Neopenda’s mission is to improve healthcare in Africa and other developing areas. Sona Shah, CEO and Co-Founder of Neopenda, spent time teaching English in Kenya after finishing her bachelor’s degree.
There, she was profoundly affected by the disparities in quality of life she saw. And when she met her future Co-Founder at a Master’s degree class in Bioengineering, the idea for Neopenda was born. They were able to get funding from Columbia University to travel to hospitals in Uganda.
There, they saw at every hospital a boneyard room – a place where well-intentioned first-world high-end medical equipment got junked. Items that no one was qualified to use. Items that they couldn’t get spare parts for. Items that just couldn’t be used without more reliable, continuous power. An item with instructions in German where no one spoke German.
The two left and set out on a quest to make medical devices more usable and more available for eastern Africa. They started with Neoguard, a neonatal vital signs monitor. It doesn’t require continuous power, and doesn’t need spare parts, but that works as well as the first-world alternative.
With a billion people on the continent of Africa alone needing better healthcare, Neopenda’s opportunities are nearly unlimited.
Sona shares with The Savvy Entrepreneur how she & her Co-Founder built the foundation for the company over a period of 6 years. The design, regulatory, supply chain, and other foundational issues were daunting. But the two persisted, believing the work needed to be done.
Today, the company is growing rapidly and has raised multiple rounds of outside capital. It’s an inspiring story. Sona is articulate, passionate, yet engaging and practical.
Click on the arrow to listen to the amazing story of Neopenda! Or go here if you'd prefer to read a transcript of our interview.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download