Beamlak Alemayehu was working a shift in an Ethiopian government emergency ward in 2020 when she watched patients spend three to four hours moving between pharmacies just to find prescribed medication. Others waited days to locate the right specialist. Some of those patients did not survive the wait. Seven months in that environment left her with one question she could not shake: why did sick people have to fight this hard just to find care?
She founded Medanit in 2022 as a clean digital directory, a single place where patients could locate available doctors, medication, and diagnostic services. But when she approached clinics and pharmacies about listing their services, she found that between 80 and 90 percent of them still operated entirely on paper ledgers. There were no digital records to connect to. So she went further, building hospital management software, electronic medical records, pharmacy delivery logistics, and a dedicated call centre for rural patients without smartphones.
What started as a directory has grown into a full healthcare platform covering doctor appointments, telemedicine, and medication delivery. Medanit has onboarded 527 doctors and recorded 1.2 million visitors across its channels since January 2026. The Bayer Foundation has also recognised Alemayehu as a grant recipient for women entrepreneurs, providing mentorship and business development support as the platform eyes expansion into Rwanda and Zambia.
Geography makes all of this harder in Ethiopia. A 2023 study in the Journal of Global Health estimated that around 18 percent of the population lacked access to a public health facility within a two-hour walk, with significant gaps between regions. That is the gap Alemayehu is building toward, one pharmacy listing and one call centre call at a time.
Originally published by TechCabal.