Transforming HealthTech Across Africa: A Tech Startup Journey with Drdogood
In this episode of the Tech Startup Stories podcast, Natalie Binns interviews Emmanuella Tordman, also known as Khadijah, co founder of Drdogood, a healthtech platform focused on improving healthcare access, affordability, and continuity of care across African healthcare systems.
This conversation explores how Drdogood was built in direct response to real world healthcare challenges in Africa, including fragmented medical records, limited continuity of care, and the financial barriers many people face when trying to access treatment. Rather than starting with a technology first mindset, the company was shaped by lived experience and a clear understanding of how healthcare actually works on the ground.
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Available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
From personal healthcare challenges to a scalable healthtech platform
Drdogood began with Khadijah’s own delayed diagnosis after years of navigating disconnected healthcare providers, where patient history was not shared and early intervention opportunities were missed. That experience highlighted a systemic problem rather than an individual one, and became the foundation for a platform designed to support patients, healthcare providers, caregivers, and families with greater visibility and accountability.
The platform combines telemedicine, healthcare provider discovery, care management, and healthcare financing, recognising that access to a doctor alone is not enough if patients cannot afford care or do not trust how their money is being used. This approach allows users to manage their own healthcare while also supporting dependents, including elderly relatives and family members living in different countries.
Building trust, transparency and compliance in healthtech
Trust plays a central role in Drdogood’s growth strategy. In the early stages, the team focused on onboarding healthcare providers first, understanding that the platform could not deliver value without credible, verified partners. Those early relationships helped establish referral driven growth among providers, creating a strong foundation for user adoption.
For patients and caregivers, transparency is built through detailed provider profiles, credential verification, visible locations, and open reviews. This creates a feedback driven ecosystem where quality care is rewarded and users are empowered to make informed decisions.
The episode also addresses health data protection and compliance, a critical factor in healthtech. Drdogood operates under Ghana’s Data Protection Act alongside GDPR standards, with strong technical safeguards including end to end encryption and user controlled access to medical records. Healthcare providers only access patient data during active consultations, reinforcing patient ownership of health information.
Co founding, culture and scaling HealthTech in Africa
Beyond the product, the discussion offers insight into co founding a startup across cultures and borders. Khadijah and her co founder bring different backgrounds and working styles to the business, and she speaks openly about navigating disagreements, aligning decision making, and growing together under pressure, which reflects the reality of many African technology startups.
As the first African tech founder featured on the Tech Startup Stories podcast, Khadijah also shares how African startup ecosystems differ from those in the UK and US. Healthcare challenges are more acute, systems are often under resourced, and access to venture funding remains uneven due to limited understanding of how diverse African markets truly are. Expansion requires careful market by market strategy, with Drdogood currently piloting in Lagos and planning further regional growth.
The future of African HealthTech and Drdogood’s vision
Looking ahead, Drdogood’s long term vision extends beyond a single healthcare app. The company aims to become a healthcare infrastructure layer that can integrate into travel platforms, payment services, and other digital ecosystems, making access to healthcare a natural part of everyday digital experiences.
When reflecting on her journey, Khadijah emphasises persistence, continuous learning, and resilience, recognising that building healthtech in emerging markets is a long term process rather than a quick win.
This episode of Tech Startup Stories offers valuable insight for founders, operators, investors, and anyone interested in healthtech innovation, African startups, and technology built for real world impact.
Listen to the Podcast
Available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
Learn more about Drdogood or connect with Emmanuella (Khadijah) Tordman.