Earlier this year, Allan Gray Fellows of the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation received emails to quickly secure their seats ,for what in our opinion as the Association Team, would be one of the most memorable events hosted by the Foundation: the much-anticipated return of Startership. Following its successful debut last year, Startership came back this year, renewed, refreshed, and better than ever. Startership is a weekend event where fellows at various stages of life, whether working 9-to-5 jobs, running businesses, thinking of ideas, or simply figuring out their path, gather in one room to exchange ideas. At Startership, Fellows bring their insights and experiences to co-create sustainable solutions that address Africa’s unique challenges. It’s a weekend dedicated to ideating, problem- solving and collaborating. This year’s theme was “Innovate for Change: Creating solutions for the Healthcare Industry & issues in the South African Context.”
In addition, Startership introduced a series of online workshops. These three sessions unpacked the theme through expert insights, including some Fellows who are specialists in the healthcare sector. Various stakeholders and healthcare professionals participated, sharing their knowledge, concerns, and expertise. I attended all three workshops and can confidently say they were invaluable in creating a space for fellows to understand, reflect on, and identify critical gaps in the healthcare industry ahead of the main event.
The first workshop focused on the current state of healthcare in South Africa. It featured three guest speakers, two of whom were Fellows. Qhawekazi Mazaleni, a speech therapist and author of Amasele Amdaka, expressed her passion for meaningful work in speech therapy while candidly discussing the field’s challenges. She said, “It is sometimes difficult to pin point what the problem is because we first have to start by translating tests that are standardised in English making them kind of usable in African languages, then try come up with resources to do the work, this tends to delay the process.”
She continued, “I try not to constantly complain but as speech therapists we have been speaking about how sometimes it creates a real dichotomy within ourselves, because you see yourself torn between the question of should you risk burnout by doing work that is deeply meaningful or take the approach of sacrificing less of yourself and do work that is somewhat meaningful to you. That is a conversation that many healthcare workers have when asking themselves, should I stay in public or go to private?”
Advocate Karabo Motsamai addressed the issue of inequality in healthcare by presenting comparative statistics: in 2018/19, the annual average real healthcare spend per individual was R4,480 in the public sector versus R17,225 in the private sector. For us Fellows, this conversation provided a clearer picture of the inequalities and systemic barriers within South Africa’s healthcare system. The final speaker of the first workshop was Siphesihle Mchunu, a psychologist and Fellow, who emphasized the need for South Africans to understand depression and anxiety not only conceptually but operationally. He proposed that localized, Afrocentric approaches are vital to effectively bridge this knowledge gap.
The second workshop brought insights from healthcare entrepreneurs. At 6 p.m. sharp, Fellows gathered online to hear from voices within the healthcare space. Boitumelo Faro, CEO of Dubilee Pharmacy, shared his personal journey. Growing up in the small town of Matatiele, Faro earned a full scholarship to study pharmacy. After completing his internship in Johannesburg, he made a tough choice: leaving the vibrant city to return home.
“I made a conscious decision to return back to Matatiele, leaving Joburg was not easy but for me it really mattered the most. Why? I had seen first-hand the pain of our parents waiting long queues to simply access basic healthcare, travelling long kilometres to access basic healthcare and sometimes not accessing it at all because of our poor resourced clinics. I knew something had to change. I and two other young individuals who were also pharmacists took the brave step to buy out one of the local pharmacies in Matatiele. We honestly did not have big pockets or investors but what we did have was vision and belief that even our small rural town deserved dignified, professional and affordable healthcare.”
His story resonated with Fellow speaker Dineo Lioma, who shared a similar passion for making healthcare more affordable and accessible. In South Africa, 86% of the population cannot afford medical aid and thus cannot access private quality healthcare. Lioma, founder and CEO of Docotela, recounted that her first healthcare business began as a pitch at an event like Startership. She encouraged fellows to bring their ideas forward, reminding us, “there is enough room in the health care industry for all of our innovative and different business ideas.”
