Sylvana Quader Sinha is the Founder, Managing Director, and CEO of Praava Health, a Dhaka-based health-care startup that aims to change how people think about and avail health care in Bangladesh. Praava calls itself a family health center - family doctors + diagnostics.
Praava Health started its full-fledged operation in February 2018 in Dhaka with one center in Banani. It has since expanded as a team and as a business. In an interview with FS in July 2018, Ms. Sylvana told us that Praava has “registered and served thousands of patients since its launch in 2018, and 60% of its visits are from repeat customers”. The company has six labs that can do 250-unique tests. It has built Bangladesh’s first PCR lab for molecular cancer diagnostics.
Praava also offers a handful of membership plans. It has annual membership plans ranging in price from BDT 4,500 to BDT 28,000.
Praava claims that it has the first-ever fully integrated hospital information system in Bangladesh. It means Praava keeps all medical records of a patient, which the patient can access anytime from anywhere using Praava mobile app. Its lab is fully integrated with technology. As soon as a lab machine runs a test, the report automatically gets stored in its central system in the name of the patient. Once you are registered with Praava, you can connect your app with your Praava registration number and access your records online from anywhere. You can also make appointments and communicate with Praava using the app. Ms. Slyvana told FS that Over the years, Praava plans to build about 30 facilities around Bangladesh.
Healthcare is a capital-intensive business. Over the past years, Praava Health raised multiple rounds of investments. Raising investment is a challenging experience for every founder. In an interview with Future Startup, Praava founder shared her lessons on raising investment.
Don’t shy away from reaching out to people. I’m relentless in following up with people who offer introductions or help
[su_highlight background="#efd69c" color="#1d1f16"]"Just don’t give up. It requires a lot of patience and a really thick skin.[/su_highlight] You can’t take anything too personally although you’ve devoted your blood, sweat, and tears into building your company. Because other people’s choices aren’t necessarily a rejection of you.
An investor may choose not to invest in your business for a lot of reasons. Their money might be tied up somewhere else or the timing might not be right on their end.
It is really about persistence and not giving up in the face of rejection. I think that’s the name of the game, whether fundraising or any other aspect of the daily challenges of building a company.
[su_highlight background="#efd69c" color="#1d1f16"]Don’t shy away from reaching out to people. I’m relentless in following up with people who offer introductions or help.[/su_highlight] And I think you have to be if you want to build a business. Because this is something that requires so much more of everything you need than what you can imagine. And many people genuinely want to help someone who is doing something worthwhile. If you reach out to people, most of them would like to support."
Last updated on 01 Spetember at 5:30 PM
