Bridging Gaps in International Healthcare Access!
In the healthcare industry, ensuring quality and accessible care across diverse regions poses significant challenges. For many, particularly those living abroad, managing the health needs of loved ones from a distance can be fraught with difficulties. This complexity is amplified when seeking reliable care in different healthcare systems and navigating financial support that may not always translate into effective treatment. Addressing these issues requires innovative solutions that not only bridge the gap between patients and providers but also provide transparency and trust in the care process.
Murielle Tiambo, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder has been at the forefront of transforming healthcare access for families worldwide. Her journey began with personal experiences that highlighted the need for a more reliable system to support healthcare needs from far away. This personal connection to the issue motivated her to create a solution that addresses these challenges directly.
KimboCare is a platform designed to ensure traceability from payment to delivery of healthcare services. By offering traceable healthcare vouchers that can be used in vetted medical facilities across multiple continents, the platform provides a structured and reliable method for funding healthcare needs. The company’s expansion into various global markets reflects its commitment to addressing the diverse needs of families and organizations, enhancing healthcare access and nurturing international partnerships.
Let’s explore the impactful journey of Murielle:
Transforming Healthcare Access for Families Across Continents
Murielle co-founded KimboCare with her brother, Franck. They grew up in a loving family in Cameroon, Central Africa. When they moved to Europe for their studies, they soon realized they were responsible for managing the healthcare needs of their parents and many community members from afar.
For years, they sent money back home but lacked confidence that their support was ensuring reliable care. Tragically, they lost several family members, including their two parents, due to this uncertainty. The loss was devastating, as these health issues could have been treated or prevented with early diagnosis and sending money proved insufficient.
They faced significant challenges communicating with doctors who were withholding critical information during these painful times. This lack of transparency highlighted a serious problem and sparked the need for a solution. The question became how to ensure that financial support genuinely facilitated access to trustworthy healthcare.
In response, KimboCare was developed to eliminate the need for sending money. Instead, the platform introduced a healthcare voucher system or “health credits.” Migrants in the U.S. and worldwide can now purchase these vouchers through app.kimbocare.com and gift them to their loved ones. These vouchers can be used at over 700 vetted medical facilities, leading hospitals and pharmacies in Asia, Africa and South America, which are part of their global ecosystem.
To ensure KimboCare’s cost-effective access for migrant buyers worldwide, they collaborate with various distribution partners, including DT One, a leading global B2B digital micropayments platform. DT One facilitates transfers of products like mobile top-ups and gift cards, with a retail presence in over 160 countries and access to 5 billion mobile consumers across emerging markets.
Building KimboCare has been complex yet profoundly fulfilling and transformative for Murielle. Through the value KimboCare creates for its customers and patients, she is reminded that she gets to honor her parents in the most beautiful way, which leaves her feeling truly “unstoppable”.
From Financial Crisis Response to Strategic Consulting
Landing her first job out of college at Deutsche Bank was an incredible experience for her. She joined their specially curated two-year graduate training program, taking on roles that not only allowed her to lead but also provided direct exposure to the heads of various divisions across the firm. This environment prompted her to consider early on the type of leader she wanted to be and the goals she wanted to achieve. The timing was critical as she was quickly assigned to strategic initiatives involving rethinking operations and technology enablement as part of the global response to the 2009 financial crisis. This experience offered invaluable insights into company operations, from strategy to execution, and how to optimize operational delivery to unlock business potential and secure market wins. After four years leading a European coverage role in Geneva and then a global coverage role in New York, she chose to further refine her skill set by pursuing similar work across different companies and industries, which ultimately led her to strategy consulting, where she spent about eight years. During that time, she collaborated with CEOs, CHROs, and operational leaders across Financial Services and Healthcare to develop various pillars of their organizational strategy. Her role in strategy consulting allowed her to gain tremendous insights into market analysis, strategic frameworks, and cross-industry best practices—all critical for designing products that can efficiently and effectively reach large audiences, like KimboCare.
