Kenya - Startup under 3 years old

Describe your project or startup in a few words

A dental facility focused on providing comprehensive oral healthcare with a patient centered approach. We aim to combine state of the art technology, experienced professionals and an inviting environment ensuring highest quality services for all.

01.01 Describe your startup in more detail

The facility is a pioneering startup aimed at transforming oral healthcare in Kenya founded by two female dentists. With a deep passion for improving oral health, they are committed to bridging the significant gaps existing in dental care access and quality in the region. They bring years of experience, training and deep commitment to the practice. Their passion stems from professional dedication and experiences that drive them to address the existing disparities in oral healthcare in the country. With a mission to provide excellent dental healthcare services with state of the art equipment and a vision to be the most preferred dental Centre in Africa, we strive to ensure provision of a wide array of oral healthcare services while creating a community where everyone regardless of their socioeconomic status can achieve and maintain excellent oral health. Innovative approaches, community outreach/education, affordable care initiatives are among strategies employed for this.

01.02 What is the main problem you are trying to solve?

The significant disparity in access to quality oral healthcare is one of the major problems we hope to solve. Many areas in our country especially the rural suffer from lack of access to adequate dental care leading to high prevalence of oral healthcare conditions that are otherwise preventable. We hope to be able to provide comprehensive, affordable and accessible dental care as well community oral health education programs. One of our goals is to be able to acquire a mobile dental unit to facilitate in ensuring we solve some of these problems in the community.

01.03 Tell us the major benefits and/or advantages of using the product/service that your startup provides (at least 3).

The major benefits include provision of comprehensive oral health care and dental treatment involving patient history, examination, investigations and diagnosis. Patient centered approach, specialized dental services such as cosmtic treatment, implants and orthodontic treatment. Affordable dental care with flexible payment plans, preventive focus in oral healthcare and enabling improved access to oral healthcare to help reduce oral health burden in the Kenyan population.

01.04 Please describe who exactly your startup’s product/service is aimed at serving. Who are the targeted beneficiaries?

The underserved populations in both the rural and urban setting of our country. children, adolescents, families, schools and educational institutions, cooperates, patients that are differently enabled, those with history of dental phobia and anxiety, the elderly. Our hope is anyone despite their socioeconomic status and background is able to access oral healthcare services from us and have their dental needs addressed.

01.05 When was your company established?

2024-08-11

01.06 Are you already selling your product/service?

Yes

01.07 How many other owners are there within your startup?

1

01.08 Among the other owners, how many are female?

1

01.09 Please describe the profile of the other owners within your startup (skills, experience, etc.)

Dr. Clara Njoroge, the other founder is a committed dentist with ability to provide exceptional and gentle dental care. She is grounded by the core values of excellence, team work, accountability and reverence to God. She is compassionate and endeavors to ensure patient centered services of utmost quality standards. An inspiration to me and others in the dental field, she serves as an example of female capability in the dental field as well as in entrepreneurship. She is an experienced dentist with additional skills in the specialty field of orthodontic dental care. She stands as an exemplary member of our team and one of our founders.

01.10 If you have a website, a social media page (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin…), or app, please provide the link(s) here:

https://dentmindkaren.co.ke

01.11 Which industry best describes your project?

f) Healthcare (healthcare equipment and services)

02.01.01 My startup contributes to the No poverty goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.01.02 No poverty - Justification for my startup

we contribute by providing affordable dental care to all, flexible payment plans especially for the specialized services. job creation through recruitment and hiring, fair wages and benefits for our staff members. ensuring improved healthcare outcomes to ensure wellbeing for all individuals thus maintaining their productivity and economic activity. addressing oral health problems promptly help reduce absenteeism from work and school which can cause a great negative impact on ones productivity, income and educational progress. these serve to empower the general population help enable them to be at their optimal productive state ensuring ease in participating in economic activities that serve to cut off poverty.

02.02.01 My startup contributes to the Zero hunger goal

5

02.02.02 Zero hunger - Justification for my startup

Through provision of our services, we mitigate some of the oral conditions that may make it difficult to feed such as dental pain, tooth loss among others. As part of our comprehensive dental care services, we provide patient education on proper nutrition and diet counselling both as preventive measure as well as ensuring general wellbeing of our patients and the general population. our treatment integration and care looks at the patient as whole.

