Two Strathmore University Business School Postgraduate students, Abigail Ndirangu and Winnie Abuto were part of the winning team at the 2021 BAHM Case Competition. The other team members were Vanessa Folkerts and Penghui Jason Chen both from Wharton Business School, USA. Abigail and Winnie are both in their second year of the MBA in Healthcare Management Programme.
The team’s winning business idea, Nufaika Health, is a B2B e-commerce marketplace for pharmaceutical procurement designed to empower small pharmacies to sell quality medicines in rural areas in Kenya.
Speaking during the closing symposium, Kevin Schulman, President of BAHM and a Professor of Medicine and Economics at Stanford University applauded the students for their innovative business models. “Students developed truly innovative telehealth business models for under-resourced or underserved communities at a time when COVID-19 has accelerated the use of technology in delivering critical healthcare services. The results of this competition demonstrate the importance of collaboration across campuses and continents to drive solutions that can have a global impact,” he noted.
About the BAHM Case Competition 2021
The BAHM Case Competition 2021 was hosted virtually and brought together more than 80 students worldwide, with seven of the 21 competing teams representing a mix of schools and countries, including the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Spain, Kenya, and India. This year’s theme for the competition was, Use of Telehealth Business Models to Reach Underserved Communities. The teams came up with business proposals which were then scored by an international group of telehealth leaders in technology, health care delivery, policy, and investment.
This year’s competition was hosted and organized by a team of faculty members from BAHM member schools: Ingrid Nembhard and Steve Sammut, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; Ben Ngoye, Strathmore Business School in Nairobi, Kenya; and Magda Rosenmöller, IESE, Barcelona, Spain. Two additional BAHM schools—The Indian School of Business, in Hyderabad and Mohali, India, and the INCAE Business School in Costa Rica—served as collaborating institutions.
Speaking on her experience, Abigail said, “It was a great learning experience that required teamwork and commitment. Winnie and I were in Nairobi while our teammates were miles across the world, with an 11-hour time difference. We would meet early mornings/early nights, several times a week, and towards the end of the competition several times daily. We were juggling professional work, schoolwork, and our personal lives but we were committed to bringing our heads together, draw on our strengths and experiences, and be reliable team members.”
Winnie described her competition experience as both rewarding and challenging. “The experience was both challenging and rewarding. It took a lot of hard work and sacrifice; from brainstorming and evaluating ideas, to doing research and conducting interviews, while juggling studies and work at the same time. We were able to strike a good balance and had fun too,” she said.
She further noted that working as a team meant among other things such as considering different perspectives, appreciating each team member’s contribution, and acknowledging that even though each of us had great ideas, we had to objectively choose the one that gave us the best chance of winning and implementing.
Telemedicine offers many advantages over the traditional healthcare visit but has until recently been underutilized. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic caused an increased acceleration in the use of telehealth all over the world. Could telehealth be the new post covid reality for the healthcare sector?
Our MBA Healthcare Management Programme aims to equip managers with relevant skills for leading and managing the various facets and challenges that confront professional hospital and clinic managers, managers of NGO and faith-based health providers, and professionals in the emerging insurance, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries.
Learn about the MBA Healthcare Management Programme
Article by Juliet Hinga
Would you like to share an article? Write to us at sbscommunication@strathmore.edu
Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!
Your journey to business excellence starts here. Subscribe today and be at the forefront of innovation and leadership.