Navigating Startup Challenges and Building a New Network
Building a startup comes with a standard set of challenges, especially for a minority founder and those were realities she was not well exposed to. While her background in strategy consulting prepared her to build the company and her socially engaging life in New York provided an extensive network, she soon realized that the investor and startup scene is a different ecosystem. Murielle had to effectively reestablish a network of like-minded supporters from the ground up. This effort was instrumental in increasing her visibility within the tech innovation space and gaining access to some of the world’s most prestigious early-stage accelerators, including Microsoft for Positive Impact, US MassChallenge, and Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center. Last September, Nasdaq honored her on its Times Square Tower in New York for her leadership in driving KimboCare’s pioneering use of technology—AI and Blockchain—to enhance global access to health and well-being.
Guiding Growth and Cultivating Company Culture
As the CEO, her role is essentially to guide the company toward the next level of growth while staying true to its mission. Murielle primarily oversees commercial efforts and manages investor relationships. Since the company is still an early-stage startup, she works closely with the COO to develop global operations and partnerships with healthcare institutions and collaborates with the CTO to ensure that developers create a product meeting customers’ needs. Additionally, she dedicates a significant amount of time nurturing a workplace that employees can be proud of, which involves actively participating in candidate vetting during recruitment and creating opportunities for team members to connect on a deeper level through cultural activities.
Aiming for Mainstream Impact and Thought Leadership
Murielle is deeply engaged in her work at KimboCare and anticipates her involvement will be substantial for at least the next 3-5 years. Over the past couple of years, they have partnered with global companies, either as commercial partners or clients, to accelerate KimboCare’s impact. For example, KimboCare recently partnered with Swiss Re, a global leader in insurance and reinsurance, to empower employees with a sense of purpose and engagement in global health efforts, enhancing access to quality maternal health in Kenya. This collaboration stemmed from the Swiss Re Foundation’s commitment to strengthening societal resilience in developing regions and its emphasis on evidence-based approaches to tracking impact outcomes.
In the coming years, she is committed to multiplying such engagements and making KimboCare a mainstream service—where more employers integrate its offerings into employee benefits or social impact initiatives, and where they secure more corporate partnerships to reach millions of migrants and immigrants who can benefit from their services for their families.
Furthermore, she has developed informed opinions on various topics related to their work over the years, leading to invitations to share her insights at global conferences, typically on healthcare innovation, social impact, and gender equality. She would like to dedicate more time to developing thought leadership and speaking on these topics while partnering with brilliant minds along the way.
Promoting Inclusion and Decision-Making in Leadership
Murielle is energized by people who bring creative approaches to problem solving and demonstrate unwavering commitment to getting the job done. For her, the first principle in building a company that attracts such talent is“inclusion of thoughts.” It is important to Murielle that everyone working with them has the space to express their thoughts and ideas, especially when they are contrarian. She is very deliberate in ensuring that her style remains that of a servant leader in her interactions with all stakeholders. Through such candid engagement, she can better understand how to help them own their work and deliver excellence. This approach has proven effective over the years; she has seen talent on the verge of being let go turn their careers around, with some even sending her “thank you” postcards for the changes she helped enable. In a tech startup, leading in this manner is crucial for developing a product that truly meets market needs. Another key principle for her is “fast decision-making.” While it may seem counterintuitive to her emphasis on participation, they strive to hear every voice without necessarily seeking consensus, which is vital for the fast-moving environment they operate in.
Balancing Startup Life with Purpose and Family
The numerous “social impact” projects—from working with Haitian entrepreneurs sponsored by the Clinton Foundation to teaching financial literacy to youth in Belize, and mentoring female high schoolers in New York City—where Murielle contributed her strategy consulting skills during her time in Corporate America have essentially turned into a social impact venture of her own: building KimboCare.
Now running an early-stage startup, she is 360 involved in its development, which ends up taking close to all her daytime weekdays and sometimes weekends. The cherry on the cake for her is the opportunity to do it with purpose, contributing to a world in which health and well-being are a reality for all, one family at a time.
Another significant aspect of her life is dedicated to exploring the arts and the great outdoors with her toddler. This includes engaging in activities like easy hikes, crop picking, and spending time on farms with animals, while also emphasizing the importance of artistic expression in its various forms. Through these experiences, she aims to nurture her child’s sensitivity and appreciation for both the natural world and the human-made wonders that enrich our lives, fostering a deeper understanding of their interconnectedness and the importance of caring for the environment.