02.03.01 My startup contributes to the Good health and well-being goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.03.02 Good health and well-being - Justification for my startup

this is through the services that we offer. by offering preventive oral care, dental restorative treatments, Specialized dental services such as cosmetic dental treatment that play a role in health in general, patient education to empower them to take charge of their general wellbeing with oral health being part of that. education to our patients on the role of oral health to general systemic health and how some condition such as diabetes can be influenced by the status of ones oral health. The world health organization describes health as being mental, physical and emotion. We strive to look at our patients as a whole to ensure we serve them as per this description. This is achievable through our holistic patient centered approach of care.

02.04.01 My startup contributes to the Quality education goal

5

02.04.02 Quality education - Justification for my startup

through community outreach programs, we demistify the myths about oral healthcare and provide scientific facts on oral health and its impact to the well being of a population. as we expand, we hope to train and offer programs on community oral health. we hope to set up programs that enable us to partner with educational institutions to ensure the right information is given to the younger population on oral health and entrepreneurship skills. In our facility we ensure to provide the right information with scientific backing to our patients ensuring they are well informed and participate in decision making towards treatment plans tailored for them.

02.05.01 My startup contributes to the Gender equality goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.05.02 Gender equality - Justification for my startup

Our founders, being two qualified female dentists, serve as an example on the capability of women in different fields including the dental field and entrepreneurship. We also strive to ensure gender equality during recruitment and hiring

02.06.01 My startup contributes to the Clean water and sanitation goal

5

02.06.02 Clean water and sanitation - Justification for my startup

our role in this is through community education on safe and clean water for cooking and drinking. we also advocate for policies to ensure safe and clean water provision. with the huge impact that fluoride has on dental development, we promote ensuring use of clean fresh water. we encourage our policy makers to work towards ensuring water safety, especially borehole water in which a lot of members of our population have been affected by dental fluorosis as result of high fluoride content in borehole waters.

02.07.01 My startup contributes to the Affordable and clean energy goal

3

02.07.02 Affordable and clean energy - Justification for my startup

02.08.01 My startup contributes to the Decent work and economic growth

5

02.08.02 Decent work and economic growth - Justification for my startup

As we grow, we work towards promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth. We ensure decent working hours and remuneration for all our staff and maintain productive hiring . Through provision of our services, we mitigate conditions that may negatively impact the productivity levels and promote absenteeism at working institutions and educational facilities. we believe a s a business and through our services we promote economic growth and winning this grant will aid us greatly in our our impact towards sustainable growth.

02.09.01 My startup contributes to the Industry innovation and infrastructure

4

02.09.02 Industry innovation and infrastructure - Justification for my startup

The advanced dental equipment used at our facility requires routine maintenance and servicing. By working and partnering with local biomedical engineers, we are fostering inclusivity and industrialization while offering opportunities to build long-lasting partnerships.

02.10.01 My startup contributes to the Reduced inequalities goal

6

02.10.02 Reduced inequalities - Justification for my startup

oral healthcare services are considered to be very expensive and a luxury only accessible to the rich and well off in our country. we continuously work towards raising awareness on the importance of oral health for all. our services are tailored for everyone with access and affordability being one of our main goals in how we serve. we strive towards ensuring everyone regardless of their socioeconomic status, background, gender

02.11.01 My startup contributes to the Sustainable cities and communities goal

5

02.11.02 Sustainable cities and communities - Justification for my startup

our focus is oral healthcare for all with a special attention to the underserved both within the urban areas and the rural areas of our region. this will ensure we can achieve one of our goals where oral healthcare is accessible to all. We hope by winning the grant, we shall be able to achieve a nd sustain this goal.

02.12.01 My startup contributes to the Responsible consumption and production goal

6

02.12.02 Responsible consumption and production - Justification for my startup

we ensure this through utilization of digital records, usage of biodegradable and recyclable office supplies, acquisition of machines that are energy efficient reducing on consumption of power, proper waste disposition with clear guidelines on segregation of waste, sustainable procurements such as local sourcing and buying dental materials that are environmentally friendly. Through oral health education, we provide our patients with environmentally friendly tips while still promoting oral health and well being.

