We derive pleasure raising funds for the sick – Salahudeen, COO Helpa

Tope Salahudeen is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Helpa, a pioneering health tech startup in Nigeria. Helpa leverages technology to bridge healthcare accessibility gaps by raising funds to assist sick persons cover the cost of their treatment.  In this interview with Daily Trust, he speaks about how his organisation processed funds for […]

Tope Salahudeen is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Helpa, a pioneering health tech startup in Nigeria. Helpa leverages technology to bridge healthcare accessibility gaps by raising funds to assist sick persons cover the cost of their treatment.  In this interview with Daily Trust, he speaks about how his organisation processed funds for the needy in its two years of existence. Salahudeen said he is dedicated to establishing a robust platform for medical fundraisers across Africa. Aside from his passion, he is also a cost engineer within the Nigerian oil industry, where he consistently showcases his dedication to excellence and strategic thinking.

An alumnus of the University of Ilorin and Imperial College, London, a globally top-ranked institution, where he pursued studied Environmental Engineering and Business Management, he has received prestigious scholarships, including the PTDF, University of Ilorin, and Addax Petroleum National Merit scholarships.

What is your organisation, Helpa about?

Helpa (www.helpa.me) is an online medical fundraising platform, focused on providing access to healthcare financing through crowdfunding. We provide a transparent and safe platform where Africans irrespective of their faith, gender, ethnicity or nationality can raise the funds they need to pay for their medical expenses from donors in any part of the world. Helpa also supports NGOs to raise funds they need to further their causes.

Although we are currently running only in Nigeria, we plan to expand our reach to every country in Africa. Our core objective is to address the critical deficit in access to healthcare among Africans caused by high poverty and insufficient funds for medical expenses.

When was Helpa established?

Helpa started supporting fundraisers on the 19th of May 2022, but the full website (www.helpa.me) that automates the fundraising process launched on December 10, 2022.

What’s your target this year?

In 2022, we processed about 4.3 million Naira while in 2023 we processed N31 million. This year, our target is to process a minimum of 150m in donations for our users. We also plan on growing the readership of the educational contents on our blog (blog.helpa.me) where we share health tips, making an impact etc. We believe our work doesn’t just end with providing the fundraising platform but also includes educating our readers on how to protect their health and reduce their risk of getting sick.

How can the Nigerian tech economy grow?

To foster the growth of the Nigerian tech economy, we need to focus on several key areas. Firstly, there should be a concerted effort to invest in education and skills development. By nurturing a skilled workforce, we can ensure that Nigeria has the human capital necessary for a thriving tech industry.

Secondly, there should be increased support for startups and small businesses in the tech sector. This can be achieved through the establishment of tech hubs, incubators, and accelerators that provide resources, mentorship, and funding to aspiring entrepreneurs. Government incentives and policies that encourage innovation and entrepreneurship will also play a crucial role in creating a conducive environment for tech companies to flourish.

Additionally, improving the country’s infrastructure, especially in terms of reliable internet connectivity, is essential. A robust and affordable internet infrastructure is the backbone of any tech-driven economy.

Lastly, addressing regulatory challenges is vital for the growth of the tech sector. Streamlining bureaucratic processes, ensuring a clear and supportive regulatory framework, and minimizing red tape will attract more investors and businesses to the Nigerian tech space.

What’s your advice to aspiring leaders of the next generation?

My number one piece of advice is to embrace continuous learning and adaptability. The world is evolving rapidly, and successful leaders of the next generation will need to stay curious, open-minded, and ready to pivot when necessary. They should also develop strong communication skills, and be ready to put in the work. Everything you see in the world was conceived and built by people, and you can build the next big thing too. Finally, be resilient in the face of challenges, and never underestimate the power of collaboration – true leadership is about bringing out the best in others.

What has been the most remarkable achievement and what lessons were learnt from running Helpa?

It’s not a surprise or myth that building a tech startup is incredibly hard, however, what keeps us going is the smile and joy we see on the faces of our users when they can pay for the surgery or expensive treatment they never thought they could afford. And being able to do this for as many users as we support certainly tops the list of why we do what we do.

In the time since we started Helpa, we’ve learned a couple of interesting things and I’d like to briefly mention a few:
I. People often resort to fundraising after they’ve tried everything else which can sometimes be too late.
II. People love to help by donating their money to causes they resonate with, people in need often just have to ask
III. Healthcare in Africa needs major revamping
IV. Fundraising is about visibility and reach, the more people share and the more frequently they do, the higher the chances of hitting the fundraiser target

Is there anything you would like to comment on that we have not asked?

One of the motivations for starting Helpa is our strong belief that the culture of using personal bank accounts that are not transparent and are very susceptible to fraud needs to change. Thankfully, using online fundraising platforms is getting more popular, many people are beginning to see the criticality of transparency and accountability in public fundraisers and this has been great for Helpa and has helped fuelled our growth.

Also, one of our core principles is to focus on the long term and not let short-term setbacks hold us down. We are committed to building Helpa over the long term so we can make strategic decisions that short-term-focused people wouldn’t be able to.

What are the challenges that you have been encountering?

One of the biggest challenges we face is the poor digital infrastructure in Africa, which makes verifying some of our cases tedious, we often need to do physical verification rather than just query a database or reach out to their hospital.

Another challenge is the low-trust environment, this is perhaps a challenge everywhere, but it is even more so in Africa where many people are just out there to take advantage of public compassion. We had to build our verification process and infrastructure to ensure Helpa is robust and as fraud-free as possible.

And of course, we also face the challenge of access to capital. Hosting and keeping the platform online costs us money, then we need to pay our team, then marketing, spend money on verification etc. We often use our funds to finance some of the operations and it can be somewhat expensive. But overall, it’s been so far, so good and our impact and growth makes it worth it.