.
With the largest network of First Responders, emergency vehicles like ambulances,
and verified Emergency-Ready hospitals across Nigeria, they connect emergency victims to the help they need 24/7.”
- Koniku (www.koniku.com )
“Established in 2017 by Osh. Agabi and Salys Christina. Koniku is a synthetic biotechnology company.
They leverage synthetic biology merged with silicon to build devices to map all volatile organic compounds that touch human life.
Koniku comes from a Nigerian word that translates to “has no death”, immortal.
They are inspired by the Hydras – the first organisms to have a nervous system.”
- Kyshi (www.kyshi.co/about )
Established in 2020 by Ayo Akindele.
Kyshi is a fintech company that offers financial services,
providing digital expansion services to global companies enabling accelerated expansion and payment reconciliation across Africa.
The company, Kyshi provides a formal, simple, and secure platform for Africans to transact across borders.
They are on a mission to unlock more countries while demystifying money transfers one currency at a time, connecting you to Africa.
Ola Orekunrin Brown: 2024 International Youth Day’s Theme ‘Model
Ola Orekunrin Brown’s digital innovations and large contributions to enhancing digital inclusion are a testament to the United Nations’ recognition of youth as digital natives who use technology to drive change and create solutions.
There are many other Ola Orekunrin out there solving problems using digital technology;
however, we should not forget that there are also some youths and women with good potential in problem-solving,
and striving to be like the Ola Orekunrin but faced with certain limitations, such as a lack of funds and an enabling environment.
Thanks to initiatives such as ‘hackaholics’ by Wema (www.hackaholics.wemabank.com )
and a host of others who have also come to encourage, equip, and invest in more startups’ digital solutions in a bid to ensure that no solution-driven young digital innovator is left out in this fast-paced digital era.
But, on this day, the United Nations encourages more good innovations and support for communities and people who lack digital skills.
Technology has come to stay, it is the future, and it belongs to us!
Happy International Youth Day!
Also Read: Readers are Leaders: National Book Lovers Day, 2024! – Diademng (thediademng.org)
Ola Orekunrin Brown: 2024 International Youth Day’s Theme ‘Model
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