Meet the couple taking Nigeria’s Diagnostics to the Next Level

Oluwasoga Oni first got the idea to start MDaaS in 2015 during a seminar he took at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) while pursuing a master's degree in Systems Engineering and Management that challenged him and his classmates to create a business that might influence a billion people. MDaaS is an abbreviation for "Medical Devices as a Service."

With a medical background, he took advantage of the chance to provide a solution to a problem he had firsthand experience with: the lack of quality medical equipment in Nigerian hospitals. MDaaS Global was founded in January 2016 with the goal of addressing the problem faced by thousands of Nigerian health facilities.

“The business idea had been percolating for a while as I grew up around health care,” Oluwasoga told TechCabal. “My father is a medical doctor who has run a hospital in a small town in Nigeria for over 35 years, and I witnessed the issues he faced accessing medical equipment. So, the challenge of accessing quality medical equipment is close to home for me.”

Oluwasoga saw a huge social and business opportunity to better serve low- and middle-income patients based on his personal experience and studies across Nigeria.

The health-tech company was co-founded by a diverse team including Opeyemi Ologun, Joe McCord, and Genevieve Barnard Oni.

According to Oluwasoga, who started his career in Software Engineering before shifting to Systems Engineering, the founding team's experiences helped them prepare to establish their firm from the ground up. "In the early days, when it was truly just the four of us, our different backgrounds, skills, and strengths were incredibly useful."

Ologun is a trained engineer with a wealth of operational and sales expertise in Nigeria. Joe, on the other hand, holds a Master's degree in Supply Chain Management and has overseen supply networks in 11 African nations, including Nigeria.

Genevieve holds a Master's degree in Business and Public Administration and has worked in Uganda, Malawi, and Ghana. She has a background in Public Health and International Development. She spent the most of her time working at rural public health clinics. However, she, like Oluwasoga, witnessed the difficulties doctors confront while working with limited resources and other inefficiencies in the medical equipment industry.

While co-running MDaaS Global, Oluwasoga and Genevieve Barnard Oni have been married for nearly three years. Some couples would find the notion unpleasant because they demand a clear distinction between work and home life, while others would find it appealing because they want to work with their partners.

 Finding a balance between work and family time is critical for Oluwasoga and Genevieve. "As all founders know, it's impossible not to concentrate on your business 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and being married to your co-founder can make it much more challenging," he said.

The startup secured some funding from an angel investor after starting the firm from Oluwasoga’s MIT class and went to Nigeria to launch full-time on the healthcare project.

The company began with direct sales (and service support) of secondary medical equipment from US markets to Nigerian hospitals in its early stages. However, the majority of their customers had difficulty affording the tools. MDaaS tried a leasing model, but it failed as well.

“We initially provided refurbished medical equipment sales, leasing, and servicing to small and medium hospitals. But we saw that most of our target hospitals lacked the economies of scale needed to justify these capital outlays, even at our reduced prices,” Oluwasoga said.

MDaaS then opted to make its existing asset-sharing model available to the public. Instead of equipping individual health facilities, MDaas builds and operates contemporary, tech-enabled diagnostic centers that pool demand from small and medium-sized healthcare providers in underserved areas.

MDaaS provides imaging, cardiology, and lab services to help identify and treat life-threatening diseases, particularly non-communicable diseases (NCDs), earlier. Its services serve to address Nigerians' lack of access to diagnostics and preventative treatment, which has long been a major issue in the country's underfunded healthcare system.