In July 2018, a diabetes management app entered the Nigerian tech ecosystem with the ultimate mission to educate the population and “reduce the prevalence of diabetes.” Diabetes is not a death sentence, its creator Diekola Sulu (photo) told Ventures Africa.

At age 26, in 2006, Diekola Sulu was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. At the time, he was careless with his lifestyle and had limited information about his disease. He kept his carefree attitude until his condition worsened. Then he started educating himself on his condition. Thanks to the information he got, he realized his disease was not a death sentence, it could be managed.  

The realization gave him a new goal: to educate people and help those suffering from diabetes better take care of themselves. 

Before founding Self Healthcare Empowerment Initiative (SHEI) he lived in the UK where he acquired a wealth of information on diabetes. He later relocated to Qatar where he worked with the government to deliver healthcare programs. In 2015, he helped the Qatari government develop a National Diabetes program. During his professional career, he discovered that both the Middle East and his native country, Nigeria, had the same problem, namely a lack of education and information about the right tools to manage diabetes.   

In 2016, he decided to launch SHEI to raise awareness about the disease. However, realizing that on-the-ground activities were not reaching a larger audience, he decided to use technology to address the problem. “(...) Then we realized that we were not reaching as many people as we wanted because we were limited to only the people we could see. So we sat down and thought about a better way, and the best way was to go through tech,” he recounts.  So, in July 2018, he self-funded the launch of ManageAm, a mobile app, with some strategic partners. 

With diabetes management requiring a lot of effort between balancing routines, tracking blood tests, planning exercise and diet, medications, and managing blood sugar levels, ManageAM aims to be a  dedicated self-management app.  It helps users achieve their short and long-term health goals, and efficiently calculate their progress while facilitating healthy lifestyle decisions. It also allows users to effectively engage, discuss treatment, and follow up with their physicians.

According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), 24 million Africans were living with diabetes in 2021. In that context, ManageAm aims to position itself as a necessary tool to reduce the prevalence of diabetes and promote self-education. 

Aïsha Moyouzame