Seeing how healthcare can fault women firsthand, Kemi Olawoye knew she needed to make a change and disrupt the harmful cycle in the maternal health industry. By co-founding the online forum Babymigo, Olawoye broke into the femtech industry and started a resource to connect African mothers and soon-to-be mothers with the support they need. Babymigo is making significant strides in femtech, and we talked to Olawoye about her journey, her company and what drives her to help women in their pregnancy and parenting journey.
Why did you create a parenting forum like Babymigo? What/who inspired you?
Babymigo was built as a result of my Co-Founder and my desire to leverage technology to empower and equip expecting mothers and parents across Africa with culturally relevant information, tools and resources to make their parenting journey easier and smoother.
My Co-Founder and I come from healthcare backgrounds and we both realized during our early career days, a mother’s need for community, localized content and hyperlocal support services carefully curated and adapted to the African context. In addition, reports by international organizations including WHO and United Nations have identified African countries like Nigeria as one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth, citing poor maternal health education, inadequate access to healthcare professionals among others as part of the leading causes.
You have worked as a Physiotherapist in Nigeria; How have your experiences in the Nigerian health field guided you in founding Babymigo?
I had previously worked as a physiotherapist in a private hospital in Nigeria and led the women’s health unit of the department. During this time, I interacted with several pregnant women who constantly shared their challenges with me. These challenges included untimely access to trained medical personnel, lack of culturally relevant health information, resources and tools, inadequate hyper local support services among several others.
Subsequently, I met my Co-Founder who had a similar experience working in a Primary Health Care Center. We decided to leverage technology to solve the problem and founded Babymigo.
Why is a community like Babymigo needed, specifically for women in Nigeria?
Every day, approximately 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth with 99% of them being from developing countries such as Nigeria, where the lack of education is as much a cause of this as poor health care is. A study by WHO in Maternal Health in Nigeria (2019), revealed Nigeria as one of the most dangerous places to give birth in the world. A Nigerian woman has a 1 in 22 lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy, childbirth or postpartum related causes, whereas in the most developed countries, the lifetime risk is 1 in 4900.
Babymigo is Nigeria’s fastest growing pregnancy and parenting community. We provide expecting mums as well as parents across Africa with expert-led information, tools and resources, community support and concierge services relating to pregnancy, childbirth and parenting.
At Babymigo, our goal is to improve maternal and child health outcomes thereby shaping the Africa of tomorrow.
How did you overcome certain challenges in creating Babymigo and innovating in the femtech industry?
One challenge we had while building Babymigo was hiring right. This was a significant obstacle for us at the beginning, and I’ve observed that many African entrepreneurs face similar difficulties. Making the right hire is also one thing, leading the team to produce desired outcomes is another. However, our team members have grown to understand the vision and are running with it.
How would you describe femtech in your own words and why is it important to feminism?
“Femtech” is a category of technology that refers to products, apps and other digital services focused on women’s health. Women’s health is often under-represented. Hence, developing, categorizing and recognizing tech solutions that address female health needs exclusively, including diagnostic tools, software, mobile apps and wearables is extremely crucial to improving the health of the female population globally.
As a female-led and women focused startup, Babymigo is constantly working on and developing innovative solutions and resources to equip and empower pregnant women and mothers across Africa.
What advice can you offer to women who want to get into the tech industry, but don’t know where to start?
Identify and develop the unique tech/non-tech skills you will bring onboard, connect with others on the same/similar journey, take on internship/mentorship opportunities, stay committed to learning, unlearning, relearning and execution.
How can tech help improve the health and wellness of women? How have you seen tech change the lives of women?
Tech is making it possible for women to manage their health and well-being on a more precise and personalized level than ever before. From fertility tracking apps to community-based motherhood platforms like Babymigo and to easy access to women- geared medical advice virtually, tech platforms are certainly giving the women’s health market a long-overdue makeover.
What are the most common topics that Babymigo members want to see on your forum, and how do you provide relevant content for them ?
We have a carefully selected team of healthcare experts including gynecologists, pediatricians, midwives, nutritionists among others who write and curate medically- approved content for our users. Questions asked by mothers on the platform vary across different topic areas including physiological changes in pregnancy, labor and delivery, newborn care, immunization and, fertility among several others.
What kind of impact do you want to see Babymigo make on the lives of women?
The lack of access to affordable healthcare and a trusted support network for expecting moms and parents are a large and growing problem, making our mission that much more important.
At Babymigo, we believe the 400 million mothers in Africa deserve access to an inclusive support system to help make informed decisions during pregnancy and parenthood. This is a fundamental human right and we are committed to being the most trusted ally for mothers in the pursuit of good health and well-being.
What plans do you have for Babymigo in the future?
Expansion and continuous development of innovative products to empower expecting mums and parents across Africa.
