African Business Stories
African Business Stories is the go-to podcast for insights into the women shaping Africa’s business landscape. Africa is one of the world’s most promising frontiers for growth and innovation—and women are at the heart of this transformation.
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African Business Stories
Lucy Msukwa: Founder & Executive Director Uchembere Wabwino Maternity - Beyond Birth: Bridging Gaps in Rural Healthcare
What if you could transform a small healthcare startup into a thriving clinic serving thousands, even amid a global pandemic? Hear from Lucy Msukwa, the inspiring Founder and Executive Director of Uchembere Wabwino Maternity in Malawi, who did just that. Motivated by her parents' health struggles, Lucy saved diligently for four years before launching her clinic in 2019. In our conversation, she walks us through the hurdles she faced, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the practical strategies she employed to turn challenges into opportunities. Lucy’s story is a vivid testament to resilience and community engagement, offering valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Lucy’s journey is a masterclass in overcoming financial and operational challenges. Discover how she raised initial funding through personal savings and a bank loan, and how her innovative use of social media and community-centered marketing helped her patient base skyrocket from 500 to nearly 3,000 within just two years. Lucy opens up about the unique hybrid model that allows her clinic to balance for-profit and non-profit services, ensuring both affordability and sustainability. She also shares insights from her experience with the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs, revealing how continuous learning and adaptation have been key to her clinic's growth.
But Lucy's impact goes far beyond her clinic. As a Mandela Washington Fellow, she secured significant funding and channeled her success into mentoring over 120 female entrepreneurs in Malawi. She discusses her strategic focus on rural healthcare services and reflects on leading a team of 20 employees as a young woman defying traditional expectations. Lucy's passion for reducing high maternity and under-five mortality rates in Malawi is palpable throughout our discussion. Her story is not just about business success; it’s about making a tangible difference in her community and inspiring other women to chase their dreams with unwavering determination.
Lucy holds a bachelor's degree in nursing and midwifery. As an entrepreneur, she is a laureate for Women in Africa 54 (WIA54) 2021 from Malawi, an alumna of the African Women Entrepreneurship Cooperative cohort 3 (AWEC) and the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs Cohort 1(AWE). She is social Impact Incubator Malawi and Mandela Washington Fellow 2022 alumina.
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Hi there and welcome to another episode of African Business Stories. Africa is the only region in the world where more women than men choose to be entrepreneurs. What this says to me is that the story of business in Africa is the story of the African business woman. So we are on a journey of discovery to find these women and tell their stories. So we're on a journey of discovery to find these women and tell their stories. On the show, we will hear from female innovators and entrepreneurs building and running businesses in Africa. They will share the highs and lows of their entrepreneurial journey and lessons learned along the way. Some of these women you may know, and many you may not, but I assure you that all their stories are inspiring in their own right. My hope is that these stories will inspire you to reach for your dreams and leave a legacy for generations to come. It makes such a big difference to us if you can rate, review and share our episodes. You can do this mainly on Apple Podcasts, and you can find us on all podcast platforms If you're in Africa. Spotify is now available, so check us out there and don't forget to rate, review and share On the show.
Speaker 1:Today, I chat with Lucy Nsukwa founder and executive director, uchemberwe Mwabino, maternity in Malawi. Following the health challenges faced by her family members, lucy decided on a career in healthcare from an early age. She started this business in September 2019, and we talked about how she spent four years saving to start and the challenges she faced as COVID hit in 2020. Her growth has been exceptional. She has gone from offering under five healthcare and maternity services only to offering outpatient services, laboratory services, maternal and childcare services and even surgeries. She has grown her patients from 500 to well over 2,000, leveraging social media and technology. Lucy has invested a lot in her personal development, raised a significant amount of money through pitch competitions and today is helping other business owners in Malawi start and grow their businesses, a country with one of the highest maternity and under five mortality rates in the world. Lucy is on a mission to bring those numbers down.
