We recently had the privilege of interviewing Oana Gharbi, Business Consultant at FemTech Consult, a Certified Health Coach, and a startup mentor for FemTech Lab. A successful business development professional, Oana supports women and couples in their fertility journey by providing guidance and empowerment in multicultural settings.
OanaGharbi empowers women with reproductive education and hormone data and is highly optimistic about FemTech startups revolutionizing healthcare. In this session, she shares her inspiring story behind venturing into this industry, the focus of her business, and approaches to secure her business legacy.
Filling The Communication Gap
We were intrigued to learn more about OanaGharbi’s journey and the factors that shaped her professional path. So, we asked, “Could you describe your career journey and the pivotal experiences that shaped your path to becoming a leader in your industry?”
Oana Gharbi shared, “I have a background in Journalism And Communication. Following a late loss and a 3 year long battle with secondary infertility I made an unplanned turn toward becoming a Fertility Patient Advocate. I got certified as a Health Coach and I obtained a certificate in Digitalization in Healthcare from Harvard Medical School. I joined the European Fertility Society and ESHRE.
I felt the need to help women in my situation understand this journey. As a communicator, I felt communication was lacking. There is indeed a huge communication gap between the healthcare sector and the patients. And it’s a universal one. There is a huge lack of reproductive education, too, worldwide. Lack of education and lack of communication in the fertility market where most of the treatments are paid out of pocket leave place to a lot of frustration and hard feelings. This needed to change.
Many of the gaps are filled nowadays by FemTech startups: innovating, raising awareness, educating, and empowering women with information that helps them choose wisely and helps them interact better with their healthcare providers. My mission is to bridge the gap between the consumer/patient that I used to be, and the startup whose target is this consumer. FemTech may be a business, but it’s a business based on the purpose of helping women live better and healthier lives.”
Quality Above All
To learn more about how OanaGharbi’s business visions have transformed over time, we asked, “As your company has grown and faced various challenges, how has your original vision evolved to meet these changes?”
“It used to be just me, for the past 4 years. My visibility has grown, following my presence as a public speaker at different international events. My network has expanded since I became a mentor for The FemTech Lab accelerator program in London. I was receiving so many requests for collaboration, but I was just one, and there were many, and I was always one for quality versus quantity. There is no point in having many contracts for a short period and losing them because you just can’t deliver.
So what I am doing now, is I am working with other experts, collaborating and outsourcing while thoroughly supervising the work quality. This way I can no longer refuse startups whose brilliant ideas make me want to help them develop further while offering a larger palette of services ranging from business development, product management, marketing, go-to-market strategy, fundraising, product adoption by healthcare systems, etc. What hasn’t changed is the genuine desire of doing well, of accomplishing meaningful results that could help change healthcare and women’s access to it.” She replied.
A Potential Trend, We asked Oana Gharbi
To gather OanaGharbi’s insight on a potential trend in her industry, we asked, “Looking at the horizon, which emerging trend do you believe is undervalued but will significantly impact your industry in the next few years?”
Oana Gharbi responded, “The entire women’s health has been undervalued. Forever. Sadly, we have to think of fertility, menopause, maternal health, or postpartum depression as ‘emerging trends’- because they touch more than half the Globe’s population at one point or another, and they also touch the other half, more or less indirectly. Yet they are ‘emerging’ trends and that’s good, in a way. It was about time.
Finally, women are no longer being told to suffer, accept it as it is, and man it up. I can see this ‘trend’ growing, I can see the snowball effect and I am happy my daughter will live in this kind of world. And I will be proud to be able to say I had my tiny contribution to it.”
Spark Behind The Journey
Eager to learn about the events that impacted Oana Gharbi to venture into this industry, we inquired, “Was there a specific moment when you identified an unmet need in the market that inspired you to start your venture? How did you turn that idea into reality?”
Oana Gharbi said, “It all started with 7 cycles of IVF and a blog. To cry my despair, my frustration of being unheard, on grounds that ‘I was not a doctor’. I might not have been a doctor, but I was very much in tune with my body and I knew myself. I wanted a healthcare provider who listened, so I left my old clinic despite not being a doctor. I educated myself to understand what no one explained.
