Nigeria - Business creation project

Describe your project or startup in a few words

dentIN is a telehealthcare software aimed at improving the utilization of oral healthcare by enhancing oral healthcare access and offering alternative financing options other than out-of-pocket.

01.01 Describe your project in more detail

dentIN will be providing mobile application and USSD that would connect patients to dentist/dental clinics, while also providing soft dental care loan to patients who cannot afford immediate dental care as prescribed by the clinician. Additionally, as an upselling strategy, in our 4th year, we'll be introducing credit-linked dental care insurance, crowdfunding and free dental services through partner organizations. In general, dentIN intends to increase access to dental care, while providing alternative funding for dental treatment other than out-of-pocket payment. Furthermore; 1. By partnering with network providers like MTN (MTN MoMo), patients, dentist, and dental clinics, can create a dental care wallet in the app or via USSD 2. The wallet can only be used to pay for services obtained via dentIN (consultation and/or treatment obtained at a listed dental clinic) 3. The patient wallet can only debit to another dentIN wallet, and can be used to obtain soft dental care loan.

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

The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2022 reported that about 3.5 billion people worldwide suffer from oral diseases, with three-quarters of them residing in middle to low-income nations, of which Nigeria is a part. In Nigeria, there is a 43.9% (98 million people) prevalence rate of dental disease. Despite this, utilization of oral health care is grossly poor, with only 10% of cases receiving any form of treatment. Among untreated cases, 58% are due to high cost of treatment, while 42% struggle with access to care, either due to the long distance to dental facilities (32%) or poor awareness of oral health care (78%).

01.03 Tell us the major benefits and/or advantages of using the product/service that your project intends to provide (at least 3).

1. Through dentIN, Nigerians (users) can consult a dentist via voice or video call anytime, anywhere. 2. The adoption of USSD for our solution allows that the underserved majority of Nigerians without digital access (67%), can benefit from our services 3. Our research highlighted that the major reason for poor utilization of oral health care in Nigeria is the high cost of care (58%), hence, by providing alternative funding for oral health care such as soft dental care loan, crowdfunding and credit-linked insurance, this barrier is eliminated.

01.04 Please describe who exactly your project is aimed at serving. Who are the targeted beneficiaries?

Our product will be serving over 89 million Nigerians who make up the 90% others with untreated dental diseases, and who are constantly at risk of developing oral health complications such as, ludwig angina, cavernous sinus thrombosis, or death. Additionally, we'll be serving over 4000 dentist and over 300 dental clinis scattered across Nigeria. Our believe is that, although there is a low patient to dentist ratio in Nigeria (1:54,000), our solution will somewhat bridge the gap of access to care, and make efforts at improving that figure, by helping more persons consult dentist without the challenge of distance from dental facility or high cost of care.

01.05 When did you start working on your project?

2024-05-01

01.06 How many other partners are associated with your business venture?

4

01.07 Among the other partners, how many are female?

3

01.08 Please describe the profile of each of the other partners (skills, experience, etc.)

Caleb Godson Male A product designer with 1 year of experience Blessing Nnamani Female A product manager with 2-3 years of experience Ozioma Michael Female A software developer with 2-3 years of experience Chiamaka Molokwu Female A quality assurance engineer with 1 year of experience

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

01.10 Which industry best describes your project?

f) Healthcare (healthcare equipment and services)

02.01.01 My project contributes to the No poverty goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.01.02 No poverty - Justification

02.02.01 My project contributes to the Zero hunger goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.02.02 Zero hunger - Justification

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

7 - Strongly Agree

02.03.02 Good health and well-being - Justification

The target of SDG number 3 is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. It is inevitable that as long as the pursuit of living such as eating will never cease to exist, the need for dental care will never cease to exist, but rather, will keep rising. For a developing nation such as Nigeria, the burden of such need will remain underserved if strategies and technology is not adopted. dentIN reimagines oral health care, by enhancing access to dental treatment, anytime, anywhere.

02.04.01 My project contributes to the Quality education goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.04.02 Quality education - Justification

02.05.01 My project contributes to the Gender equality goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.05.02 Gender equality - Justification

02.06.01 My project contributes to the Clean water and sanitation goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.06.02 Clean water and sanitation - Justification

02.07.01 My project contributes to the Affordable and clean energy goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.07.02 Affordable and clean energy - Justification

02.08.01 My project contributes to the Decent work and economic growth

7 - Strongly Agree

02.08.02 Decent work and economic growth - Justification

Our software will be an all exclusive solution that allows dentists consult patients on the go, making extra money. Through job listings provided by the dental clinics or hospitals in our directory, dentist can find jobs in new cities without hassle. Additionally, the strong algorithm and rating option provided by our solution allows dental clinics and hospitals prioritize patient care, stand a chance of getting more patients due to the rating of their previous patients. This will generally improve the economy of the country, especially in the health sector.

02.09.01 My project contributes to the Industry innovation and infrastructure

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.09.02 Industry innovation and infrastructure - Justification

02.10.01 My project contributes to the Reduced inequalities goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.10.02 Reduced inequalities - Justification

02.11.01 My project contributes to the Sustainable cities and communities goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.11.02 Sustainable cities and communities - Justification

02.12.01 My project contributes to the Responsible consumption and production goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.12.02 Responsible consumption and production - Justification

02.13.01 My project contributes to the Climate action goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.13.02 Climate action - Justification

02.14.01 My project contributes to the Life below water goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.14.02 Life below water - Justification

02.15.01 My project contributes to the Life on land goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.15.02 Life on land - Justification

02.16.01 My project contributes to the Peace justice and strong institutions goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.16.02 Peace justice and strong institutions - Justification

02.17.01 My project contributes to the Partnerships for the goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.17.02 Partnerships for the goal - Justification

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

1 - Strongly Disagree

05.02 The product/service we envision creating represents an entirely new type of product/service.

7 - Strongly Agree

05.03 The product/service we envision creating could be described as a new technology.

7 - Strongly Agree

05.04 The product/service we envision creating is an improvement on an existing product or service.

3

05.05 The product/service we envision creating could be described as an extension of a range of products or services.

1 - Strongly Disagree

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

7 - Strongly Agree

05.07 The product/service we envision creating is a new version of an old product/service.

1 - Strongly Disagree

05.08 Justification

The solution we'll be offering completely reimagines oral healthcare financing. In Nigeria, we have more person with oral diseases than those who can afford oral healthcare. Therefore, if there exist, alternatives that will allow people utilize oral healthcare when they need them, without being worried about the cost of treatment, the prevalence of oral health complications will drastically reduce. Additionally, USSD allows everyone regardless of social class to be a part of the oral health care users no matter the cost or distance of health facility.

05.09 Who are your main potential competitors and what makes you stand out from them?

Our competitors may include existing telemedicine companies such as mymedicare, unfortunate, their software is less developed to accommodate the peculiarity of the dental profession. Also, there exist other teledentistry companies such as; mydentist, teledentix, virtual dental care, sesame, dentalchat e.t.c, however, most of this companies utilize websites in century where mobile applications are preferred to websites. For the companies that utilize websites, they have several limitations that makes our solution unique and first of it's kind. PRICE: While they charge about $5-8 for consultation, our consultation fee will be ~$3 COVERAGE: They can only serve population with digital access, however, our USSD eliminates technological bias HUMAN CONNECTION: They don't provide alternative financing options or allow the use of insurance in payment for service. dentIN will be providing alternative financing for oral health care, and allow the use of insurance in utilizing our services.

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

Yes. My team consist of 60% females.