The article spotlights women helping shape Africa’s venture capital ecosystem, including Cascador CEO Trish Thomas and her work supporting the growth of high-impact African founders and businesses.
The article highlights the women helping drive operational growth and long-term scalability across Africa’s startup ecosystem, including Cascador Program Director Amanda Etuk and her work supporting founders across the continent.
InfraCredit announced support for First Electric’s clean energy project to expand electricity access across underserved Nigerian communities through new mesh-grid infrastructure initiatives.
BellaNaija featured Cascador’s 2025 holiday gift guide, highlighting a curated selection of products and brands connected to members of the Cascador entrepreneurial ecosystem.
He is not alone in feeling the weight of a sector on the brink. Between 2019 and 2024, almost 16,000 doctors left Nigeria, fleeing poor pay, crumbling infrastructure, and conditions that make care unsafe.
Against that backdrop, Femi built Fortics Life Group. What began in Ibadan with ₦5 million ($3,200) has grown into a healthcare network reporting half a billion naira in revenue, with more than 28,000 patients served through hospitals and pharmacies in Ibadan and Lagos. Two more subsidiaries are in the pipeline: eFortics, a data arm, and a health-insurance unit still in planning.
On his laptop, Femi toggles through dashboards showing patient numbers from Lekki, inventory levels from Ibadan, and revenue streams threading between facilities. The picture is real-time and paperless—far removed from the helplessness of those early days.
Buying time, not new buildings
Femi’s path from clinician to entrepreneur was shaped by brutal math: half of Nigeria’s registered hospitals are shut. At the same time, the country struggles with one of the world’s lowest doctor-to-patient ratios—around four per 10,000 people, far below the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s 1:600 benchmark. Every closure compounds the crisis.
Rather than pour capital into new builds, Fortics takes a more pragmatic route, resurrecting dormant hospitals abandoned by doctors who emigrated or folded under poor economics. “Looking at the capital we had, what was the point when there were already so many redundant hospitals?” Femi says.
The model is disciplined: lease facilities, repair core infrastructure, and add pharmacy operations to secure steady cash flow. The costs vary sharply by location.
In Lekki, maintaining a site runs close to ₦12 million ($ 7,900) a year, while Ibadan comes in at roughly ₦3 million ($1,990). Even then, every lease is a negotiation. Some hospitals are hollow shells requiring full refits; others retain equipment that can be salvaged. As patient numbers grow, Fortics often reinvests: tearing down walls, expanding bed space, and upgrading infrastructure.
But acquisition goes beyond rent and repairs. Each deal runs through rigorous due diligence: governance checks, community goodwill assessments, and reputational screening.
“If a hospital had a track record of killing patients, it’s a non-starter,” Femi notes. Cost-effective, yes—but also a reputational bet that Fortics cannot afford to lose.
Fortics Life targets revival of 100 Nigerian hospitals by 2030
At a Fortics physical location in Lagos.
Lean, digital, and tracked
The model relies on tight operations. Every Fortics unit runs cloud systems for patient records, pharmacy sales, and finances. No blind spots.
“We are data-driven,” Femi says. “We run paperless. We use Asana. We know what diagnosis is recurring. We know inventory. We know patient retention.”
That structure is also a safeguard. Across Nigeria, private hospitals have been flagged for recommending caesarean sections in cases that could have been managed otherwise, simply because the surgery brings in more money. Pharmacies are not exempt either. With most running on thin margins, many have turned to indiscriminate over-the-counter sales of antibiotics and painkillers—less about patient need, more about clearing stock.
Dr Sanya, a general practitioner in Yenagoa, notes that in public facilities, such procedures follow strict guidelines, but in private practice, “about five in ten” cases may be influenced by financial motives.
For pharmacists, the tension is similar. “Economic pressures do influence healthcare decisions,” says Rivers-based pharmacist Ijeoma Okoroh. “Some outlets chase sales, but the ones that focus on patient counselling and follow-up build real trust—and that’s better for both care and business.
Femi insists Fortics Life Group draws a line. “What is the condition? What exactly do you need? Nothing more, nothing less,” Femi says. The goal is cost-effective, standardised care, whether in Lagos or Zamfara.
