Elizabeth Adeshina did not start with a telemedicine app. She started with a pharmaceutical wholesale business, moving medicines across seven sub-Saharan African countries for over a decade. That experience, she reports, revealed a deeper, more persistent gap than just supply chains: the chasm between a patient and a meaningful, continuous clinical relationship, especially for the chronic conditions that now dominate the region's disease burden [Lionesses of Africa, October 2022]. Her company, Wazima Health, is a bet that the bridge can be built by combining a simple piece of hardware with a clinician on a screen.
Wazima’s core proposition is an integrated platform designed for community health workers and local clinics. It pairs connected diagnostic devices,like point-of-care screening tools,with a software layer for telemedicine, triage, and patient follow-up [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, retrieved 2024]. The goal is to move beyond a simple video consultation. Instead, the model aims to enable a remote clinician to receive structured, device-generated data from a patient's location, make a diagnosis, and manage a care plan over time. This focus on continuity is a deliberate choice for a region where noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes and hypertension are a growing crisis, and where a single visit is rarely enough.
A wedge of hardware and human connection
The company’s likely wedge is not the software alone. Many telemedicine platforms offer remote consultations. Wazima’s differentiation, inferred from its descriptions, is the integration of community-level diagnostic hardware with the clinical workflow [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, retrieved 2024]. This combination targets a specific logistical reality: a patient may have to travel hours to a clinic with advanced diagnostic equipment, but a community health worker with a connected device could capture vital signs locally. That data then becomes the foundation for a remote consultation, potentially avoiding an unnecessary and costly journey while still delivering clinical oversight.
For a health system straining under a dual burden of infectious and chronic diseases, this model proposes a new layer of primary care infrastructure. It is a pragmatic approach, seeking to augment,not replace,the existing network of health workers. The platform’s described applications in women’s health and acute non-emergency care suggest a design meant for versatility at the point of first contact [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, retrieved 2024].
The founder’s decade-long runway
Adeshina’s background is central to understanding Wazima’s patient, asset-heavy approach. Before founding Wazima in 2017, she built and exited a pharmaceutical distribution business serving the region [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, retrieved 2024]. That experience provided a ground-level view of healthcare delivery gaps and, presumably, a network of contacts across the supply and clinical landscape. She holds a business and finance background from King’s College London and lists prior experience with UK healthcare providers BMI Healthcare and Nuffield Health [Crunchbase, retrieved 2026] [RocketReach, retrieved 2026].
Her co-founder, Elizabeth Eweka, is named in company registrations, though her specific background is not detailed in the public sources reviewed. The team’s operational footprint is reported in Nigeria, Ghana, and Mozambique, with the company citing partnerships with health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and government bodies [wazimahealth.com, retrieved 2026].
| Founder | Role | Key Background |
|---|---|---|
| Elizabeth Adeshina | CEO & Co-Founder | 12+ years in pharmaceutical wholesale in Africa; ex-BMI Healthcare/Nuffield Health; Business & Finance, King's College London [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, retrieved 2024] [Crunchbase, retrieved 2026] |
| Elizabeth Eweka | Co-Founder | Details not specified in available public sources. |
Funding a capital-intensive model
Wazima’s funding history, as recorded in public databases, is modest and dates to the company’s earliest years. PitchBook lists two seed rounds: $100,000 in June 2017 and $50,000 in August 2018, for a total disclosed raise of $150,000 [PitchBook, retrieved 2025]. The investors named include Rising Tide Africa and ShEquity, two firms focused on women-led ventures in Africa, alongside Healthtech Hub [PitchBook, retrieved 2025] [How We Made It In Africa].
This capital scale is notable given the model’s implied costs. Deploying hardware, even simple diagnostic devices, requires inventory, logistics, and maintenance. Building software for regulated clinical workflows demands rigorous development. The relatively small seed amounts suggest either a highly capital-efficient early phase, reliance on non-dilutive grants or partnerships, or a slower, bootstrapped path to initial deployment. The company’s reported employee count ranges from 7 to between 11 and 50, indicating a small but active team [RocketReach, retrieved 2026] [ZoomInfo.com, retrieved 2026].
The scale and sustainability questions
For any venture combining hardware, software, and clinical services in emerging markets, the path to scale is fraught with operational complexity. Wazima’s public traction is described geographically rather than through disclosed customer or patient volumes. The core challenges are not unique to them but are magnified by their integrated model.
- Hardware logistics. Procuring, distributing, and maintaining medical devices across multiple countries introduces supply-chain risk, cost, and regulatory hurdles that a pure software play would avoid.
- Revenue model clarity. While the company lists HMO and government partners, the specific payment mechanisms,whether subscription, per-consultation fees, or device leasing,are not detailed. Sustainable unit economics in low-resource settings are notoriously difficult to engineer.
- Clinical validation. The platform’s effectiveness in improving patient outcomes for NCDs would, ideally, be demonstrated through peer-reviewed studies or at least published outcome data. That level of evidence is not yet visible in the public domain, which is common for early-stage ventures but remains a key milestone for credibility with larger institutional payers.
The company’s most plausible answer to these risks lies in its founding premise: that an integrated service is precisely what is needed to create tangible value for payers. By owning more of the care continuum,from screening to follow-up,Wazima may argue it can demonstrate lower total cost of care and better health metrics than fragmented point solutions.
The next twelve months
The immediate watchpoints for Wazima are concrete. The company has job postings listed in Nigeria, suggesting active hiring and expansion [Jobberman, retrieved 2026]. A meaningful signal of commercial traction would be the announcement of a specific, named partnership with a government health ministry or a large regional HMO, moving beyond generic claims. Given the capital-intensive nature of the model, another funding round seems a likely necessity to fuel wider deployment beyond the initial three countries.
For the patients Wazima aims to serve, the standard of care today is often defined by fragmentation. An individual with hypertension might be diagnosed at a distant district hospital, given a prescription, and then left to manage their condition alone, with follow-up contingent on another arduous and expensive trip. Community health workers may have limited tools to support them. Wazima’s bet is that technology can weave those disparate threads into a coherent, continuous tapestry of care, bringing the clinic to the community rather than the other way around. The ambition is humane. The execution, as always, will be in the details of devices delivered, connections maintained, and health outcomes improved.
Sources
- [Lionesses of Africa, October 2022] Elizabeth Adeshina, an entrepreneur improving healthcare access in Africa | https://www.lionessesofafrica.com/blog/2022/10/16/elizabeth-adeshina-an-entrepreneur-improving-healthcare-access-in-africa
- [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, retrieved 2024] Wazima Health company and product description
- [Crunchbase, retrieved 2026] Wazima - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/wazima
- [RocketReach, retrieved 2026] Elizabeth Adeshina profile | https://rocketreach.com
- [wazimahealth.com, retrieved 2026] Wazima Health About Us page | https://wazimahealth.com/about-us/
- [PitchBook, retrieved 2025] Wazima Health company profile | https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/454468-69
- [How We Made It In Africa] Investing in African women-led healthcare businesses offer solid potential | https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/investing-in-african-women-led-healthcare-businesses-offer-solid-potential/148073/
- [ZoomInfo.com, retrieved 2026] Wazima - Overview, News & Similar companies | https://www.zoominfo.com/c/wazima/482999759
- [Jobberman, retrieved 2026] Wazima Health company page | https://www.jobberman.com/company/wazima-health_15f05d446892e8