In Nigeria, new mothers receive post-natal care popularly known as omugwo in Igbo and ojojo omo in Yoruba. This is to help and guide them in taking care of themselves and their new baby. Not only that, it’s an opportunity for a mother to transfer knowledge and share motherhood experiences with her daughter.
However, this traditional practise promotes the spread of harmful practices that may affect the new child and mother. But that is not to say that it is not useful at all.
With the increased number of people in Africa having access to the internet. Tech enthusiasts have found ways to incorporate tech into pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood. For instance, Platforms like Safermom, Ubenwa and Babymigo leverage internet access to spread healthy information to women. This article focuses on Babymigo, a femtech platform co-founded by Kemi Olawoye and Adeloye Olanrewajuin 2017.
Babymigo is a platform with numerous communities that connects millions of mothers. Simply to counter harmful cultural beliefs around pregnancy.
In fact, Babymigo is a digitised version of the traditional cultural motherhood practices to expand access to quality information on pregnancy and parenthood. Its digital platform connects expectant, pregnant, and nursing mothers with their mates and experts. As well as help them find both local health and welfare services.
Overall, it’s a comprehensive support system for new, old and expecting parents to assist them in making informed decisions during pregnancy and about parenthood.
What does Babymigo offer?
Generally, Babymigo’s goal is to make pregnancy and parenthood easier. This it does by pooling knowledge, advice, and support together to share via its platform. Babymigo embodies the following:
Articles: Right on the platform, mothers get to read trusted articles from experts. All they have to do is, find and join their favourite communities to share experiences and read that of others.
Parenting encyclopedia: Women get access to information on pre-pregnancy, childbirth, child health, Breastfeeding etc right on the platform.
Enquiries and Answers: This features questions and answers. Women who get confused can ask questions and expect to get answers from experienced mothers & doctors.
Community: What everyone needs is a community where they can share their journey and expect not to be judged. Babymigo offers its members this opportunity to connect & meet mothers in the same situation or similar stage with them. Some of the communities include breastfeeding, pregnancy, Trying to conceive, family life, mom life, recipes etc.
Directories: Mothers can also look forward to getting the most comprehensive directory right on the platform. This means they can get the direction of local service providers of Schools, Hospitals, Creches, Lactation experts, Doctors, Diagnostic centres e.t.c, all on the platform.
Finally, Babymigo has recently launched the Mamacare plan. A maternity plan that allows mums to access antenatal child delivery and baby care services in about 120 multi-partner hospitals across Nigeria.
How much has Babymigo grown
Although Babymigo has been around for about five years, it may be new to many. However, it’s not about how long but how well a startup has performed. If you ask me, Babymigo is doing well for itself. Firstly, it was able to launch with a $10,000 grant and mentoring from Google’s Africa Launchpad Accelerator platform.
And its app has been downloaded 30,000 times while its mobile-friendly website has 90,000 registered users largely from Nigeria. Secondly, it offers access to some 7,000 local service providers, from gynaecologists to lactation consultants. It mostly makes money through advertising but charges a small commission for referrals. Currently, Babymigo has 250,000 users on its platform, including pregnant women and new parents. Lastly, they have also raised a pre-seed, which led to a lot of international partnerships and recognitions.
The future of Babymigo
For now, Babymigo plans to continue empowering more mums across Africa. And aims to provide healthcare services to 20 million mums across the African continent within the next 5 years. It also plans to expand to Ghana and Kenya within the same period. As well as expanding their services by partnering with telecom service providers to provide information via SMS for mums in rural areas.
Although Babymigo‘s startup plan to reach 20 million women in 5 years may sound like a pipe dream. Especially because operating a startup in Nigeria is akin to confronting numerous challenges. Yet, one can begin to believe that they are on the right path. As a result of the several global recognitions, they have received.
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