Even with this lean model, the Healthops and Infrastructure company isn’t untouched by Nigeria’s economic shocks. It weathered two recessions and a brutal 2021 that went “very red,” Femi recalls. Yet every other year has been profitable, and growth has largely been organic. One receptionist rose to head of operations, reflecting how the company’s trial-and-error learning built a team that grew alongside the business.
That resilience kept banks satisfied, loans clean, and the initial ₦5 million stake growing into half a billion in revenue.
Data, then insurance
The long game is bigger than hospitals. Fortics already runs its facilities on Helium Health’s EMR platform, but Femi wants more than digitised records. The planned eFortics platform will aggregate patient data, run epidemiological studies, and monetise anonymised insights. With less than 10% of Nigerians covered by health insurance and most telemedicine startups struggling with retention, he sees data as the missing backbone.
“We’re starting with the infrastructure,” he says. “Later, we’ll focus on the data parts and the telemedicine part—once we have the scale.”
Nigeria’s digital health market is not short of activity but fragile. Helium Health drives EMR adoption, Heala offers remote consultations, and APMIS handles insurance billing. New pilots like MySmartMedic in Abuja and pharmacy-based telemedicine in Lagos show appetite, yet cracks remain: unreliable power, weak internet, low digital literacy, and thin regulation. Most platforms focus on a single layer. Fortics is betting that sequencing—hospitals first, then data, then insurance and telemedicine—can sidestep the pitfalls that stalled earlier pilots.
Cascador as the next chapter
This year, Fortics entered the Cascador program after a board member encouraged Femi to apply. He had been wary of programs like it, but the experience was different. The feedback was practical, focused on clarity and execution rather than just vision.
“That was the shift,” he says. “It wasn’t about dreaming bigger—it was about progress and scale.”
The company is now raising capital to grow from three facilities to a nationwide network of 30 hospitals and 30 pharmacies across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. The plan is to let urban hubs and pharmacy revenues cross-subsidise rural care, with eFortics providing the data backbone to keep operations consistent. Insurance and telemedicine will only come once that foundation is solid.
Femi frames it simply: “We never had the luxury of money, so we learned to be innovative. That hasn’t changed. Our rule is: don’t throw money at problems, solve them with the right systems.”
Article first published on September 27, 2025 on https://thecondia.com/fortics-life-nigeria-healthcare-cascador/?utm_source=WhatsApp+channel&utm_medium=WhatsApp&utm_id=fortics-life-nigeria-healthcare-cascador
May 19, 2025
On May 14, 2025, the Radisson Blu Anchorage in Victoria Island, Lagos, was abuzz with entrepreneurial energy as Cascador hosted its annual Pitch Day.
The event brought together a select group of alumni from the Cascador program, an initiative renowned for nurturing mid-stage, mission-driven African entrepreneurs.
Since its launch in 2019, Cascador has helped elevate six cohorts of entrepreneurs through a combination of education, self-discovery, mentoring, pitch training, and personalised advisory support.
On May 14, 2025, the Radisson Blu Anchorage in Victoria Island, Lagos, was abuzz with entrepreneurial energy as Cascador hosted its annual Pitch Day.
The event brought together a select group of alumni from the Cascador program, an initiative renowned for nurturing mid-stage, mission-driven African entrepreneurs.
Since its launch in 2019, Cascador has helped elevate six cohorts of entrepreneurs through a combination of education, self-discovery, mentoring, pitch training, and personalised advisory support.
Pitch Day is a hallmark of the Cascador experience, reserved exclusively for alumni who have completed the transformative program. To earn their spot as finalists, participants had to submit comprehensive applications demonstrating business viability, impact metrics, and financial sustainability.
This year, nine entrepreneurs were chosen to pitch their ventures: Michael Ogundare of Crop2Cash, Joycee Awosika of Oriki, Omoniyi Salami of N.E.A.T., Olumide Gbadebo of Adunni Organics, Babatunde Akin-Moses of Sycamore, Chibuke Goodnews of DoChase, Oluwaseyi Adefemi of Drive45, Olufemi Idowu of 24SEVEN, and Omowunmi Emmanuel-Ogah of Ex-Care.
