A Story That Changed Everything

I will never forget the day I was travelling with my family along the expressway.

We came across a terrible accident, a woman lying helplessly on the road, blood oozing from her mouth, while people stood around shouting. There was no ambulance, no first responder, no coordinated help in sight. The image burned itself into my mind.

I asked myself a hard question: What can I do?
But then another voice whispered: How can you save lives without a doctor’s degree? That question made me pause.

Some months later, it happened again. This time, a man collapsed right in front of me. We scrambled to reach emergency help but none came quickly enough.

Two incidents, two avoidable tragedies. Both pointed me in the same direction: Nigeria’s emergency healthcare system is broken. And I had to do something about it.

Eventually, I came to a life-altering conclusion: you don’t need a medical degree to save lives. What you need are systems, data, and technology that can get the right help to the right person at the right time.

That conviction birthed Findar Health, an AI-powered emergency healthtech solution built to democratise access to urgent medical care in Africa.

The Silent Emergency in Africa

In Nigeria alone, thousands of people die every year from emergencies that could have been managed with quick, coordinated intervention. Unlike countries with centralised emergency lines and robust ambulance systems, we lack:

• A single, reliable emergency number.
• Adequate ambulances and trained first responders.
• Real-time hospital data to know where to take patients.
  
  

The result? Families left to fend for themselves, rushing loved ones from hospital to hospital, or relying on good Samaritans with no medical knowledge. It’s a silent emergency, one that rarely makes the headlines but claims lives daily.

What This Taught Me About Building Startups

Facing this problem reshaped how I think about startups. The lessons go beyond healthcare:

1. Purpose Before Product
   A startup built only for profit will lose steam when challenges mount. But when you’re solving a real, painful problem, purpose becomes fuel. For Findar Health, the purpose is simple: every life matters, and every second counts.
   
   
2. You Don’t Need Permission to Start
   I almost disqualified myself because I didn’t have a medical degree. But I realised that innovation doesn’t always come from within an industry — sometimes it comes from outsiders who see the gaps clearly. What you need is collaboration with experts, not perfection from day one.
   
   
3. Systems Save Lives (and Businesses)
   Just as emergency care needs reliable systems, so do startups. Chaos will crush you. Building processes, mapping workflows, and relying on data-driven decisions can make the difference between survival and collapse.
   
   
4. Technology Is a Multiplier, Not the Solution
   Apps and AI won’t solve problems alone. They must be built on deep human empathy and an understanding of the problem. Tech is the tool, empathy is the foundation.

How Findar Health Is Responding

At Findar Health, we’re turning these lessons into action:

• Emergency Hospital Mapping: Real-time data to know where patients can be accepted immediately.
  
  
• AI-Powered Alerts: Detecting emergencies like falls or inactivity and triggering help.
  
  
• First Responder Deployment: Training and dispatching paramedics and emergency bikers.
  
  
• Doctor-on-Demand Access: Giving families the ability to speak to a medical professional instantly.
  
  

It’s a bold vision, but one that could save thousands of lives.

The Bigger Lesson

For me, the biggest lesson has been this: you don’t have to be a doctor to save lives, and you don’t have to be an expert to start solving problems.

What you need is the courage to ask: What can I do with what I have?
And then the discipline to build systems, gather the right people, and keep iterating until solutions take shape.

Because sometimes the most urgent emergencies are the ones that push us into our life’s purpose.

Africa’s healthcare crisis is daunting, but it has also taught me that startups at their best are not about apps, pitches, or even profit. They are about hope, systems, and solutions that change lives.

And just like in an emergency, the best time to act is now.