The Campus Celebrity of the week is Loic Assobmo. Currently, he is senior majoring in biology and minoring in philosophy in A&S and is a social entrepreneur. When he is not busy with school, he is focusing his attention on providing better healthcare in Africa. Not to mention, he won last year’s VCBC. Loic is in the process of developing an app that will provide healthcare to Africans in both preventive and emergency situations. Next year, he will be attending graduate school to get a Masters in nursing, so he can become a nurse practitioner in order to provide him with stronger academic background to aid him in his cause to better African healthcare. He is an incredible man that is going to change the world.
Describe your Non-Profit:
I started a non-profit two years ago. It is called Global Enterprise for Medical Averment (GEMA) and its purpose is to bring awareness and solutions to African healthcare issues. We created an App to provide healthcare access to Africans in remote areas, since 25% of Africans are living with diseases without access to hospitals, doctors, or nurses.
How to do you provide them with healthcare?
Many people in Africa have access to phones – not smart phones – but phones that can text. When someone gets sick they have no access to healthcare providers or banking services, so it takes a few days to fund raise to provide them with transportation to a hospital, so the App works in two ways: preventively and for emergencies. To prevent healthcare issues, Africans with phones can receive health advice everyday to reduce risk of infectious diseases. In emergencies, the app allows healthcare providers to text people with solutions, list of possible diseases, and things to avoid doing before seeing the doctor.
How did you think of this idea?
Personal experience. I lived in Cameroon when I was 6 and mom had stroke. We didn’t have bank account, local doctor, or hospital. It took three days to get her to a hospital. They couldn’t do anything helpful to her, so we traveled across the world to get her help, which is not a unique situation.
What stage is the App currently in?
Well, we built a smart phone solution. Then we met with doctors and patients in Cameroon and realized they don’t have smart phones. Currently, we are redeveloping a solution through texting. We are a team of Massachusetts doctors, students at Harvard, and students at MIT working on the project. Our goal is to pilot the app in Ghana and build connections with a local village by 2016, but it depends on how fast we are able to develop the technology.
How did you get started with social entrepreneurship?
I have worked for a nonprofit at MIT for the past few years that focuses on developing Global solutions. Also, I applied to the VCBC competition three times. On my third try I won first place. Having a strong guided developed business plan and team helped me win on my third try. Failing helped me better develop my idea. Winning the VCBC is not the end of the road, it’s the beginning. My struggle in winning the VCBC personifies the journey that needs to be taken to launch the product.
Have you had any other experience working in healthcare?
I went to Cameroon this summer and worked with local hospitals, TV, and radio stations to create public service announcements on five common diseases in the area. We think the best way to improve healthcare is through education.
Any advice you have for aspiring social entrepreneurs?
They say, “half the battle is showing up,” but showing is easy. I think hanging in there when things get tough is the challenge. You have to make adjustments. You need passion, resilience, and perseverance. Anything is possible. I never imaged that people would believe in a student enough to fund a project and allow me to work with locals, giving me the chance to impact an entire country.
Photo Sources: Facebook