Speaker 1:Let's get into it. Hi, lucy, welcome to African Business Stories, thank you. Thank you so much. You're my first guest from Malawi, so excited to have you on the show, excited to learn about your business and a little bit about Malawi from our conversation today. So I read that you were born and raised in Brantai I don't know if I pronounced it well which is like the largest city in Malawi.
Speaker 2:Yes, I was born there and raised there in Blantyre.
Speaker 1:So what was it like growing up in Malawi?
Speaker 2:Growing up in Malawi. I was born in a family of five children. We are two girls and three boys. I'm a third born. So we grew up in Blantyre all of us. We were staying with our parents, and my education I did it in a primary school we call it Mlambalala from one up to eight.
Speaker 2:So the environment is full of, I can say most of the population in Brandtire is full of people who are in their youthful age and it's a city which has got a lot of industries that are currently happening in Malawi. I can call it. It has got a lot of industrial area with a good environment Plantar. Sometimes it's very cold, sometimes it's very hot, so that's how I can put it in terms of weather. But the food is also very nice in Blantyre and the prices for the food in Blantyre, when we compare them with other regions, the prices are a bit lower than in other regions. Regions, the prices are a bit lower than in other regions. So, yeah, I grew up with my brothers. My sister had uh was going to a boarding school, so most of the times I was praying with my little brothers. That's what I can say about me growing up in Brantyne. Otherwise, it's a good city full of people moving up and down every day.
Speaker 1:So there was an experience that happened when you were young that kind of shaped the direction that your life and your career took. Do you want to share that with us?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can share the experience because it's what motivates me up to now. When I was very young, I always wanted to do something concerning health, because my mom was sick and my dad was also sick. So I remember one time when we went to the hospital with her, there was only one person who was taking care of 20 people. So during that time my mom had high blood glucose and she fainted For me to go and call the other person who was working there. She was also very busy with other patients who were very critically ill, so she couldn't come and help us on time because her work was very overwhelming. So it was very bad. Despite that, my mom was okay eventually during that time. Then the passion for me to do something concerning health began to grow while I was young. I remember that time it was when I was in standard five or in grade five.
Speaker 2:That's when the passion for me started growing into saying no. If there were a lot of people who were alone taking care of patients, I think my mom couldn't take time to be sitting. So that's where the passion developed. So, as I was going to school, all the time, when teachers ask us, what do you want to be when you grow up, I would either say that I want to become an nurse or I want to become a doctor Throughout of my life. I was always saying that, yeah, yeah. So that's really what happened, like a motivation for me to do something concerning health, so you then went on to study nursing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, actually what happened was after my mom passed away. Then my dad also was also sick, and during that time my dad had tuberculosis. So I was also taking care of him, as my sister was at boarding school. So it was like me who is only there, who can take care of my dad so.
Speaker 2:I was going with him to the hospital, I was seeing that there is still a gap in terms of human resource and technical staff in hospitals. So that was still bothering me. To say I think there are very few people who have done courses in medical health or nursing. So after I went to, after my dad also passed away that was when I was in Form 3, then I said I think it's high time for me to continue working hard and then I should do something which I want. So I went ahead and applied for the university interest and all the choices.
Speaker 2:We are given three choices to select the schools which we want to go. So the first choice I selected that I wanted to do nursing because I was looking at the points which I had. I had 18 points. So it was like a challenge for me to have more chance if I go for a degree to become a doctor. It was a very big challenge for me. They would have not picked me because of the points which I had. So for me to increase my chances, I just applied for a nursing school. So my first choice was a nursing school, nursing school and Courage of Medicine. So eventually they chose me to go to Courage of Nursing. So that's when I started the journey, focusing on my education and everything. So I remember I was talking to my friend. I said you know what? I have a dream that I want to start operating a clinic. So she was laughing I know you are just joking. So I said, no, this is deep in my heart. One day I will open a clinic.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry about the loss of your parents and it's wonderful to see that that motivated you to try and solve a big problem in your country. So when you finished at the College of Nursing, were there jobs readily available at the time?
