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Talamus Health Inc., an Africa focused health-tech business, has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2019.
The list honors the businesses making the most profound impact on both industry and culture, showcasing a variety of ways to thrive in today’s volatile world. Half of the companies on this year’s MIC 50 list are appearing for the first time.
Commenting on the recognition by Fast Company, Talamus founder Dr. Muri Raifu said: “Being recognized by Fast Company for our innovative approach to Healthcare is a great endorsement of our approach to solving healthcare challenges on the African continent. It follows the United Nations ITU’s recognition of Talamus as the ‘most scalable solution’ in the SME category of their 2018 Global awards. The combination of innovation and scalability is at the heart of our value proposition to the healthcare industry on the continent. Africa’s population is the fastest growing in the world, and its healthcare infrastructure amongst the weakest. Innovative technical solutions that can be scaled to deliver across industry segments and in multiple geographies are vital to getting ahead of that challenge. Already in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, we expect to launch in Zimbabwe, Mozambique in 2019.”
For decades, the healthcare challenge in Africa and other emerging markets has been dominated by the fight against communicable diseases, but underlying this threat has been the growing prominence of chronic illnesses, and a lack of infrastructure and capacity to provide the care needed to address them. Primary Health Care facilities across Africa lack centralized record keeping, and the choices facing them have traditionally been to retain time consuming paper based solutions, or to invest significantly in bulky hardware and software solutions that lack interoperability.
The rapid growth of telecommunications services and their integration with the financial systems in Africa have created an opportunity to deliver healthcare services in new ways, and Talamus is leveraging this infrastructure. The Talamus Mobile Platform and marketplace provides integration options for doctors, clinics, pharmacies, laboratories, insurance companies and Government Agencies, while offering the end user, the patient, more control over the movement and privacy of their health data.
Currently operational in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, Talamus has built a network of over 100 clinics and hospitals, 710 pharmacy outlets and 400 laboratory outlets, as well as connections to insurance companies; each integrating into or using the Talamus mobile application, and so enabling comprehensive real-time access to records and notes.
This year, Fast Company’s editors and writers sought out groundbreaking businesses across 35 industries and every region. They also judged nominations received through their application process.The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.
“Established players are showing the same kind of nimbleness that we’ve generally associated with startups,” said Fast Company deputy editor David Lidsky, who oversaw the issue with senior editor Amy Farley.
Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies issue (March-April 2019) is now available online at https://www.fastcompany.com/mic, as well as in app form via iTunes and on newsstands beginning February 27th. The hashtag is #fcmostinnovative.
