A Cameroonian native, Joelle Itoua Owona worked in France and the US for many years. She, however, returned to Africa, to the Republic of Congo precisely where she founded an e-health startup.

Joelle Itoua Owona is a banker who moved into e-health. This Cameroonian native founded and is the CEO of AfriWell Health, a medical technology startup, active in the Republic of Congo.

Founded in 2022, the startup provides a digital platform that connects, rapidly and efficiently, patients in Congo with health professionals worldwide. In its first five years of activity, the company aims to create 500,000 patient-doctor connections.

AfriWell Health offers multiple diverse features. It provides services such as online appointment booking and video consultation. It also allows for doctor reviews and online access to medical history. All of these services are aimed at helping Congolese people better manage their health.

The startup is in partnership with several international hospitals, including Euracare in Ghana and Nigeria, the Zaghouan clinic in Tunisia, Memorial and Dent-Health in Turkey, and Narayana Health in India. It is one of the startups selected to take part in the 2023 cohort of the Google For Startups: Women Founders program.

Owona is a graduate of ESCP Business School and the MIT Sloan School of Management. In the former, she earned a master's degree in 2008, and in the latter, she obtained an MBA in Finance in 2016. Prior to venturing into the e-health sector, she worked for several financial institutions in Europe and the US.

In 2008, she worked for Crédit Agricole CIB in France as a junior analyst. In 2009, she joined the HSBC banking group as an international manager in New York, USA. She also worked for Bank of America Merril Lynch from 2016 to 2023 as an investment banker covering healthcare.

Melchior Koba