The Founder of Lalibela Networks PLC, Wuleta Lemma (PhD) has been shortlisted for the Jack Ma Foundations 2020 Africa’s Business Heroes Competition, a self-described flagship philanthropic program in support of African entrepreneurs. She is the lone Ethiopian among 22,000 applicants who have reached the final stages, from 54 African nations.
“I cannot find the words to thank all who believed in me and my vision for Emergency Medical Responder for Ethiopia and Africa. Together we will make sure no ‘lost or misplaced medical record’ for every woman, man and child,” she declared on Twitter.
A graduate of Spelman, Emory and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom, she has had a long career and founded her enterprise to help digitalize healthcare services via the “Abay-CHR “-a Patient Centered Connected Health Record System.”
“Dr. Wuleta’s long-term expansive vision for the system also includes leveraging artificial intelligence approaches to the Big Data recorded by Abay-CHR, to predict disease trends, aid efficient deployment of healthcare resources, and inform healthcare policymaking. Dr.Wuleta is a seasoned, challenge-driven, and goal-oriented professional with 28 years of digital health technologies, international public health, health care management, global health security, pandemic surveillance experience,” the official biography reads.
She has worked in various nations including in Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Haiti, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya and the United States among many others.
“Congratulations, Dr. Wuleta. Proud,” Tedros Adhanom, the Managing Director of the World Health Organization, tweeted as she was announced as one of the finalists.
Wuleta is known for helping integrate eHealth to help distribute vital information on HIV/ AIDS, Malaria, MNCH, TB prevention and control, epidemiology, disease surveillance, tropical medicine, public health emergency management and One Health.
The last 10 shortlisted candidates, selected from an array of professions including that of agriculture, fashion, education, healthcare, manufacturing, e-commerce and others, are to share the ultimate prize worth USD 1.5 million.
