Anita shares the story behind developing the world's first and only connected, preventive, and proactive transplant care platform. She also shares her views on entrepreneurship and the challenges that come with it.
NN: How did it all start for you?
Anita: We started Metamagics to solve challenges in data and data analytics. As you may be aware business intelligence projects spend 80% of their time on preparing data. We created a patented technology to automate semantic data aggregation and analytics. While we were focusing on making sense of disparate data, we came across unstructured and disparate data of a distinct type, the health data, and patients' long-term health records. In my personal life, a close family member needed a liver transplant. As we went through the transplant patient's journey, we started applying our technology in managing organ transplant care. That led to myTransplant, a state-of-the-art platform for managing transplant care.
Transplant medication is complex and difficult. The patients need lifelong medication and monitoring.
As per the World Health Organization, about 30% of the patients listed to get an organ die while waiting for an organ as they become too sick to be transplanted. Of those lucky to get a transplant, 25% do not live beyond 5 years. This is because 80% of the time patients are not in direct contact with the transplant hospitals.
Treating doctors need access to all of the patients' old and recent data. Manually sifting through a mountain of data can lead to errors and some times even death.
myTransplant addresses these challenges. myTransplant is the world's first and only connected, preventive and proactive platform. It is about saving lives and saving the cost of saving lives.
NN: What do you like the most about being an entrepreneur?
Anita: The ability to be creative and apply technology to solve real-world problems that create an impact. The ability to think of unmet needs and create solutions.
NN: What is the hardest part about running a startup?
Anita: Scarcity of resources – human resources and funds to expand. You want to do a zillion things and not have the bandwidth to do it at the speed you want to do it.
NN: What is needed for women entrepreneurs to succeed?
Anita: I don't think there is any difference in what leads to success for men or for women. Essentially, for a venture, getting users to adopt your solution is the absolute and mandatory critical success factor.
What makes it difficult for women to succeed is they lack the bandwidth for extra networking as they are juggling so many responsibilities at work and at home.
There is a bias in the investors' mind and women entrepreneurs the world over get far less funding compared to men founders. So, a woman entrepreneur's journey is harder and the route to success is longer at times.
NN: What is your motivation?
Anita: The success of the customers and the commitment of the team keeps us going.
Most of my team members joined us as their first job and have stayed with us through the highs and lows, it is their belief in the venture's vision that makes our resolve stronger.
It's a sheer delight when customers start seeing the benefits of using your software. All innovation is in some ways imaginary, but when the users experience that world you create, it's a big high.
Recently, one of our biggest customers, the Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant at KIMS Hospitals, Hyderabad, won the GOLD in transplant excellence, and part of it was because they adopted myTransplant to deliver seamless patient care to very seriously ill patients. They have Asia's biggest thoracic organ transplant catering to more than 500 patients. Managing these patients in the hospital, in the OPD, and via remote care on the myTransplant platform has made it possible for them to set new standards in transplant care. That is a great motivator.
(This February, Nüshu Network is bringing you stories of inspiring women entrepreneurs and startups that are truly gamechangers.)
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