Tech for Good: How Helpster Is Using Innovation to Save Lives

In this interview, Kate Lysykh, CEO of Helpster Charity, a global nonprofit dedicated to improving healthcare access for vulnerable populations, discusses how the tech charity startup is leveraging innovative technology to save lives of underprivileged children and pregnant women across Africa and Asia.

 

Tell Us About Yourself: Who Is Kate?

 

I’m around 10 years in IT product management, software development and startups. I love building tech solutions that make life easier and better. I enjoy developing and building tech products that solve critical mankind problems. Over the years, I’ve been experimenting on several solutions to everyday challenges, especially the ones faced by people in underprivileged regions.

 

Tell Us How It’s Been Since You Joined Helpster As The CEO?

 

It’s been an exciting ride since May 2022 when we decided to turn the idea of creating the most efficient tool for saving lives into reality.

There have been challenges but now, when I look back and take stock of our progress, the size and composition of the team, the over 700 indigent children, pregnant women and young adults we’ve saved through sharing access to critical healthcare and the over 5000 lives impacted through our regular free medical outreaches, I’m glad to say that we’ve not veered off the mission in ensuring no child dies or suffers due to lack of financial means to access vital medicare.

We’re on track and we couldn’t have achieved these feats without the support of our donors, volunteers, doctors and trusted hospitals.

In less than three years, we’ve expanded our partner hospital network and grown our volunteer base to over 100 across Nigeria, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Bangladesh. Our verified hospitals are now over 50.

Early last year, we published our Annual Impact Report which I’m very proud of because the impact is evident, and this goes to show that we’re poised to create more impact. We’ve created and sustained a scalable and super efficient system that can save lives almost anywhere.

How Has Your Background In Tech Influenced Your Role As The CEO?

 

My experience in tech, especially product management, has been extremely valuable as I’m always optimising our solutions and platforms to reliably address the gaps in healthcare access in underserved African and Asian communities. Strengthening the platforms for system integrity, adding new features to enhance user experience and generally managing them end-to-end for better outcomes

Tell Us About Your Case Admission Process And How Helpster Actually Works?

 

We have a robust and technological admission process, which has increased efficiency as well as transparency, ensuring that every dollar donated makes a palpable difference in the life of any child admitted into our programme.

We receive and validate cases from our free medical outreaches to poor communities, network of trusted local volunteers, NGOs, parents and hospitals; within a few days maximum, we check and verify the cases based on poverty level, urgency and treatment plan; cases that satisfy the admission criteria are uploaded on Helpster website and app, ensuring only life-changing cases from poor families and the assessment value below 1,500 USD are accepted.

As an exception, we can increase up to 3,000 USD. When people donate, the money goes directly to local hospitals for the approved cases on the app and website; the donors can track to see the impact of their donations in real-time.

Financial documents and reports for each case are available on the mobile app any time, as transparency is priority for us. All donations go directly to the verified hospitals to attend to verified cases. About 5-7 percent caters to transaction charges, bank commissions and currency exchange losses.

Our verification process is thorough, involving strict criteria and phases to avoid fraud. That is why now the admission rate is around just 60%, meaning we decline 40% mostly because of the non-critical healthcare issues or low poverty rate. And the most interesting part: our average cost for a life-saving treatment is just around 200 USD!

 

It’s Understandable That The Journey Has Been Equally Challenging: Can You Share Your Experience?

 

Definitely. Building a tech charity startup is no mean feat.

After building it, you have to now grow it, leading teams across various countries and continents, trying to raise funds, maintaining a system that guarantees the integrity of the verification process, and dealing with the issue of trust, which is a major one because it affects the level of donations.

But we anticipated some of these challenges. We also understand that it’s a phase in the life of every charity, and with this mindset, I’m galvanising my team to ensure we stay focused on the bigger picture.

 

Are There Any Special Benefits For Helpster Heroes?

 

Donors, known as Helpster Heroes, can be confident that their donations are directly impacting verified, critical cases. Every donation is a life-saving effort, with an average cost of 200 USD. Helpster platform ensures automatic, priority-based distribution of donations and donors get reports, media and receipts.

Also, you become part of the Helpster Heroes community sharing healthcare, and your contribution becomes a tool in promoting a culture of saving lives every day.

 

Where Do You See Helpster In Five Years?

 

In the next 5 years, I envision Helpster as the number one charity tech platform globally. By this, we aim to drastically decrease the high child mortality rate caused by lack of finance to access critical healthcare in underserved parts of the world, and create a culture of saving lives among donors.

We hope that, together with Helpster Heroes, we will be able to save 1000 lives every month and expand to 10 countries because where a child is born should not determine whether they live or die. We, therefore, call on well-meaning individuals and organisations to join this movement of creating a lasting impact.