02.13.01 My startup contributes to the Climate action goal

5

02.13.02 Climate action - Justification for my startup

by utilizing new innovative ways to offer our services while minimizing our negative impact on the climate. These include digitizing our operations to minimize on paperwork, utilization of digital and advanced machines that reduce wastage of production of harmful waste products such as in with some of our dental materials. Through this grant we can also invest in more advanced equipment such as digital intraoral scanners minimizing our usage of plastic materials to record dental impressions.

02.14.01 My startup contributes to the Life below water goal

3

02.14.02 Life below water - Justification for my startup

02.15.01 My startup contributes to the Life on land goal

3

02.15.02 Life on land - Justification for my startup

Through ensuring we follow proper waste disposal guidelines and working with certified waste management companies to dispose off clinical and office waste

02.16.01 My startup contributes to the Peace Justice and Strong Institutions goal

4

02.16.02 Peace Justice and Strong Institutions- Justification for my startup

we provide oral healthcare services for all without any bias or discrimination based on socioeconomic background, gender or disability, we believe everyone in our region and the world at large has a right to access good and quality healthcare services .

02.17.01 My startup contributes to the Partnerships for the goal

5

02.17.02 Partnerships for the goal - Justification for my startup

The founders are trained clinicians. However, we hope to partner with other entrepreneurs to broaden our skills in other fields and how we impact each other to ensure sustainable growth in our region. one of the ways this challenge can help us is through coaching and training in this regard. we are open to learning and guidance as we venture into new aspects of our field while still promoting oral healthcare for all. This is also achievable through our participation networking forums and conferences to learn on strategies that can enable entrepreneurial success. we also work towards global partnership to discover new and innovative ways of maintaining quality in our field of service through, working with manufacturers of dental equipment and learning new technologies that we can employ.

06.01 There are a large number of customers who already use a product/service very similar to the product/service we envision creating.

3

06.02 The product/service represents an entirely new type of product/service.

2

06.03 The product/service could be described as a new technology.

3

06.04 The product/service is an improvement on an existing product or service.

5

06.05 The product/service could be described as an extension of a range of products or services.

7 - Strongly Agree

06.06 The product/service responds to a demand or need that has not been satisfied by other products/services.

6

06.07 The product/service is a new version of an old product/service.

3

06.08 Justification for my startup

our services are an extension of existing dental services, however our approach in provision of these services make us unique. we ensure a friendly environment at our facility without down grading on quality care standards as defined by medical boards and the ministry of health. We strive to look at the patient as whole to ensure all rounded care and partner with other healthcare providers to ensure general wellbeing of all our patients. we keep working towards acquisition of advanced dental equipment and technologies that set us apart to ensure highest level of care with efficiency and quality in mind.

06.09 Competitive Analysis

Our main competitors are well established dental clinics, government dental facilities and other private practitioners. we stand out in various aspects such as through our founders who bring in their passion for oral healthcare and their expertise in the matter, our strong emphasis on the underserved population to ensure everyone regardless of their socioeconomic status receives quality dental care. we also focus on a comprehensive and personalized oral healthcare approach in provision of our services with a patient centered approach. support and promotion of female entrepreneurship is another aspect that sets us apart. leveraging and technological advancement in dentistry is another way we ensure to stand out.

11.05 Are you initiating actions within your community to promote the role of female entrepreneurs?

By having two female founders that hope to serve as an example and inspire other women in the field to venture into entrepreneurship. We also hope create mentorship programs for young females especially doctors to promote their capability as young entrepreneurs. Part of our business plan is to also collaborate with women's organizations to promote oral health and foster entrepreneurship for women as our startup grows. we also foster female entrepreneurship through our recruitment practices by prioritizing women as well as supporting the professional development of those we hire and hope to hire in future as we grow. By our actions, we hope to contribute to a shift towards a greater acceptance and support for female entrepreneurs.