In the first episode of 2021, Nicola Steel talks to Maree Beare, the Founder of Wanngi, a health tech startup. She is a Consumer Health advocate and is listed in Forbes Top 50 Women Led Startups disrupting Healthtech.
Wanngi means alive, living one, well, or healthy. It is part of the Djinang language which is spoken in north-central Arnhemland (Northern Territory, Australia). Maree's startup, Wanngi, is a health management app that allows patients to track symptoms, immunisations, set medication reminders and manage medical and fitness information, in one secure HIPAA Compliant online location.
In this episode, Nicola and Maree talk about Maree's long career in tech managing corporate and government projects. They discuss how Maree wanted a change in career whilst solving a problem in digital health, for example, 62% of patients don't have access to their health information. Wanngi is empowering patients by improving their communication and control.
Maree is also a previous cohort of the Activate programme with River City Labs. She talks about absorbing all the mentor help to scale Wanngi such as seeking partnership opportunities. Maree's advice - "say yes and go for it" because people can see things in you that you cannot necessarily see in yourself. She talks about the challenges of managing her time and wearing many hats as well as securing funding.