During the TecXposition 2021 virtual summit themed “Improving Profitability and enhancing everyday living” held over November 11 and 12, Margot Cooijmans, Director of the Philips Foundation, took part in a fireside chat with Eniola Harrison, Co-founder at Africa Communications Week, on digital health and social impact.
As the media partner, Platform Africa is pleased to bring you insights from the discussion which unfolded on November 12 and was centered around how the Philips Foundation is living up to its mission of reducing healthcare inequality by increasing access to healthcare facilities in a sustainable manner.
Eniola opened the discussion by asking Margot Cooijmans to introduce herself. Margot noted that she was trained as a lawyer, and after being a company lawyer for three years in a listed publishing company, she turned entrepreneur and set up a food supplements company as her first venture and spun it off when it was no longer satisfying.
Her next venture as a lawyer-turned-entrepreneur was The Good Company which she started as a board room consulting venture for good governance in 1997 and then served as a co-owner of a hotel operating company from 2007, where, being also trained as a real estate broker and as the daughter of an architect, she was responsible for the realisation and funding of (sustainable) real estate for her own company’s hotel operations portfolio, in collaboration with Marriott International.
The intersection of private sector and society has always fascinated Margot, taking a result-driven approach to achieve societal impact paired with financial results. This culminated in her joining Royal Philips in December 2016 as the Director of the Philips Foundation.
Now, for the first time in a not-for-profit role, Margot is changing the way the Philips Foundation supports society. In alignment with the capacities of the Philips company, the mission of the Philips Foundation is reducing healthcare inequality by providing access to quality healthcare for disadvantaged communities Here, Eniola asked Margot to comment on how the Philips Foundation is doing so, sustainably.
How the Philips Foundation is reducing healthcare inequalities, sustainably
Margot noted that Royal Philips was an early mover in developing medical equipment. In 2016, from their earlier focus on household appliances and electronics, Philips decided to target healthcare equipment.
In doing so, Philips Foundation deploys the capabilities, expertise and innovation skills of Royal Philips as a healthcare technology company.
Margot says: “When I joined in 2016, the company was doing a patchwork of activities in the healthcare system. Everything we do is centered around finding the gaps in the healthcare system. In developing areas such as Latin America, Africa, even India, there isn’t just poverty affecting childcare but also lack of access to healthcare scans/ultrasounds, etc. You need to understand their fears, their way of living.”
How Philips is leveraging healthcare tech for social good
In response to Eniola’s query on what she sees as the biggest trends in healthcare tech, and how Philips is leveraging these for social good, Margot replied that digital is indeed a huge part of healthcare. The key question here for Philips is: “How can we bridge the gap between a patient in a remote village and a radiographer in a more established location?” She noted that this needs to be achieved without forcing people to travel. “One of the trends we see here is creating images closer to the community and then sending scans to wherever the specialist is based.”
She also observed that the key interventions were on the diagnostic side. Oncology and cardiovascular skills were especially in demand, as villages in African countries are starting to “eat differently, not healthier, but the opposite” she rued. If diagnosticians can pick up on early signs of cardiovascular, hypertension or even respiratory diseases, she stressed, particularly prevalent in a post-COVID context, the success rate in treatment and preventing mortality can be high. “Prevention and diagnostics are the main areas where we are focussing,” she highlighted.
Partnering for synergies in healthcare solutions
On being asked by Eniola about the partnerships that Philips has on the ground, Margot stated that one of the key ways the Foundation uses to create the desired impact on healthcare for vulnerable populations is through collaboration with social entrepreneurs that provide access to quality healthcare, especially for underserved communities.
Apart from this, most recently, in September 2021, Margot has set up Philips Foundation Impact Investments BV as a 100% subsidiary of Philips Foundation, in order to invest in scalable, sustainable digital healthcare solutions (enterprises) for underserved communities.
She stressed that, while ‘we will not abandon grants as and when urgently needed’, the approach to healthcare has to be wider, hence social entrepreneurs and impact investments in healthcare solutions are the way forward.
Margot also mentioned interventions in terms of working with midwives in Kenya and pilots in Uganda to convert community workers into a credible first point of contact in the diagnostics chain as concrete use cases that could be emulated elsewhere on the continent.
How an entrepreneur can contribute to this noble healthcare initiative
Finally, Eniola asked how she, or others, could contribute to this worthwhile initiative, as local entrepreneurs seeking to make a tangible difference in the healthcare systems in their respective African economies.
To this, Margot replied that there are certain key questions entrepreneurs must answer to assess how they can contribute, and in which capacity:
- Are you a part of the healthcare system?
- What need are you trying to address?
- What gaps are you trying to fill?
On a parting note, she stressed that diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and obstetrics are areas of focus for the Philips Foundation, so they prioritise entrepreneurs who work in these areas, which are critical for African populations, and particularly the more vulnerable sections.
“For the rest, let’s talk,” she said candidly, singing off on a most insightful fireside chat where the Philips Foundation’s journey to a sustainable digital healthcare landscape for Africa was explored in an in-depth manner, and showed the way forward for local entrepreneurs to be a part of this noteworthy initiative.
