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When Abakar Mahamat was completing his Master’s in Information Technology (IT) engineering at ISGA (Institut Supérieur des Génies et des Affaires), Morocco, in 2021, he did not think he would end up building medical kiosks. At first, he tried to build an app that would connect patients to doctors in his home country, Chad, because of the healthcare access gap he found during his research. What stood out to Mahamat was the effort it took for people to get a consultation. Chad has about 0.8 physicians per 10,000 people, far below the global benchmark of 2.5 medical staff per 1,000 people, according to data from the World Health Organisation (WHO). For many patients, getting care means travelling long distances and spending on transport to navigate a system that is physically out of reach. An app felt like a clean fix to bring medicine closer to the people. However, as Mahamat began to sketch what would eventually become Telemedan, the idea changed. An app assumes that patients have smartphones and stable internet connectivity enough to sustain a consultation. In Chad, where internet penetration stands at 13.2%, a purely digital solution might struggle to solve the problem it was built for. “Remote areas in Chad have a very low rate of electrification and connectivity,” Mahamat said. “The Internet is expensive for remote areas, so developing a mobile app for this context was not suitable.” Diagnosis required more than just talking. For doctors to get an accurate diagnosis of a patient, they need to conduct tests such as checking the blood pressure and what the heartbeat sounds like, checking for muffled sounds in the lungs, knowing the body temperature, and the blood oxygen level. “During the teleconsultation, what if the doctors need to know the temperature or the blood oxygenation levels in the patients? An app doesn’t have tools to get that data,” he said, reflecting on the early stages of the idea. In 2021, Mahamat and Ahmed Kotoko launched Telemedan, a solar-powered medical kiosk that connects Chadians in rural provinces to medical doctors. Inside the kiosk Telemedan works like a small clinic, designed to handle consultation and diagnosis of a patient in one place. A patient could walk in, book an appointment to connect with a doctor using video conferencing. According to Mahamat, Chad’s Ministry of Health provides the doctors through a 2022 partnership Mahamat explained that the doctors follow a pre-screening process and are selected through the National Digital Health Program, a government initiative for the effective implementation of digital health tools in the country. “This ensures that the clinicians involved are qualified, aligned with national standards, and integrated into the public health system,” he said. A man using Telemedan’s Kiosk. Image source: Telemedan The kiosk is equipped with a set of medical devices that allow the doctor to gather real-time diagnostic data during the session. These tools are what Mahamat describes as on-site diagnostics, and include a dermatoscope for examining skin conditions, a stethoscope for heart activity, an otoscope for ear examinations, an oximeter for measuring blood oxygen levels, and temperature sensors. For maternal care, the kiosk also includes a probe that can be used to monitor the foetus. This setup is meant to close the gap that a standard video consultation cannot, because the doctors are receiving inputs that emulate a physical examination. Interacting with these tools is not always known, particularly for first-time users. Because of this, each kiosk is manned by a trained local operator who steps into position to set up the devices and provide assistance. “The kiosk is placed in a private area where there are only the patients and their doctors. The local operators can be nearby if the patient needs help with the on-site diagnostics,” he added. Telemedan’s kiosks also handle care continuity; doctors can issue prescriptions at the end of a session, which patients can print directly from the kiosk. At the same time, patients receive updates and reminders through SMS on their phones to ensure that they can follow up on appointments or treatment without needing a smartphone. For users with a smartphone, Telemedan is extending this information and follow-up layer through a mobile application that is currently in development. According to Mahamat, this app will allow patients to access their prescriptions and medical records as an extension of the Kiosks. Mahamat noted that the kiosks are optimised for environments with unreliable infrastructure; they are solar-powered and connect to the internet using a mix of 4G and satellite systems, depending on what is available in each location. “In some areas it’s working perfectly,” he said of 4G, “but in some areas that are very, very far we are using the satellite antenna… for more efficiency.” Assembly of Telemedan Kiosk. Image source: Telemedan Each kiosk takes about two weeks to produce, according to Mahamat, because some components, like the touchscreen, are imported before local assembly. He noted that the kiosks are designed to be low-maintenance, not needing constant intervention. Local operators are trained to handle minor physical issues, such as disconnected components, while more complex software problems are resolved remotely by the Telemedan team. “If you have a problem with the software, we can fix that at a distance,” he said, but