Other speakers included Wandile Khumalo, founder of Syked, a wellness company focused on online therapy widely used by fellows, and Thato Schermer the founder of Zoie Health, Africa’s first holistic digital women’s health and wellness platform. Her advice to fellows building in healthcare was clear: it takes time, regulation, and credibility; fundraising is tough but traction is key; nailing your business model from the start is essential; and most importantly, your “why” is your anchor when things get tough.
Entrepreneurial readiness was a crucial part of the workshops, culminating in a session led by Entrepreneur in Residence Mogen Naidoo on Design Thinking and Ideation. Held just days before Startership, this session left me feeling well-prepared and confident to contribute meaningfully to the discussions ahead.
At Startership, Fellows reflected on their experiences. Tumelo Noah said, “The workshops did a really good job in laying the ground, helping us think about not going down a conventional path but see how we can possibly foster innovation but specifically accessibility in ways that are not at the forefront of people’s minds at the moment. Those workshops were amazing because they challenged what you think is a problem versus what the problem actually is specifically in a South African context. What it means to create spaces for people who cannot get there on their own.”
Finally, on the morning of May 24th, Allan Gray Fellows gathered under one roof, having travelled from across South Africa and beyond. Without wasting time, we joined our assigned groups and started to work—after all, this was Startership. We all understood our purpose: to find solutions for South Africa’s healthcare challenges.
“Conversations are the birthplace of action,” as conversation strategist Nozipho Tshabalala often says. That perfectly describes my experience with my group. Sharing personal stories shaped by our diverse backgrounds allowed us to engage deeply and authentically. It was then I realized just how layered and complex the problems in South Africa’s healthcare system truly are. Other groups seemed to share this experience. Where do we start when the issues are so intertwined, reflecting the lived realities of many South Africans facing poor healthcare? And so with the advice from Amina Patterson an Entrepreneur In Residence, as a group we delved into the problem, challenging ourselves to find the real problem and not find satisfaction in the surface level. We were asking ourselves crucial questions before using the last few minutes to come up with the solution.
Kwandilokuhle Nkosi, a Fellow from another group, reflected, “We spent about two hours trying to figure out what it is that we would pitch, running through ideas, ideas were changing and we were tired. It was so nice to be incubated in a short space of time. We had to fail now, had to pick it up now, change our ideas and move on.”
This iterative process was far from easy—going back and forth, questioning every conclusion. Time was not on our side. Soon enough, we found ourselves on stage, pitching to an audience of brilliant minds why our idea was the answer to South Africa’s healthcare challenges. One thing became clear: Allan Gray Fellows possess remarkable determination, vision, and confidence. Even groups that didn’t advance to the top in earlier rounds presented impressive solutions. The judges had a tough decision. Among them were Charleen Duncan, Head of Programmes at AGOF; Dr. Boitumelo Pitse, co-founder of Lifehub Co; Dr. Nontobeko Mabizela, CEO of AGOF; Peter Kraus, Programme Lead at JASIRI; and Thato Ntseare, Investment Manager at Esquared Investments.
Fellows went all out to refine their ideas. Some visited taxi ranks to gauge the feasibility of locating public clinics there. Others travelled to Alexandra Township to assess community buy-in. The competition was fierce, as with all Allan Gray challenges. One group tested children’s eyesight, focusing on rural children whose education suffers simply because they cannot see properly. Another group developed solutions for children with different abilities who often face exclusion. Yet another tackled the language barrier in South Africa’s healthcare system by proposing integration of African languages to empower patients to understand their own diagnosis in a language they speak, read, and comprehend.
These ideas come from Allan Gray Fellows who, through Startership, joined forces to brainstorm, problem-solve, and push the boundaries of healthcare innovation in South Africa. As Dineo Lioma reminded us, there is room for every one of our ideas to make a positive impact. Huge thanks to Relo and the team for creating an experience that will stay with us long after the event.