The journalist in me came to the surface when I needed it the most. So I dug, I found and I cried it out loud. Of course, I eventually found other doctors willing to listen, explain, and offer me a personalized approach. So I wanted other women to know that this is OK! That women’s health in general, and fertility in particular, are no one size fits all. And we need and deserve to be treated as an individual, not as a tag. And we need to speak up and we are allowed to choose.”
Transformation Of The Health Industry
We further asked, “In the transforming environment of your industry, how do you assess when it’s time to pivot your strategy versus when to stay the course?”
She added, “The health market changes every day. Medicine evolves, and new things are discovered constantly. The consumer evolves, together with society. If one wants to succeed, it’s essential to pivot and adapt. Look what Covid did! 5 years ago, there was no home testing available. Nowadays we test everything at home: saliva, urine, semen, blood. There are at-home ultrasounds and virtual fertility clinics, doctor’s appointments online.”
Rising Above: FemTech’s Potential
Addressing the issue of online consultation with doctors, we asked, “Before Covid, how many times have you seen a doctor online, for a checkout?”
“In life, you need to pivot so you can grow and get better at what you’re doing. I feel like FemTech is in its ‘renaissance’ era and I am very excited to see where it will be 10 years from now.”Oana enthusiastically responded.
A Unique Approach
Differentiating services is a crucial factor when it comes to maintaining a strong presence in the market. To learn more about it, we asked, “With so many players in your field, how does your service offering distinguish itself? Could you share the inspiration behind one of your key services?”
Oana Gharbi replied, “My strongest suit and biggest advantage is that I’ve been there, done that. I’ve experienced the struggle firsthand, so I know full well how it feels, and how I’d wanted it to feel. Over the years, as a professional Fertility Patient Advocate, I’ve worked with hundreds of women, and interacted with many thousands, and I’ve heard their pain, but also their expectations.
I am also a born communicator and my 20 years of activity in the press help me network and blend in naturally. I am a people person, and it helps a lot in a field that focuses on people’s health and well-being.”
Core Principles And Ethics
Sustainability and social responsibility are critical in the current business world. We asked, “How have you integrated these principles into the fabric of your company, and why do you think it’s essential for your sector?”
“I am a big supporter of social responsibility, mainly because I believe we need to give first, to receive. I may run a business and I need to pay bills, but whenever I have the opportunity to help without waiting for anything in return, I do it. I have so many mentees who are at a very early stage, they can’t afford to pay for business consulting services.
I never refused any conversation, any request for advice, any ‘let me pick your brains’ session. I call it an investment in Karma. The truth is we have all started somewhere, and it is great to have someone to turn to and look up to. As for sustainability, consulting doesn’t produce much waste, yet I made it my choice to work and support sustainable companies, and I am very happy I can play the part.” She shared.
Reshaping Businesses
Currently, technology has become an indispensable part of society. To understand Oana Gharbi’s perspective on this aspect, we asked, “How is technology playing a role in helping your company move forward?”
Oana Gharbi responded, “There are quite minimal chances that society will be able to survive without technology these days. I highly doubt it. I am working remotely, so are my experts, and my clients, and their distributors and partners. We are spread worldwide and yet we communicate and work seamlessly together. None of the above could exist without today’s technology.
And without the way society pivoted after COVID-19 and embraced remote work as a valid and effective alternative. And look at how, all of sudden, the limits disappeared and we could all get together to do all the wonderful things we are doing: Zoom meetings, Conferences, Congresses.”
Securing Success
Lastly, we ended the interview by asking, “As we look into the future, faced with both opportunities and uncertainties, how are you positioning your company to not just survive but flourish?”
“Especially when it comes to healthcare and FemTech, success is 100% depending on how true you stay to yourself and your initial mission. How genuine you are. I said it before: it may be a business, but it touches women’s lives and the way they live these lives: better, healthier, happier. If the desire to do well and to help is not genuine, it will ultimately show. And once this happens, there is no return.” Oana concluded.
Follow Oana Gharbi on LinkedIn or check out her website https://www.femtechconsult.com
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