Cultivating Culture and Connection in a Global Team
First off, it’s never too early to start working on the culture desired for the company. Though relatively small, this topic has been taken very seriously from the beginning.
The company strives to cultivate a culture of inclusion and performance, guided by several key principles. First, there is a dedication to attracting female talent, which is not always easy for tech companies and ensuring equal pay for all employees at the same rank, regardless of gender.
For recognition, a variable component has been implemented in the compensation structure to reward good work and positive behavior as it happens—no need to wait until year-end. When announcing awards, transparency regarding the metrics used is emphasized, and what constitutes good performance is clearly reiterated. This approach incentivizes employees to improve themselves month to month as individual contributors and team members.
Candid feedback is also crucial and flows both ways, regardless of roles. After every major project, a feedback loop is conducted to discuss what worked well and what didn’t. Over time, the junior team members have become impressively articulate during this process and are not afraid to give some “harsh” feedback regardless of hierarchy.
Lastly, regarding team building, since the company operates in several countries and primarily interacts virtually, regular discussion meetings are held where a team member selects a cultural theme (e.g., traditions, childhood games). Everyone then shares their experiences related to that theme. This activity helps the team connect on a deeper level and appreciate the diverse cultures within the group. These sessions often make the world feel like a small ball held in their hands.
Enhancing Healthcare Access with Traceable Solutions
KimboCare is a platform that ensures traceability from payment to delivery, allowing users to fund healthcare access with quality outcomes. The platform provides traceable healthcare vouchers for immigrants to purchase quality services for their family members back home, ensuring funds are specifically directed towards healthcare needs. It works with quality healthcare providers in each country, often national industry leaders, and establishes formal relationships with them. For example, it collaborates with UCare Pharmacy in Cambodia and Lagoon Hospitals in Nigeria, both recognized for their excellence in care. Formal agreements with facilities in the network allow close work with medical providers, tracking patient journeys during visits and serving as a resolution partner in disputes. Organizations also integrate KimboCare into their employee benefits offerings, demonstrating their commitment to supporting diverse employee health and promoting an inclusive workplace culture while contributing to global health.
Expanding Global Reach and Meeting Diverse Needs
KimboCare has gone global, and the behind-the-scenes efforts to achieve this have made the year incredibly exciting. In the U.S. alone, there are over 40 million foreign-born immigrants in the workforce who are involved in remote caregiving for loved ones in critical condition or with chronic illnesses. Additionally, large organizations with interests in the Global South are seeking innovative and inclusive ways to support their employees and families, as well as to contribute to healthcare access in the communities where they operate.
To meet this dual demand and enhance corporate partnerships, KimboCare has expanded its presence across Africa, Cambodia, and Mexico, as well as Central America over the past few months. Looking ahead, the company will continue to focus on finalizing launches in high-demand countries such as India.
The good news is KimboCare’s work is increasingly making waves among business leaders, particularly following a recent endorsement from the World 50 Group—a community that connects emerging innovators, carefully selected through a rigorous evaluation process, with the world’s leading employers, helping them stay ahead in a rapidly changing competitive landscape.
Expanding and Enhancing Global Healthcare Partnerships
KimboCare is headquartered at SICPA’s Unlimitrust Campus, the world’s first centre of excellence dedicated to the Economy of Trust, and operates a global network of leading medical facilities (private hospitals and pharmacies), established to provide quality healthcare access for millions of patients. These facilities are recognized as leaders in the healthcare sector at both national and regional levels. With an expansion to ten countries across three continents, managing these relationships has become more complex; fortunately, most of the work occurs on the platform, allowing for a minimal on-the-ground presence.
Key pillars of engagement include cultural sensitivity, regular communication and co-creation opportunities. The standardized solution is brought to the partner, but deployment is adapted to align with local norms. As relationships emerge, regular check-ins with facility leaders focus on feedback, discussing what is working well and what can be improved from a patient experience perspective and exploring collaborative opportunities such as hosting events, health panels or co-authoring thought leadership pieces.
A notable collaboration is the “African Health Awards,” akin to the Oscars of the West African health industry, which has grown from a few countries into a regional annual event. In addition, numerous digital hackathons have been organized to engage youth in health tech. Integrating with communities beyond the primary business purpose remains essential.
