Shaping the Future of Healthcare In Africa: A Personal 5-Year Vision

In the last 12 months, I’ve had to answer one question repeatedly: “Where do you see yourself in the next five years?”

Not from job interview panels or employers, but from older friends, mentors, and career advisors, the people I turn to before making big, strategic decisions. At first, I noticed something that bothered me: my answer was never the same. Depending on the season, my response shifted slightly.

Sometimes I saw myself building in health tech, other times I imagined a future in policy. On some days, the vision was about building AI for Africa using technology to solve deep, systemic healthcare challenges at scale. And then there were the quieter days, when the answer was as simple and grounding as, “I just want to cook and teach people about nutrition.”

It bothered me because consistency is often mistaken for clarity, and clarity is mistaken for direction. But this morning, in a lighthearted banter with a friend about my obsession with France and my dream to live in francophone countries, I asked out loud: “Wouldn’t it be nice if I could lead a global healthcare agency the way Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is doing with the WTO today?”

And in that moment, it hit me: the last five years of my life have not been about inconsistency, they’ve been about exploring different versions of the same plan.

The Red Thread in My Journey

Looking back, I realize that every step I’ve taken, no matter how different it seemed on the surface, has been tied to one consistent red thread: transforming healthcare.

I started as a clinical dietitian, sitting across from patients and helping them navigate the complexity of food and disease. That phase gave me insight into seeing healthcare through the eyes of patients.

Then I went to culinary school, driven by a curiosity to merge science with art and to prove that food could be medicine and pleasure at the same time. That taught me creativity, the courage to experiment, and the resilience to embrace failure in the kitchen and beyond.

Not long after, I transitioned into health tech. I led startups that dared to reimagine how food, nutrition, and chronic care could be delivered to people. I learned firsthand that passion is not enough to sustain a business strategy; funding and market alignment matter even more. Some of those startups thrived, some stumbled, and some died as “miscarriages.” But each experience sharpened my lens for innovation, product-market fit, and execution.

And now, I lead program delivery and operations at the Health Business Academy for Africa. It feels like a full-circle moment because the same lessons I stumbled into through failure are now being structured into education for other founders and healthcare leaders.

What’s the point of this trajectory? It’s simple: my five-year vision has always been to shape healthcare at scale. I’ve just been exploring different entry points into that same vision.

Why the Next 5 Years Matter

In the next five years, I see myself not just building companies, but shaping ecosystems. Not just leading startups, but influencing policy. Not just managing teams, but raising a generation of healthcare professionals and founders who understand both the science and the business of healthcare.

Healthcare in Africa is at an inflection point. With 1.3 billion people and some of the fastest-growing disease burdens in the world, the continent can no longer afford healthcare solutions built in silos. We need integrated, patient-centered systems that balance access, affordability, and sustainability.

In that future, I see myself at the intersection of policy, practice, and innovation, bringing patients, practitioners, and policymakers into the same room. Whether it’s through building a global healthcare agency, scaling a health tech solution across markets, or leading pan-African programs on healthcare transformation, my vision is clear: to bridge the gap between health innovation and real-world impact.

The Bigger Lesson

So, when people ask me again where I see myself in the next five years, my answer will no longer bother me if the details change. Because the truth is, clarity doesn’t mean rigidness. My journey has taught me that sometimes the “destination” is not a fixed job title, but a recurring calling that shows up in different forms over time.

For me, that calling is healthcare transformation. Whether as a dietitian, a founder, or a policy leader, my work has always been about building systems that heal, nourish, and empower people.

And maybe my answers have changed because my vision has always been too big to fit into one box.

Final Thought: The future of healthcare will not be built by doctors alone, or by tech founders alone, or by policymakers in isolation. It will be built by those who can speak the language of all three worlds. That is the leader I am becoming, and in five years, I intend to be sitting at that table, not just as a participant, but as a convener.