Speaker 2:OK, actually, when we finished at the university, we were already given an opportunity to select three regions. It's either you want to go to the South, or Central or Northern region. So because me I wanted to get closer to other relatives, I had to select to be in the Northern region. So I was selected to Northern Region Hospital where I was working. So, yeah, we had that opportunity.
Speaker 1:Is that how you moved to Musuzu?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And how long did you work at the hospital in Musuzu?
Speaker 2:So in Mzuzu, I worked there since 2014. Okay, 2014, up to 2019.
Speaker 1:I see Okay. And then it was in 2019, you decided you wanted to start your own clinic.
Speaker 2:I worked in Mzuzu Central Hospital for four years. During that four years, I made some connections with other people in healthcare. Profession was during that time I was also coordinating online courses, so I had a like an opportunity to meet different people somewhere, lecture somewhere professors so they were the ones who guided me through who say, if you want to start opening a clinic, you need to have the following things. So during that time, I needed to strategize. That's what I did.
Speaker 1:So how did you come up with the name Uchembera Wabuino? Did I say it properly?
Speaker 2:I just have tried. It's Uchembera Wabuino.
Speaker 1:Uchembera Wabuino.
Speaker 2:Yes, uchembera Wabuino, you have tried. It's uche mbira. Yes, so I came up with the name because in english it's called self mother. Okay, yeah, in english it's called self-motherhood. So in our local language, then the one which we usually use is called uche mb Wabino.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I got the name looking backwards what I passed it through with my mom. So I said this could be a good name for the clinic, because I want people to have a good like to promote self-motherhood. Whether they are pregnant or before pregnant, their health should be okay without having any complication. So that's where the name came from.
Speaker 1:That's a lovely name. So how did you raise the funding to start and what initial services were you offering when you first started?
Speaker 2:All right. So when I started for me to raise funds as I said, area-owned I had to make some connections with other people who are also in health care, so I had to ask for some ideas. But then, because they had told me that if you want to start operating this clinic, you need to self-government for fears. So, as I said earlier on that, and I had a dream, since I was very young and I was growing with that dream. So once I just started the like my first year at the Mzuzu Central Hospital, I told myself that I need to strategize for me If this dream has to come true. I need to strategize. So I had to start saving from my salary. I gave myself like a task to say 20% of my salary is going to be going towards the dream that I have that I want to open a clinic. So I was saving.
Speaker 2:Within three years I was saving. I opened an account a fixed deposit account where by that manner was going there. So I worked for four years while I was saving the 20% of my salary and then accumulating some resources. Then I also applied for a bank loan almost 1,000 US dollars from as we are talking now. So that that was how I started. I started with these savings my own savings and then plus a loan from the bank. So that's how I started. I just got a few things that we needed for me to with the savings my own savings and then plus a loan from the bank. So that's how I started. I just got a few things that were needed for me to start.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. So what services were you offering then? I know now you have a suite of things that you do, but when you started, what were the initial things that you were offering to women and children?
Speaker 2:initial things that you were offering to women and children. So during that time we were only offering under five clinic and maternity services. That is all.
Speaker 1:And I also know that you opened this business just round about COVID. Yes, exactly Just in the middle of COVID. So what was that like for you?
Speaker 2:It was very, very painful, because I remember when I just started, we started in September 2019. That was already at the end of the year, so we started in September 2019. And then, 2020, covid came. I tell you it was a very bad experience because medical resources had gone up maybe times 10. The things that were buying maybe 1,000, they went to 9%.
Speaker 2:I remember that time I had to cry. I had to cry like literally crying to say why is this happening? I'm not going to manage by then to find money, to find resources to manage the clinic. It was very hard. Despite that, people were saying no, this is your opportunity. Now you can make money because there is COVID. But to me it was opposite, because I'm just starting, I am not yet fully established, and then COVID-19 is coming and then the prices for medication is high, everything is high concerning resources for a clinic.
