Michael Macharia recalls driving away from his house with a nosebleed, the second time this had happened to him. He phoned his doctor, who advised him to undergo certain laboratory tests.
“But I think he suspected I wouldn’t take them; it was a busy day anyway. So, he sent a lab technician to my office to take samples. After the results and doctor’s review, I liaised with a pharmacy that used a rider to deliver the drugs,” he told TechCrunch.
Macharia identified a market vacuum in the supply of health care following his medical assessment. He recognized that no platform in Kenya functioned as a one-stop shop for anything related to health care.
“The doctors, labs, pharmacy, payment and delivery providers exist, but why are they not interconnected? I found out that nobody had attempted to combine this whole ecosystem into one; it was something we needed to do. Why not?”
As a result, he founded Ponea Health, a marketplace for healthcare services. According to TechCrunch, the network connects patients, healthcare practitioners, and other service providers, including those in the payment area. Furthermore, the portal allows members to easily find medical physicians and other health officials, facilities, and healthcare packages based on their demands, location, and associated expenses.
Consultations could be done digitally or physically once a user is connected to a physician, depending on the seriousness of the patient’s case. Ponea connects consumers to lab service providers for sample collection if the physician recommends tests.
“We also have our own phlebotomists, who collect blood samples sometimes, because we have realized that we have to start controlling the last-mile experience for patients,” said Macharia.
Ponea has 400 health and wellness specialists on board since its inception in 2019. The platform also has over 15,000 customers, making it one of Kenya’s and Africa’s fastest-growing health digital firms.
In the next three years, the company hopes to achieve 500,000 clients and expand into areas like as South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, and Morocco.
“We have built a scalable product that integrates easily with others because from the word go, we set out to build a platform that should work in any part of the world. This means we do not build what is available. We look at strategic engagement by allowing API integration at a global level,” said Macharia.
Ponea has received $4.3 million in funding thus far from Afya Partners, Shield Capital, Seven Seas Technologies, and angel investors such as Bhavesh Shah, Herman Langen, Franciscus Olsthoorn, and Kalpesh Mehta.
Macharia spent time in East Africa before founding Ponea, aiding businesses to improve their service delivery. He worked for the East African government as well as the telco Safaricom.