Nigeria - Startup under 3 years old

Describe your project or startup in a few words

Helpa is a healthcare and social fundraising platform that allows people with critical illnesses to raise money for their medical expenses

01.01 Describe your startup in more detail

Helpa.me is Africa's premiere fundraising platform providing alternative healthcare financing via crowdfunding. With Helpa, Africans anywhere in the world can easily and transparently raise and donate funds for medical causes.

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

Access to medical financing for critically ill Africans.

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

Access to medical financing for critically ill Africans. Having witnessed the high rate of mortality amongst Africans, especially due to the lack of funds to finance their medical expenses, we decided to solve this problem by using the power of Ubuntu and technology.

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

Helpa was built to solve the challenges that critically ill people and their friends/families face with medical fundraising on the tenet of transparency and ease of use. We have created a fundraising platform fully integrated with payment processing and identity verification technologies. Our platform has been used to raise over 70 million Naira from over 12,000 local and international donors since its launch. We also have a community of over 70 volunteers working to raise awareness on the need to cater to the critically ill.

01.05 When was your company established?

2021-06-26

01.06 Are you already selling your product/service?

Yes

01.07 How many other owners are there within your startup?

3

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.)

Rashidat Amode is a product designer-manager and serial entrepreneur. She has years of management experience in various design roles. She's a graduate of Biochemistry and likes to meet new people and talk about money management and solving problems on the African continent. Temitope Bamidele is a Software Engineer with over 5 years of experience in building scalable enterprise applications. He has helped breathe life into ideas, transforming them into viable products/solutions using technology.

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

https://helpa.me

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

4

02.01.02 No poverty - Justification for my startup

02.02.01 My startup contributes to the Zero hunger goal

2

02.02.02 Zero hunger - Justification for my startup

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

Helpa's core value proposition is to champion access to Health Care financing which is still a critical challenge in Africa due to the very poor medical insurance penetration in Africa. We strongly believe that no African should have to die because they couldn't afford the critical medical care that they need.

02.04.01 My startup contributes to the Quality education goal

3

02.04.02 Quality education - Justification for my startup

02.05.01 My startup contributes to the Gender equality goal

2

02.05.02 Gender equality - Justification for my startup

02.06.01 My startup contributes to the Clean water and sanitation goal

4

02.06.02 Clean water and sanitation - Justification for my startup

02.07.01 My startup contributes to the Affordable and clean energy goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.07.02 Affordable and clean energy - Justification for my startup

02.08.01 My startup contributes to the Decent work and economic growth

2

02.08.02 Decent work and economic growth - Justification for my startup

02.09.01 My startup contributes to the Industry innovation and infrastructure

3

02.09.02 Industry innovation and infrastructure - Justification for my startup

02.10.01 My startup contributes to the Reduced inequalities goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.10.02 Reduced inequalities - Justification for my startup

We believe every African should have equal access to medical care irrespective of their socio-economic background. This is the core of our message and why we believe in our collective ability as Africans (Ubuntu) to make Africa healthier and more equal.

02.11.01 My startup contributes to the Sustainable cities and communities goal

2

02.11.02 Sustainable cities and communities - Justification for my startup

02.12.01 My startup contributes to the Responsible consumption and production goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.12.02 Responsible consumption and production - Justification for my startup

02.13.01 My startup contributes to the Climate action goal

3

02.13.02 Climate action - Justification for my startup

02.14.01 My startup contributes to the Life below water goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

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

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

2

02.16.02 Peace Justice and Strong Institutions- Justification for my startup

02.17.01 My startup contributes to the Partnerships for the goal

2

02.17.02 Partnerships for the goal - Justification for my startup

We work with a network of hospitals, charity organisations, and public and private entities which makes Helpa uniquely suited to help achieve some of the SDGs.

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

4

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

4

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

5

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

7 - Strongly Agree

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

6

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

5

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

5

06.08 Justification for my startup

We are Africa's first medical fundraising-only platform which means we are serving a Niche market. We also have the most robust online and offline donation payment infrastructure.

06.09 Competitive Analysis

gofundme.com, donate-ng.com, giving.ng. We know that Nigerians love to donate mostly offline (bank transfers) and we've built our product around that and we are right as over 99.9% of our donations come from bank transfers and not online. Our competitors only focus on online donations which explains why none of them has been able to take the market even when some of them have been around for so long.

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

Yes. For instance our CEO Rashidat Amode is a female whom I nominated when we founded Helpa because I believe in her ability to lead the team.