Speaker 2:So I remember I was telling by the way, I'm married, I was telling my husband to say I'm going to close this thing because it's not working, like it's not working. So I I then sat down and said I think I will give myself three months to wait to see if we are not making any money for us to buy resources or to pay salaries and lenders, then I'm quitting this thing. I think I will restart when I am ready. So surprisingly, during that three months we managed to survive. We managed to survive, everything was okay and things were moving smoothly. Then I told my team to say if we have managed to survive these three months of COVID, then we are going to survive in the next year. Let's continue the journey. So that was what happened. We really survived. Otherwise, when COVID came in, I was very frustrated and it was hurting. Yeah, it brought so many challenges to us.
Speaker 1:That's incredible and in reading your story you know I know those were hard times and you pulled through, able to increase your patients or your clients from like 500 to over 2,000, almost 3,000 by 2021 in a two-year period. How were you able to do that?
Speaker 2:The reason why we were able to do this is because we had to incorporate some marketing strategies. You know with this generation that we are coming. It's a generation that is more interested with technology. So I had to leverage on using social media by involving other people in the community, telling them about our services. So we were using social media adverts. Of course, in the healthy sector you are not supposed to advertise about your services, but we are just using the social media to inform them the services that we are doing. We are also doing free clinics, so with that it made us to have more customers. People were very interested to see these people. They are everywhere. If you click on our website we are there. If you click on any social media, we are there. So that made us to be known across.
Speaker 2:So we leveled on more on using social media because you know hospitals they don't like to interact people with on social media. They don't like interacting with other people. Maybe during the outreach they just go there and give the service. But we made it to be more a community-centered. So the people when they are giving us some, for example, some advice, to say we are taking the weaknesses from other clinics, to say, other people are complaining that they don't receive this from the other clinic. How best can we do it in our facility that we should be having more customers, the weaknesses of other I can say competitors, and then also leveraging on the social media marketing, because now a new generation of people just search online. So that's what we did and, like other people who are very old maybe they are in sixth grade and they are operating they don't even know about social media. So using social media is the one thing that had made us to be known more and have increased in number of clients.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. So today, what services does your clinic offer?
Speaker 2:So currently we are offering outpatient medical services, we are also offering laboratory services, we are offering maternal and child health services, and now we have also started conducting surgeries. So that's what we are doing now.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow. In preparing for this interview, I was just reading about healthcare in Malawi and it was just shocking. Apparently, malawi has one of the highest maternal mortality rates and also high under-five mortality rate. So, what is it happening like on the ground?
Speaker 2:So on the ground in Malawi we don't have adequate facilities with good resources. Okay, so the health centers, I would say health clinics. They are very far for people to reach and we only have like three main central hospitals that we depend on across Malawi, in each region. But then to find a good hospital which is fully fledged with everything, every resource that could help a person or a woman, it's very tough. You would find a hospital. They don't have any medicine, they don't have any machine, but yet it's a hospital. So that's why we are still having a problem in these maternal dates and women. They travel 10 kilometers to go to a hospital to access care. So some they just opt to stay home, to just deliver it home, and some they just opt to go to traditional birth attendants in their communities. So this brings in more complications and eventually people they end up dying, which causes high maternal mortality rates.
Speaker 1:In terms of cost. What does it cost to come to you as opposed to going to? I mean, it's not like there are many hospitals to go to, so you know people don't really have a choice. But but is this a costly service for for the people in muzuzu?
