What's Happening at La Ruche Health?

April 2023

Hello dear readers, this month has been rich and interesting.

Indeed we started the ACT program. Based in Oklahoma, ACT Tulsa’s 6-month accelerator program aims to bolster Black and Latino entrepreneurs and create innovative ecosystems. They offer startups a large network of investors and potential customers, as well as 3 months of incubation and $70,000 (40 million CFA ) in equity-free funds to support early growth.

We are truly grateful for this opportunity to learn and develop our startup more. For more details click here !

From the product side, we have some good news too. The patient app has been updated with some new useful functionalities. You can now access emergency numbers, calculate your ovulation time and other medical metrics!

Thank you for your time and see you next month for more news at La Ruche Health .

March 2023

March was an adventure!

We have been working closely with our strategic pilot customer Gladys Assistance medical group to ensure their staff is fully equipped to be successful with our product. We've also hired a customer success associate to ensure we have a tight feedback loop between our users and our product team.

Every year, the University of Yale curates a list of 30 African Startups driving innovation on the continent. This year, La Ruche Health is featured on this highly selective list.

Our unique approach to solving limited community access to healthcare services by integrating an AI chatbot in WhatsApp was deemed noteworthy during the panel discussions.

Last but not least, we recently signed an agreement with The PNLCa program director which now gives us the freedom to move forward with the first pilot phase. We are so happy to start!

Until next month for more news at La ruche health!

February 2023

February might be the shortest month of the year, but it wasn’t the least busy for us.

As announced last month we signed with the medical center Gladys Assistance, therefore we have been working nonstop to onboard their team,  which involves a lot of technical, people, and communications management.

Following closed testing in January, we have now opened the app for open testing to the general public via the google play store.  

We are also happy to announce that we have been invited to participate in the African Startup Ecosystem Lab, a program run by Yale University. This 6-week competition will be judged by some of Africa's most active VC firm partners.

Stay connected for more news next month!

January 2023

New year, new adventures, we are thrilled to start 2023 with all of you . Thanks again to those who’ve been following us since the start and to the new ones .Your support means a lot to us .

The most exciting news of this beginning of the year is undoubtedly our signing with the Galdys assistance medical center. You can now enjoy the benefits of our solution by going there.

We also did a patient testing app . The goal was to have efficient feedback in order to improve our solution and everyone’s experience with it. We launched a game on instagram so that people can register and test it in a fun way. 

The other good news comes from our CEO Rory Asaandey who received the annual DCU Alumni Awards . The award rewards graduates who have made substantial achievements in their chosen fields, or who have contributed in a significant way to the social, artistic or economic development of Ireland. 

Finally, we updated our home page and made it more complete, and we now have the french version available !

December 2022

December just ended and we officially launched the company at the Africa Santé Expo as planned. Three days of exposition after weeks of hardwork and it was all worth it. We were so glad to get to meet potential clients and investors, as well as discover other local health related companies.

Goodies bags, basketball game, and a demo of the app, we tried our best to make our stand interesting and everyone's experience there special. You can see more footage of our participation on our instagram page.

The event was concluded by a gala dinner. A nice way to cool down the pressure after the stress of the event. It was also the first time that most of the company team members were reunited in Ivory Coast. So we made the most of it .

We also got to meet our followers for the first time ! The big winners from the instagram game but also others that came to the stand.

Last but not least we want to thank you all for the continuous support . Happy new year and see you next year for more adventures and exciting news !

November 2022

November was very busy because of our participation to the Africa Santé Expo. It was a first for our team to plan and organize such a big event. But we love the challenge so we worked hard and did the best we could; between promoting the expo on our social media and working offline to create everything (the stand, t-shirts, goodies, accessories etc ). 

We also launched a big game on instagram for our followers. The winners will be invited to the event with the person of their choice, and will be offered a bunch of goodies. 

Aside from that we kept having meetings with potential clients (clinics) and big local names, to explain the advantages of la Ruche Health for the clinics and the patients .

Rendez-vous next month for all the details on our Africa Santé Expo experience . We are very happy and can't wait to officially present the solution to the public ! 

October 2022

This month at La Ruche Health we continued our weekend hands-on demo sessions with Ivoirien healthcare professionals. The goal is to really show the health care workers the advantages of our solution and how it can help them on a daily basis .

On a more general note, October happens to be breast cancer awareness month. Therefore we dedicated our social media this month to this cause to spread awareness and sensibilize people. As an health tech company it was important to us, because we believe that in order to make healthcare the norm for everyone we have to educate people about it .

Last but not least the big news of this month is our participation in the third edition of AFRICA SANTE EXPO . We are thrilled to announce that our startup will launch officially at the event this december.

Stay connected for more exciting news !

September 2022

With each month that passes, the team are increasingly busy, and September was no exception! 

First, the goodbyes - we had to wave off our 2 Uni of Chicago interns as they prepare to resume their studies. Bittersweet. But, we are so grateful to them for the amazing contributions and happy memories shared. Once again we thank the chicago university for their continued partnership and support for our mission.

In public sector news, our work with the national cancer program begins! The PNLCa has partnered with La Ruche Health to strengthen the process of case management and patient referrals, starting with a limited scope of pediatric cancers and the 10 most impacted towns of the country. The timing of this milestone is fitting given that September is International childood cancer awarness month. 

In the private sector, we have kicked off our weekend hands-on sessions targeted toward Ivoirien healthcare professionals. The goal is to meet more (public and private) healthcare staff, ultimately our users, and engage in dialog and include them in our go to market strategy, giving them early access to the tool that we believe will revolutionize how they deliver care on a daily basis. 

To sign up, you can follow this link and reserve a seat at a date and location suitable for you. 

This month has been particularly busy for our CEO Rory, who delivered a ConnectX Global office hours event at the Jeunesse Numerique offices in VITIB, Grand Bassam. This was just one of several sessions organized by ConnectX Global in partnership with Orange Digital Center with a theme of building bridges in the tech ecosystem in Ivory Coast, he spoke as one of the guest speakers. 

Thank you for keep on following our adventures, and see you next month for more !

August 2022

August has been a month full of surprises!

We continued our frequent trips to our very first pilot clinic in Ivory Coast (Dispensaire de Becedi, Sikensi). As the interactions advanced from initial introductions and pilot goals to hands-on testing with simulated patient encounter scenarios, many minor interface modifications have been made in response to the feedback received which has helped us close the user acceptance gap to obtain a formal sign off by all staff and leadership.

In other exciting news, our team identified an exciting opportunity to make a significant impact in partnership with the national cancer program in Cote d’Ivoire, the PNLCa. In a follow on meeting with the national oncology specialist team and the director of partnerships within the PNLCa, the team demonstrated how the platform has been adapted with minor interface updates to help accelerate early diagnosis of cancers. The PNLCa was very receptive and proposed a limited pilot scope focusing on pediatric patients only. At a high level, the pilot will aim to establish a secure communication and data exchange for smoother case referrals and management, ultimately accelerating early detection and survival rates in cancer patients under the age of 18.

In addition to small gifts and events to lift spirits, we believe our platform can make a huge impact by significantly increasing access to oncology specialsits for families across a nation of 25 million people through accessible technology so cancers can be screened, tested and diagnosed earl without delay.

For more context on how our platform can support this fight, you can see our presentation to the PNLCa here.

July 2022