for hardware issues like a broken screen, the team may need to step in physically. Telemedan has begun to layer in additional capabilities, more recently, an AI-powered tool used for detecting diabetic retinopathy through retinal scans, Mahamat noted, describing it as one of the first steps in integrating AI into the system. Partnerships and pricing Telemedan’s business operation is such that the people who need the service the most are not the ones who pay for the infrastructure. The kiosks themselves cost about $10,000 per unit, and that cost is not passed on to patients, because Telemedan sells directly to governments and public health programmes and organisations that are working to expand access to care. This structure makes Telemedan a business-to-government (B2G) and business-to-business (B2B) model, with patients as
Read MoreThree million people now work in Nigeria’s gig economy, and nearly a quarter of them are in ride-hailing, according to a new report by Ipsos, a global research firm, commissioned by Bolt, obtained by TechCabal. At an estimated value of $5.18 billion, the gig economy is no longer a minor layer of Nigeria’s labour market. In 2023, there were about 17.5 million online gig workers in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, according to the World Bank. Prolonged inflation crisis and shrinking formal job opportunities have pushed more young people into self-employment and digital gig work. By the third quarter of 2023, 87.3% of employed Nigerians were already in self-employment. The report disclosed that ride-hailing, in particular, was filling a gap the formal economy had failed to close. Ride-hailing ranks second only to e-commerce in gig-work participation, ahead of freelancing, micro-tasks, and remote work, Ipsos noted. Nearly six in 10 participants (59%) remain active for more than one year. Ipsos said it surveyed over 250 drivers each in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. “Flexible earning opportunities are becoming an essential part of how many Nigerians earn today,” said Teddy Appa-Dankyi, Senior General Manager, West Africa at Bolt during the report’s presentation on Tuesday. Across Africa, drivers’ motivations are consistent. In South Africa, drivers point to financial stability; in Kenya, independence and self-sufficiency. In Nigeria, it is the ability to earn extra income on demand. But the appeal in Nigeria is increasingly colliding with reality. Ride-hailing may be expanding access to income, but higher petrol prices, naira depreciation, rising vehicle maintenance and spare parts costs, and fixed platform commissions are squeezing drivers’ margins. Fuel prices in Nigeria have risen from less than ₦1000 ($0.74) to over ₦1,200 ($0.89) in 2026. While 64% of the surveyed participants said their standard of living had improved, drivers also described working longer hours just to stay afloat. “I drive several hours just to recover costs, but every extra fare helps me keep the car and feed the family,” one of the surveyed drivers was quoted as saying in the report. There are also structural gaps. Participation remains overwhelmingly male-dominated, with women accounting for only 4% of ride-hailing workers in Nigeria. In markets like Kenya and South Africa, targeted inclusion efforts are beginning to shift the balance, Ipsos stated. For policymakers, the implication is becoming harder to ignore. “As flexible earning opportunities become more common across Africa, there is an opportunity for policymakers, platforms, and stakeholders to work together to ensure the gig economy continues to expand access to opportunity while remaining sustainable and inclusive,” said Weyinmi Aghadiuno, Head of Regulatory and Policy, Africa at Bolt. While the report noted that ride-hailing will remain a primary livelihood source for many across Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, economic volatility and rising operational costs will continue to pressure drivers’ earnings. But platform innovation, including electric vehicle adoption, and drivers expanding into parcel delivery and food logistics, may offer respite, the report noted.
Read MoreYou’ve been reading TechCabal for free. That’s not changing. But some of our reporting is moving behind a gate. The stories built on sources nobody else has. Investigations that don’t stop at what happened but push into why it happened and what comes next. To read them, you need to become a TC Insider. It takes less than 15 seconds: drop your email, get a code, punch it in. On the other side, reporting no other publication on this continent does. Early and discounted access to our events, including our flagship conference, Moonshot, in October. And a look behind the curtain at how we make the work. Welcome to the other side. A few weeks ago, I wrote to you about TechCabal 4.0. This is it. We’ve reorganised our newsroom into four verticals: Money, Startups, Enterprise & Policy, and Life & Work. Each vertical has dedicated reporters whose job is to go deeper than the headline, find sources nobody else has, and tell you what it means for how technology is reshaping life and work on the continent. That’s what you just unlocked. As a TC Insider, you also get early and discounted access to our events, including Moonshot, our flagship conference in October. And periodically, we’ll pull back the curtain on how we report and produce our best work. Welcome to TC 4.0.
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