Speaker 2:what we did was, uh, we made the clinic to be a hybrid, like a for-profit and non-profit. The for-profit side we use it to run for the other reasons, like buying medicine, salaries and everything, and also the profit made from the for-profit is used to the non-profit side, whereby we go to communities in Nsimba districts, whereby we go and offer the services for free. So when we were coming up with our pricing, we had to do research to say how many clinics do we have in Mzuzu and what are the prices that they are offering? And then we had to come with an average to say we shouldn't be competitive but we should provide an affordable price. Somebody who is staying within our catchment area should be able to pay for the service if they are sick. So that's what we did.
Speaker 2:And then, if we compare with other among us as we are a bit affordable, because we had to look for those people with this lower social economic status because our green is closer to those people who are very in the group of low social economics to the market and sell tomatoes and they come back. They sell vegetables. So we had to put our pricing so that those people we are targeting, they should be able to pay for this and then we should survive. So our price is affordable for an average person who is maybe doing a small business, and they can be able to pay that's.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. That's fantastic. Thank you for the work that you do. So. So, in terms of business development, we've talked about how you've used social media to grow your client base. And then in terms of funding, I know that when you started, you said you used some of your resources and also took a loan. I know that you've had access to grants. Can you talk to us a bit about how you came to get some of these grants?
Speaker 2:All right, thank you. After 2020, covid came. Then I saw that there was a certain opportunity. I was saying I am a healthcare person, but I still lack knowledge concerning business. So I was asking myself to say how do I fill this gap that I have? I can provide good quality care to a client or a patient, but then, in terms of business, I don't have any information concerning business. What should I do? That's when I started searching online to say which people train people into entrepreneurship? What organization trained people in entrepreneurship? So my journey started.
Speaker 2:When I enrolled for Academy for women entrepreneurs by United States of America, I said okay, I'm going to apply for this opportunity. They are saying they train females in business how to run their business. Me this information? I don't have one. I know it's about giving patients medication or taking care of them. So I said let me give it a try, because I have a gap in this thing. So when I did that, it was a six-week training. We did it online.
Speaker 2:It was very interesting to learn the concepts and, surprisingly, during that time, it was the first cohort in Malawi to be piloted. Surprisingly, I was only the person who was in the healthy sector. We were 90 females Only myself. I was in the healthy sector. I was like 89 in agriculture. There was a very big competition. So even when they were giving examples where we were learning, I was like, how am I going to apply? They are talking about Coca-Cola, they are talking about Uber, what am I going to do with this information? Me, I'm dealing with people. So it took me some time to say I think I can really apply this information that they are teaching me when they are giving the examples, I would still try to use it to my business, to connect to my business, because it's a service provision and they are talking about they are talking about Uber, they are talking about Apple. I was like, okay, I will still remain in this cohort, let me give it my best.
Speaker 2:So I was using the knowledge and then eventually, after the six weeks training, they said you are going to pitch? It was my first time to hear the word pitch, okay. So I said I'm going to pitch. So we pitched and unfortunately, during that time it was for for allegiance, so they had selected some. As I said earlier on that, even the judges couldn't understand my business because I'm in a healthy sector. So they say I said, okay, fine, no problem, so long as I had information concerning our entrepreneurship. So at the end of our journey of the course, they said, no, we are going to give you an opportunity again for you to write a proposal where you can receive funding of 10,000. I said, ok, I have a strength in writing things. So I said, let me use my strength in writing the proposal, because this is my strength. We got the proposal. We forgot about it A month in 2021, I just received a letter to say you are one of the awardees for the what For the United States African Development Foundation grant.
Speaker 2:I was like what? I was very happy. Out of the 94, we were only six who were selected in Malawi Fantastic. So that was the beginning of us to start growing because we implemented the project very well. So you know when you implemented the project very well. So you know, when you implement the project very well, other donors they are also interested in coming in. So whenever there was an opportunity for entrepreneurship, I started telling myself I say, if I have made it this time, I think the next time, if there is another opportunity, I'm also going to give it a chance. So I have this passion of always wanting to learn more and more and more. So after that opportunity came, we do the project.
