Thato Schermer (Zoie Health): Making Female Healthcare Accessible.

08/02/24 • 66 min

In today's episode, we're excited to sit down with Thato Schermer, Co-Founder and CEO of Zoie Health, Africa's first holistic digital women's health & wellness platform, dedicated to making female healthcare more convenient, affordable and caring.
Shocked at how costly and difficult it was to see a gynaecologist, get a prescription, then fill it at a pharmacy, the founders recognized a gap to improve access and affordability to female healthcare.
Founded in 2020, the Zoie platform allows users to book virtual consultations, purchase medication and supplements online, as well as join a community for advice and support. Since its founding, the business has grown exponentially to now serve more than 9 thousand members and 50 healthcare providers (with a pipeline of over 300). In 2022, Zoie was recognised as an MTN "App of The Year" finalist and took first place at Harvard Business School’s "Africa Business Competition" - not to mention winning our very own Startup Club ZA “Healthtech of the Year” award in 2023. On the back of this momentum, the team closed their pre-seed round, led by 4DX and E Squared.
In 2024, Zoie launched an exciting, Whatsapp-enabled employee benefits solution, “EasyDoc”, where employees can engage in convenient consults with doctors, helping employers reduce absenteeism, enhance productivity and improve retention.

Armed with a bold mission to change the landscape of female healthcare across Africa, it’s clear that things are only getting started for Thato and the Zoie Team.
We talk about:
• Thato's upbringing, career and mission to "serve people" through business.
• Taking the leap from corporate achiever to health innovator.
• The nuances of building a startup in a crowded sector.
• Raising capital and navigating pivots.
• The Zoie Health mission, vision and what comes next.
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Connect with Thato on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thatomabudusha/
Connect with Mathew on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathewmarsden/
This episode was brought to you in partnership with our friends at E Squared Investments - one of South Africa's leading impact investors - providing funding and support to early-stage founders, high-growth businesses and social enterprises - intent on creating meaningful employment to tackle social inequality and enable economic inclusivity. For more info, visit esquared.org.za.

The Startup Club Podcast dives into the stories of South Africa's leading tech startup founders and investors, their journeys of innovation, failure, resilience, and triumph and is an initiative of Startup Club ZA - the country’s fastest-growing tech startup and investor community. If you're passionate about entrepreneurship, innovation, solving hard problems, backing the change-makers and co-creating a better country, then you're invited to join us! 🇿🇦
Connect with us:
Website - https://www.startupclubza.com
LinkedIn - https://za.linkedin.com/company/startup-club-za
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/startupclub.za/

Previous Episode

Alex Forsyth-Thompson (Float): Helping Consumers Buy Now and Pay Waaay Later, Responsibly.

In this episode, we’re thrilled to sit down with Alex Forsyth-Thompson, Founder and CEO of Float, Africa's first card-linked instalment platform that's disrupting traditional BNPL and encouraging responsible spending, by letting shoppers split big-ticket payments over time using existing credit.

Despite reaching an executive position at a leading financial services business in his late twenties - Alex took the leap into tech entrepreneurship after spotting the gap to offer BNPL in a way that better serves the customer and merchant alike.
After 18 months in "the wilderness" (as he describes it) building an MVP, he landed his first equity partner to bring the product to life. In the 3 years since (and with only a team of 10), Float has onboarded 1000 merchants - including big names like Apple, Samsung and The Pro Shop - and has raised meaningful equity, alongside an $11m debt facility from Standard Bank. They also placed top 5 in the Visa’s Everywhere Initiative in 2023. But as expected, there’s always more to the story.
We talk about:
• Alex's upbringing, early career and wanting to start a business of his own.
• Navigating "big" life and career decisions.
• Making the leap from young corporate executive to fintech disruptor.
• Building a disruptive fintech business in crowded sector.
• The Float mission, vision and what comes next.
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Connect with Alex on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-forsyth-thompson-cfa-cfp%C2%AE-6b42a75a/
Connect with Mathew on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathewmarsden/
This episode was brought to you in partnership with our friends at ALX - the world-class tech skills and entrepreneurship accelerator, creating access to training for millions of young people in Africa. For more info, visit alxafrica.com.

Next Episode

Thomas Brennan & Sebastian Patel (Franc): Simplifying Investing For South Africans.

In this episode, we're thrilled to sit down with Thomas Brennan and Sebastian Patel, Co-Founders of Franc, the simple and easy-to-use mobile app that let’s South Africans invest in leading cash and equity funds in just a few minutes - with no minimums, no paperwork and no fine print.
Despite having a robust financial services market, South Africa's savings and investment culture remains relatively poor - largely because of high fees, cumbersome admin, subjective advice and minimal investment education.

In response, Franc was founded in 2018 on the premise that everyone should be able to access the best investments - in a smart, low-cost and simple way. Since then the platform has grown to over 120K users, received an average rating of 4.3* across app stores and won accolades from the likes of Seedstars, Visa and MTN App of the Year. They’re also graduates of the Google for Startups and Grindstone Accelerators.
In 2022 and on the back of 400% year-on-year customer growth - Franc launched it’s B2B offering (Franc Business) - fuelled by an R8 million seed round with participation from ASISA ESD and 4DX Ventures. On a mission to make investing more affordable, accessible and social, the journey is only getting started for the Franc Team.

We talk about:
• Tom & Seb's upbringings, early careers and alignment on their mission.
• Leaving flourishing corporate careers to become tech founders.
• Lessons from building a startup that's solving a hard problem.
• What they would do differently.
• What's next for the Franc Team.
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Connect with Thomas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drtpbrennan/
Connect with Seb: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebpatel/
Connect with Mathew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathewmarsden/
This episode was brought to you in partnership with FNB South Africa - the country's "Best Digital Bank" and a comprehensive financial services provider that's committed to supporting the startup ecosystem in driving innovation and growing the economy. To learn more, or to connect with their team, visit fnb.co.za.