Contributor: Blair Seiler, WG’23
To learn more about Blair, click here.
This year, a team of six Wharton students supported a Nigeria-based healthtech startup, CarePay, to develop its go-to-market strategy. The students: Shreeya Bhutani (WG ‘24), Georgina Coleman (WG’23), Mary Joseph (WG’23), Dolapo Salawu (WG’24), Blair Seiler (WG’23), and Josh Wong (WG’24) are part of the Wharton Global Health Volunteers.
 
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CarePay was founded in 2015, to increase access to healthcare via a proprietary health benefits management platform, linking payers with providers and participants. The company’s initial launch, in partnership with PharmAccess, Safaricom, and IFHA, was in the Kenyan market. Their key product, M-TIBA, has connected 4.5 million users and 3,000 healthcare providers. CarePay’s investors include IFHA, Elma Investments, and the Dutch government.
In 2018, CarePay Nigeria (CPN) was incorporated. CarePay Nigeria’s vision was to address Nigeria’s low access to healthcare. Affordability is low, with estimates of the health insurance penetration rate in Nigeria just 3-10%, and accessibility also presents a challenge, with an overburdened hospital system and poor non-urban transportation infrastructure. CPN is focusing on affordability, by boosting insurance uptake and building partnerships with providers to reduce service costs. Since its launch, CPN has launched a health insurance platform with partners including Lagos State, a health insurance marketplace with 5 HMOs. In 2022 CPN launched the Healthcare Discount Card, which provides discounts of up to 37.5% at pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals across Nigeria. CPN expects to use the Healthcare Discount Card to scale up healthcare access for users and move them towards shared risk/full insurance products.
CPN has focused on innovating and releasing first-of-kind products in the Nigerian market. Releasing these types of products presents unique adoption challenges, as the market adjusts and responds to these new technologies. The WGHV team was engaged to help refine go-to-market strategy for the Healthcare Discount Card (linked into the benefits and payments software) and analyze and suggest improvements to the product, including business model and operational changes. The WGHV performed market research, data analysis, user journey studies, and product and market mapping. The team also had the opportunity to travel to Lagos, Nigeria in December 2022 to meet with the CPN team. The WGHV team ran workshops and interviews, visited CPN’s local partners, including major pharmacy and diagnostic Lab chains, and tested the CPN products.
At the conclusion of the project, the WGHV team presented recommendations. We provided a short, medium, and long-term view of product refinements to better address the needs of users in the Nigerian market. We identified gaps and potential solutions in product usability, product-market fit, and the revenue model for CPN’s products. We also made recommendations for future reimaginings of the gaps in the Nigerian healthcare market CPN could fill - including in parallel spaces such as healthcare payment financing and wellness.
The WGHV team was grateful for the opportunity to gain insight into the Nigerian healthcare landscape working in partnership with the CPN team. We learned about launching innovative health products, identifying effective go-to-market strategies, and the user journey for healthcare access.
WGHV is grateful for the generous, ongoing support of the Wharton Healthcare Alumni Association that allows our teams to continue to make an impact on the global stage supporting international health organizations and to contribute to improving access and outcomes for underserved populations around the world. We are always looking for interesting and impactful organizations to partner with in the semesters ahead. If you have any leads for potential projects, please reach out to the WGHV Executive Board.
Contact Blair at: [email protected]
WGHV Executive Board
Contact Jasmine Zhang at: [email protected]
Contact Meghna Dasgupta at: [email protected]
Contact Ava Chang at: [email protected]
WGHV CarePay team