Speaker 2:Opportunity had come with the Social Incubator, malawi, the GoFamily Foundation. I said I'm going to give it a try again. I gave it a try. We went for an eight-month incubation, so during that time I was using the information that I got from Academy for Women and to transfer it to Social Impact Incubator. They also gave us another information that was very beautiful, very relevant. I learned a lot of things. I started applying them and then we were also given opportunity. Actually, when we were applying for social incubator, there were 211 organizations. Out of the 211, they only wanted 10. So we were among them. So we went for the incubation program and then we were also given an opportunity to do a pitch. So I had to work on the pitch and, fortunate enough, I was on the first position.
Speaker 1:So I was given a grant $15, a grant of $15,000. How much $15,000. Who was running your business in the eight months? Because that's a challenge. Sometimes there are entrepreneurs who want to go away and do some of these programs but wonder what will happen to their business. So how was your business running those eight months? Or did you shut it down? What did you do?
Speaker 2:eight months, or did you shut it down? What? What did you do? No, I did not shut it down, but I have people, I have a team. You know, most of the times, of course, when we are the founders of an organization, we are afraid. We have this fear that this organization is going to fail. But if you have trained your team very well, they always manage it Despite that. You are not there, you are not available, but they will always manage it. So it goes with the good team. If you have a good team, everything is possible. No need for you to worry.
Speaker 2:I think the organization is going to go down. So I have a good team, which I selected. We always take them on board and explain everything. The organization is going to go down. So I have a good team, which I selected. We always take them on board and explain everything, and we usually look for people who have got the same vision. As we have to say you should incorporate your values with that of the organizations. They should be in line. If they are different with the organization's values, then that person. We don't select them because we know that they won't be part of us. So that's what I did, yeah.
Speaker 1:The various grants that you've been able to raise. How have they been deployed in the business so far?
Speaker 2:To be honest, the grants that we have been receiving, they have pushed us very much and sometimes people they do wonder to say in just three years you have done a lot of things like this. So it's because of the grants that we have been receiving and we implement what we have said we are going to implement with the donors, because most of the entrepreneurs, what they like, they make a mistake when they don't implement what they had agreed. So we usually um like the first grant, we used it for the theater equipment. The second grant, we used it for the laboratory. So we make sure that when we're asking for the money, we should really use the money for the intended purposes. So that's what we do.
Speaker 1:You're also a Mandela, washington Fellow.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm a Mandela, Washington Fellow.
Speaker 1:How did that come about?
Speaker 2:It was my first time applying for Mandela Washington Fellow. I was just hearing people saying, no, mandela Washington Fellowship is a very good fellowship, they do this and that. So I was just hearing people saying, no, mandela Washington fellowship is a very good fellowship, they do this and that. So I was interested. I was like, okay, I think if I have been able to move this direction, I still also have the chance to participate in this fellowship. So let me try it before I reach my age reaches 35 years old. So I applied and, fortunate enough, I was selected. When I was selected, we went to do the fellowship and, luckily enough, when we went to the university that I was selected to go Iowa they have also this component for entrepreneurship, so I said okay we are here.
Speaker 2:Let us utilize this incubation process. So they trained us, they gave us certificates and, upon completion, for our fellowship, we were also given an opportunity to pitch our ideas, because they were training us into Becoming someone in business, like how the US is doing, how in Africa we are doing. So they said at the end of the course. They said we are going to give you an opportunity to pitch. Of course we were 20 fellows from different countries, so we had a competition and, very fortunate enough, I was also selected to be number one. So I received $8,000 for my pitch. So they even took my pitch decks. They use them for training their students up to now.
Speaker 1:And so I see you've invested so much in your personal development and also in growing your business and attracting funding. So, lucy, earlier you spoke about supporting other female entrepreneurs in Malawi. How exactly do you do that?
