The Spark Magazine (May 2018)

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