Three Nigerian students, Damilola Olaopa, Hameed Abdulrahman and Isatayo Samuel have taken the initiative to protect elderly Nigerian parents whose children are ironically taking care of other people’s parents abroad, in search of greener pastures.
The three students who are doing their masters degree programme in the United Kingdom floated the startup known as Sandfortcare in their bid to ensure the aged in Nigerian get quality and good healthcare services, even when their children are not around to care for them.
According to the Sandfortcare founders, the initiative came as a preventive measure after one of their colleagues who is a healthcare assistant in the UK lost his father in Nigeria due to lack of care.
Narrating the pathetic story, Olaopa said: “We came up with the idea when one of our colleagues who is also a healthcare Assistant here in the UK lost his father back in Nigeria.
“It was a shocking experience. He spoke to his father about assisting him to cargo some goods to the UK, and twenty four hours after the conversation, the next call he received from Nigeria was that his father had passed on.
“The most traumatizing aspect of the situation is that while he was taking care of people’s families in the UK, nobody was able to take care of his father. That aspect was what prompted us to float this startup,” he added.
Sandfortcare, as a healthcare startup offers personalized and compassionate healthcare and support service to the parents of Nigerians living in the UK. The Startup ensures parents in Nigeria receive the highest quality of care tailored to their unique needs so that the children in the UK can have peace of mind knowing their parents are in good health condition.
The startup operates an application which runs on a monthly subscription fee model. The subscriptions are sponsored by people in Diaspora while their beneficiaries at home get personalized care and support plan, regular health checks, nutrition and meal planning, remote consultation and medication management while the family member resident in the UK who is the sponsor gets a timely parent wellness report.
Olaopa said there are plans to extend services of the startup beyond the UK to other countries in Europe, Canada, United States and North America.
He said: “For now the startup is for Nigerians in the Diaspora especially in the UK. We are presently registered in the UK, but we have plans to expand the scope beyond just the UK.”
