Temie Giwa is the chief executive of LifeBank, a five month old startup that is using technology to solve the problem of blood shortage across Nigeria.

In this interview with YNaija’s #Impact365 series, Giwa tells us more about LifeBank

Can you tell us more about LifeBank?

Yes, LifeBank is a technology and logistic company. And we are in the business of saving lives. We have a goal of saving a million lives and the way we do this to ensure that people gte blood when and how they need it. So for example, there are so many people in Nigeria – mothers, children under five, people who have kidney disease, people with sickle cell anemia, cancer patients, accident victims and things like that – someone loses their live every single day in Nigeria usually because they need blood. They can’t get the blood they need, either the blood is not close to them or the blood they need is not available. They bleed and they die.

So it’s a problem that we want to solve at LifeBank. And the way we solve it is to use technology and logistics so when hospitals need blood they come on our platform. When they give us a call that they need a particular blood type we believe. We already have information about what blood is available in Lagos and how long it will take us to get from the blood bank to the hospital. So we just deploy this information to them and we pick the blood from the blood bank, deliver it to the hospital within forty-five minutes.  So that’s what we do.

How did you start the initiative?

So, I really cared about maternal mortality. And I just knew that one of the highest causes of maternal mortality is blood shortage – basically a mother has a baby and she starts bleeding and she dies. We actually had a situation like that on Friday, she died. So I decided I was going to solve this problem and one of the best ways to do this is to ensure that they get blood, when and where they need it.

 

How do you make the public aware that this a problem that we need to solve?

it’s not just logistics and technology, it also telling story that is inspiring a generation of young people  to become ready blood donors and that means that if you want to become a blood donor, all you need to do is to sign up on our platform and then we will send you reminders when it is time to give blood and we’ll book appointment for you for where you are going to give because a lot of people don’t know about this and you could decide that you want to be a blood donor today . So what we basically do is give you the information to become a blood donor and then we make it fun.

We tell stories and we talk to people. So we’re just basically in the business of inspiring a young generation.

So far, how has Nigeria reacted to LifeBank?

Surprisingly, we haven’t done a lot of marketing or press for LifeBank – because we are five months old -but people have been very, very open about being a part of what we do and they’ve been, seriously, significantly interested in us. For example we’ve had three thousand signups in five months and that’s significant – with no marketing.

How do you see the future of LifeBank?

Our goal is to sign up one million Nigerians to become blood donors and to ensure that a significant number of them give blood regularly. And, our main goal is to end blood shortage.

I want to be able to say at the end of my life that through my work, no one died from needing blood and not getting it.

So basically it’s to ensure that there is enough supply of blood and the blood that are available is tested properly. And the blood that is ready, clean and safe gets to where it is needed in fifty-five minutes.