Healthcare: Why Healthcare is Still Inaccessible to Billions - EP502

BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech: Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand & Malaysia Startups, Founders & Venture Capital VC (English)

Edward Booty, Founder of reach52, and Jeremy Au discussed:

1. Health Access For 6M Lives: Edward Booty, CEO of reach52, shared how the company addresses healthcare gaps in rural and underserved regions across Asia and Africa. Initially conceptualized during Edward’s travels in India, reach52 shifted from a tech-heavy model reliant on shared kiosks to a comprehensive platform empowering local health workers. The organization uses data-driven tools to map community health needs and deliver targeted interventions, improving access to essential medicines and education. By 2023, reach52 had impacted over 6 million lives across seven countries, aiming to expand further into Africa due to extreme medication price disparities—sometimes 30 times higher than in the UK.

2. reach52 Business Model: Edward detailed the complexities of balancing impact and profitability as a social enterprise. reach52 operates on dual funding—corporate sponsorships and distribution margins from affordable medicines. He highlighted systemic challenges like fragmented impact measurement frameworks and vested interests in rural markets, which can hinder scale. Edward underscored the importance of embracing market complexities, such as regulatory engagement and supply chain management, to achieve scalable impact without diluting the mission.

3. Social Enterprise Perceptions: The conversation explored how perceptions of social enterprises have evolved over the past decade. While “social business” was trendy in the 2010s, health equity has become the focal point in global discourse. Edward reflected on navigating fluctuating funding priorities, avoiding inauthentic rebranding to chase trends, and staying committed to Reach 52's mission of health access for underserved communities.

They also discussed the role of training in empowering unpaid health workers, collaborative models with governments and NGOs to scale local health solutions and the economic impact of health expenditures on poverty in rural regions.

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Spotify

English: https://open.spotify.com/show/4TnqkaWpTT181lMA8xNu0T

Bahasa Indonesia:https://open.spotify.com/show/2Vs8t6qPo0eFb4o6zOmiVZ

Chinese: https://open.spotify.com/show/20AGbzHhzFDWyRTbHTVDJR

Vietnamese: https://open.spotify.com/show/0yqd3Jj0I19NhN0h8lWrK1

YouTube

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Apple Podcast

English: https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/brave-southeast-asia-tech-singapore-indonesia-vietnam/id1506890464

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#HealthEquity #AffordableMedicine #SocialEnterprise #GlobalHealthcare #EmergingMarkets #BRAVEPodcast