Dr Diana Esther Wangari, the the CEO and co-founder of Checkups Medical Centre, in Kenya is among five individuals selected to take part in the Skoll Scholarship for the University of Oxford’s MBA programme.
The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship announced the 16th cohort of its Scholarship to the Oxford MBA at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
The five new Skoll Scholars have received the scholarship for their passion, dedication and entrepreneurial approaches to tackling world-scale challenges.
(TOP: Dr Diana Esther Wangari).
Dr Diana Esther Wangari, is the CEO and co-founder of Checkups Medical Centre in Kenya, which developed the iSikCure technology.
Diana is posed to scale their rapid outpatient diagnostic and treatment model with that aim to unlock a $1 billion market targeting blue collar workers in the fast-growing industries of manufacturing, farming, travel and hospitality.
Upon receiving the Skoll Scholarship, Diana said: ‘‘There are no new ideas just new strategies. As an entrepreneur it is important to always think of two things; your competitive edge and sustainability. For me there was no better network than Skoll and there was no better place than Oxford to do this.”
Checkups Medical Centres utilise in-house developed technology, iSikCure, to provide access to rapid diagnostics, consultation and last mile drug distribution through its delivery services both in urban and rural areas.
Under her leadership, Checkups has rapidly grown with projected revenue of over $1 million by the end of its first year.
Having established partnerships with insurance and pharmaceutical companies including Sanofi, Novartis and Roche, her vision as a Skoll Scholar is to identify partners – pharmaceutical companies, diagnostic and investors to fulfil her mission. By scaling Checkups Medical Centre to 25 sites in the East Africa Region in the next five years, her venture could create over 300 jobs, improve access to medicines and diagnostics at 30-40% below market rate and drive Universal Health Care through private sector strategies.
As the co-founder, Diana serves on the board of Sagitarix, a health technology company that developed ZiDi, a health management information system serving over 60 facilities in over six African countries. Diana is a graduate of the University of Nairobi, School of Medicine, and is a member of the Kenya Medical Association.
A firm believer of communication being a critical driver of policy change, she served as the pioneer journalist-in-residence at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) Antwerp, Belgium, and served as columnist for Code4Africa, ‘The Star’ and ‘The Standard’ newspapers Kenya. She has been a contributor for Thomson Reuters (UK), Citizen News Service (India), LoveMattters (RadioNetherlands) and Prospekt Africa.
Diana has been recognised as Forbes 30-under-30 Africa 2019, David Astor Journalism Award Finalist, while her organisation has received accolades at the UNDP Social Good Summit (Geneva), United Nations General Assembly (NewYork), VivaTech (Paris) and GetIntheRing (The Hague).
The Skoll Scholarship is awarded each year to individuals who pursue entrepreneurial solutions for urgent social and environmental challenges. Not only does it provide full funding to the MBA programme, Skoll Scholars become part of a growing community of change leaders around the world. It also offers exclusive opportunities to meet with world-renowned entrepreneurs, thought leaders and investors.
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