Episode 16: Oliver Moses - Managing Partner - Why to Invest in Healthcare, Founding a Children’s Health Clinic in Liberia, and Lessons on Entrepreneurship
Summary
In this episode, our guest is Oliver Moses, Managing Partner of WindRose Health Investors and Founder of Haven Care, a children’s health clinic in Monrovia, Liberia.
Moses shares why he began a career in healthcare investment, the importance of listening as an investor, how he founded a children’s health clinic in Liberia, obstacles to providing care in an underdeveloped country, and lessons on entrepreneurship.
Listeners will love Moses’ passion for helping companies solve healthcare problems and his heart for providing care to one of the world’s poorest countries.
Show Notes
Investing in Healthcare and the Importance of Listening
Moses begins the conversation by discussing his passion for healthcare. While he finds it both intellectually interesting and dynamic, he also recognizes the strong tailwinds of growth behind the industry due to the country’s aging population and the inherent lack of funds to sustain this growth. Moses finds that these issues make it a worthy and necessary industry to invest in, which is why he has spent the last 25 years as a healthcare investor and advisor.
Moses shares his experience as Managing Partner at WindRose Health Investors. He spends a large segment of his time listening for the pain points in the industry and finding innovative businesses that are solving those pain points. He also spends time looking for overlapping opportunities, fostering relationships, and recognizing business patterns which allows him to share wisdom with younger companies.
Founding a Children’s Health Clinic in Liberia
Moses and his wife had the desire to do something more hands-on in healthcare that also involved children, a population group they both are passionate about. On a normal Sunday morning at church, Moses had an inspiring conversation that eventually connected him to the founder of the African Dream Academy, a non-profit education program in Liberia, West Africa.
In 2015, Moses then founded Haven Care, a children’s health clinic in Monrovia, Liberia. Large hospitals in Liberia are too expensive for the general population to afford, so people avoid taking their sick family members to get treatment. Furthermore, because the most prevalent health concerns are illnesses like malaria and dysentery, the greatest need was for a smaller health center that people could trust instead of a full-scale hospital.
Obstacles to Providing Care and Clinical Leadership
Moses discusses the need to treat patients holistically by providing adequate health education. He shares how a patient’s health is affected by more than just their access to treatment, but a variety of other social determinants of health such as literacy, nutrition, and education.
A major obstacle Haven Care currently faces is gaining access to enough supplies. While they try to buy in bulk whenever possible, there is consistently an area of need. Moses also shares that it is difficult to expand the clinic from such a distance and remain patient when things seem to move slow. Eventually, they would like to be institutionally backed, provide a broader range of services, and build clinics in other parts of Liberia.
Moses shares the importance of clinical leadership in a health clinic such as Haven Care. Not only must the leading physicians have the necessary training to treat the common illnesses of the local population as well as the ability to lead subordinate nurses and medical assistants, but they must believe in the mission of Haven Care.
An Entrepreneurial Lesson
The conversation ends with King asking Moses how a person with limited financial resources but lots of time can get started with hands-on work. Moses advises listeners to first figure out what they are passionate about. From there, he emphasizes the importance of starting small and taking the first step.
After observing many entrepreneurs over the years, Moses shares the one thing they all had in common: they “just did it.”
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Closing
Haven Care is currently launching its website. If you are interested in getting involved, please email Oliver Moses directly at moses@windrose.com.
Humans in Healthcare is produced by Shearwater Health in Nashville, TN, and hosted by Chief Marketing Officer, Nathan King.