May 2018
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The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve<br />
www.thesparkng.com<br />
Solving Social Problems<br />
Social problems have always been a part of my life. Looking at my<br />
trajectory in terms of becoming a Doctor, for as long as I can<br />
remember, I have always been interested in solving social<br />
problems.<br />
At Flying Doctors Nigeria, we solve the problem of distance<br />
between locations where people have medical emergencies<br />
and the areas where they can receive treatment. We do this by<br />
providing air ambulance services that get the right medical patient<br />
to the right medical Physician and within the correct timeframe.<br />
This can be within the country Nigeria or internationally. And this<br />
has been a very exciting and rewarding journey.<br />
On Making Profitable Impact<br />
I’m passionate about profit and I’m also passionate about impact.<br />
I don’t think social entrepreneurship is any more difficult than<br />
someone who is in any business for profit. Here’s what I think:<br />
if you’re only in business for profit, then it’s a whole lot more<br />
difficult because your team is only profit-driven and not missiondriven.<br />
It is the combination of mission and profit that drives<br />
people to excel.<br />
Notwithstanding, profit is also very important and I will not say<br />
that because we want make impact, we won’t be sustainable.<br />
Being mission-driven doesn’t give you the excuse to handle<br />
finances carelessly or decide not to pay your staff for 3 months.<br />
Profit is important. Profit allows us to make decisions. It ensures<br />
we are well paid. It allows us to function as a team and it impacts<br />
our bottom line, so it’s very important to us.<br />
So far, we’ve made huge impact, especially in our region, in terms<br />
of the number of evacuations that we’ve done and the complexity<br />
of evacuations that we’ve done. This includes intensive care<br />
patients who are obviously not breathing by themselves and<br />
patients on life support. Our work in Africa will not be complete<br />
until not a single person in Africa dies because they were in the<br />
wrong place at the wrong time. We definitely have a long way to<br />
go to achieve that. We’re growing very quickly and I’m very proud<br />
of the progress that we’ve made so far.<br />
I believe that in the coming years, especially with the increase in<br />
the cost of healthcare and the fact that certain specialist services<br />
can only be offered in certain large centres which may be many<br />
hours or days away by road, the impact of our services will<br />
continue to grow across the continent. It would be fantastic to<br />
believe that by 2030, I would’ve managed to cure all illness, with<br />
human beings living in sound health, and no more emergencies.<br />
Sustainable Social Entrepreneurship<br />
The term social entrepreneur is often interpreted to mean that<br />
profit is not important. So, one piece of advice I would give is to<br />
make sure that you’re financially savvy with what you do. Make<br />
sure that you save and that you can always pay salaries at the<br />
end of the month. And ensure that the business is sustainable.<br />
Don’t think that because you’re operating in the social space<br />
where you have impact, that you have a right not to pay people<br />
commensurate salaries, or that your organisation does not need<br />
to function as well as any world class organisation. You have to set<br />
yourself at that same standard and obviously make sure that the<br />
organisation is sustainable.<br />
When I first started the company, I thought that I was the ‘Oga’<br />
and my job was to tell everybody what to do and dictate what<br />
should be done. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned now is<br />
that my job is more about listening to people’s suggestions. It’s<br />
my job to understand what people are thinking and to be more<br />
of a servant leader, serving and helping people reach their true<br />
potential. I’m to train, coach, cheerlead people and I wish this was<br />
something I knew at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey.<br />
A Business Funding Opportunity for Entrepreneurs<br />
Along with some of her friends, Dr. Ola setup a venture capital<br />
fund where she invests some of her profit every year. This goes<br />
towards investment for start-ups that hopefully would become<br />
successful businesses. She has been doing this for the past 4 years<br />
and along with her board, they’ve been able to not just run a<br />
successful organisation but also be part of the success stories of<br />
some of the most ambitious and largest tech start-ups in Nigeria.<br />
Would you be the one? See page 33 for how to apply now.<br />
20<br />
@thesparkng