Speaker 2:All right, thank you so much, akeel, for that question. The way I support other women in Malawi is because I do volunteer myself with other entrepreneurship hubs. So through those entrepreneurship hubs they direct some women who are doing businesses. So I act as their mentor. So, like since in 23 I have managed to mentor 120 women, what I do is I to like how best they can go about their businesses. I we start from scratch. Maybe a woman even has got an idea. I help them to how best they can register their business or how best they can first do the market research about their business if it's at an idea stage, so that they should be able to know whether the business is going to make profit or not.
Speaker 2:So far I have managed to mentor 120 women through mentorship in entrepreneurship. I do have some experience in leadership and management training, including how to pitch, so I use my skills to train those women. So since I'm an alumni for Mandela Washington Fellow, we are given an opportunity for a space where I'm based. So whenever I have meetings with those women, usually I take a cohort of 30 women. So we meet maybe once in a month and then I train them on maybe how to search for grants or how to teach how to come up with a business plan. So it's not only the women that I help, even men, youths, who are aspiring to be entrepreneurs If they reach out to me. I also help them in terms of giving them the knowledge and expertise on how they can start their startup or how they can grow their business, or I give them some resources or where to find Some grants if it's a non-profit organization. So that's what I do.
Speaker 1:So, lucy, in terms of growth, do you have any expansion plans in Muzuzu or in Malawi as a whole?
Speaker 2:Initially I had plans to expand across Malawi, like to have the organization in all three regions. This year I sat down and I was reflecting and I was seeing that majority of the people who need the services are those who are from rural areas compared to those who are in urban areas. So I have changed track. The way I'm going to scale this organization is I'm going to go in hard-to-reach areas in the rural settings of Mzuzu. So I'm going to open like sub-branches in the rural settings of Mzuzu, because I see there is a huge gap compared to those who are compared to the other regions, because in the regions we usually have got big hospitals.
Speaker 2:So I want to cover the gap in the rural areas whereby there of course hospitals they are, but they don't have enough resource and equipment. So I want to go in those areas and maybe have four clinics, four more clinics in the rural areas, in different areas, and then put all the necessary equipment so that those people should be able to have access to the care that they can be looking for in an urban area. So that's what I'm going to do and, in terms of pricing, it's not that it's going to be standardized, it's not going to be like the way we check in urban area. It will be a subsidized late so that those people in the rural area should be able to pay for the service as well as they should be able to have access to those services. So that's my plan in terms of scaling up this organization.
Speaker 1:Fantastic and I wish you all the best with that. As we wrap up, I normally ask my guests two questions. One is a reflection and the other one is advice. So, in terms of reflecting, what would you say has been the most impactful thing for you that you've achieved in building this business in Malawi?
Speaker 2:So one of the most impactful things that I feel like I have achieved in Malawi is starting the organization itself. As a young woman it's a big achievement because in Malawi I don't know in other countries most of the people they have got a mindset to say it's only those people who have retired, they are the ones who can open hospitals. So I took a challenge to resign from my normal job in a government sector and started this organization and in only three years we managed to grow to have everything. So I feel that this is very impactful being a young woman and running this organization with 20 employees. So I feel pride in myself in what I have achieved so far.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes. Congratulations on that, lucy, big congrats. What advice would you give to other women who are building businesses in Africa?
Speaker 2:Thank you, akayego. The advice that I can give to other women who are doing business in Africa is to be resilient. You know, in business it's not always that you are going to have money. Sometimes there are tough situations that you have to overcome. So they need to be resilient and to be able to make plans and goals so that their businesses should always continue growing. And we need to dream big. Like men, we need to dream big In business. There is no simple path. It's always you have to struggle and then things work out. That's the advice I can give to my fellow women.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. Thank you, lucy. This has been a great interview. Thank you so much. Thank you, lucy. This has been a great interview. Thank you. You're welcome, akego. Thank you so much for listening. If you're not already subscribed, please do so on Apple, spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and don't forget to leave us a review so we know how we're doing. I'm Akego Okoye and you have been listening to African Business Stories.