Cascador awarded all nine businesses debt financing : ₦225,000,000 to Ex-Care; ₦500,000,000 to N.E.A.T.; ₦100,000,000 to Crop2Cash; ₦750, 000,000 to Oriki; ₦100,000,000 to Adunni Organics; ₦250,000,000 to DoChase; ₦1,500,000,000 to Sycamore; ₦2,000,000,000 to Drive45; and ₦500,000,000 to 24SEVEN.
The event was anchored by David Ubabudike, who kept the programme engaging and seamless.
A major highlight of the evening was the unveiling of the $2 million Catalytic Fund, a landmark commitment that will see Cascador allocate $2 million annually, starting in May 2025, to empower its alumni with the capital they need to scale their impact. This fund is designed as a combination of debt, equity, and collateral investments, in partnership with Sterling Bank, to meet the unique needs of each business.
The financing solutions are customised to each entrepreneur’s business model and cash flow patterns, ensuring that support is both relevant and sustainable. The Catalytic Fund represents a significant step forward in Cascador’s mission to drive sustainable economic growth and support transformational businesses making a difference across Nigeria.
In addition to the main funding pool, Cascador celebrated entrepreneurial excellence by awarding two special innovation prizes. The NSIA Prize for Innovation, sponsored by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority(NSIA), awarded $10,000 to Crop2Cash for their outstanding work in agritech.
The DBN Innovation Prize, sponsored by the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), awarded $5,000 to N.E.A.T. for their innovative approach to entrepreneurial excellence.
Cascador also recognised Oriki with a $10,000 award for delivering the best pitch of the day.
The event was graced by an impressive roster of business leaders, mentors, and judges. Abubakar Sulaiman, Managing Director of Sterling Bank, delivered a keynote speech emphasising the need for Nigerian businesses to become “bankable”: viable and profitable. He highlighted Sterling Bank’s commitment to ensuring that entrepreneurs can independently access the financial support they need and joined the panel of judges in presenting awards.
The judging panel included Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, co-founder of Future Africa, Flutterwave, and Andela; Ada Osakwe, co-founder of Atika Ventures and CEO of The Nuli Food Company; and Daniel Adeoye, Partner at Verod Capital.
The Cascador team led by David DeLucia, Founder, Trish Thomas, CEO, Amanda Etuk, Program Director and Patrick Amajama, Administrator hosted the groundbreaking event with the support of partner representatives from the NSIA, DBN and Sterling Bank
In his address, Delucia explained the rationale behind Cascador’s selective admissions process, noting that the program admits a limited number of Nigerian entrepreneurs each year to ensure one-on-one mentorship and meaningful relationships.
He spoke passionately about his commitment to sharing knowledge and fostering the next generation of Nigerian business leaders, describing Cascador as a “cascade of wisdom from one generation to the next.”
As the event concluded, the sense of possibility in the room was palpable. Cascador Pitch Day 2025 not only celebrated the achievements of its alumni but also set a new benchmark for entrepreneurial support in Nigeria. With the launch of the Catalytic Fund and the continued backing of visionary partners, Cascador is set to empower even more entrepreneurs to transform their industries and communities in Nigeria for years to come.
Applications for the 2025 Cohort of Cascador is open till June 1, 2025 https://cascador.org/apply-now/
Article first published here: Highlights from Cascador Pitch Day
Koolboks
Koolboks is scaling solar-powered cold-chain infrastructure across Africa and beyond, helping improve access to reliable refrigeration in communities where traditional cold storage is expensive, unreliable, or unavailable.
In 2025, the company achieved its highest sales to date while expanding operations across Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, France, and 21 additional countries. Beyond commercial growth, Koolboks’ impact spans food security, healthcare access, climate resilience, and economic opportunity. Its solutions help reduce spoilage and operating costs while supporting women-led enterprises and creating income and skills opportunities for young people.
Koolboks has also raised more than $18M in funding to support its continued expansion and innovation across Africa.