Women in Technology: Crafting Legs for Our World to Stand

By Sola Fatoba
Islands Region ICOC
Lagos, Nigeria

In this video, parent and business owner Sola Fatoba shares the inspiring story of the challenges in her life that led to the creation of her groundbreaking company, Bloom Telehealth.

Sola’s first child experienced developmental delays in early childhood. It was difficult to find the expertise that was needed to get a diagnosis in her country. It was a dark and discouraging time, but prayers and good counsel from friends and family helped and sustained her and her husband. In 2015, they found specialists to properly diagnose their child in another country – but then they had to face the fact that there was not much hope that in Nigeria they would find the necessary intervention and educational support for their daughter with autism.

Sola decided to become the solution: she herself would train to become a behavioral therapist, to be able to provide for her daughter’s needs. Sadly, in 2018, her brother passed away in the USA. In 2019, when the family gathered in the States for her brother’s one year memorial, Sola passed the US board exams to be licensed as a behavioral therapist for children with developmental delays.

During the pandemic, it occurred to her that with all the available technology, it was remarkable that they were not able to speak to a doctor from home. She began to research the field of telemedicine. By 2021 an idea was born: to create a telehealth company focused on children with autism, developmental delays, and other mental health needs, bringing together doctors from places like the US, the UK, and Dubai, who have qualifications that are hard to find in Nigeria, to consult with patients in Nigeria using technology.

In 2022, she registered the company and started building. Today, Bloom Telehealth features telediagnosis, teletherapy and telemonitoring with over 100 available qualified healthcare professionals. She has an exclusive agreement with a major global autism organization to bring a digital screening tool to Nigeria. Bloom Telehealth holds the only license in sub-Saharan Africa for a global standard tool for diagnosing autism. All of this was done in the space of a year!

Sola calls us to adopt the mindset of the woman in Proverbs 31:16-17 – be homemakers, she says, it’s a noble ambition, but – quoting poet Sandra Sealy – don’t just dust off the table, but craft the legs on which our world can stand!