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A Personal Mobile Health Wallet for Underserved Global Emerging Markets

Imagine a near-future scenario where hundreds of millions of people in underserved global markets can seek health advice, arrange consultations with doctors and specialists, order medicines and pay for services on their smartphone, even if separated from doctors, hospitals, and clinics by hundreds of miles.

According to Deloitte, healthtech, after fintech, is thought to be the most promising new mobile growth channel. The proliferation of smartphones, and super apps, are increasingly seen as a way to provide low cost, easily accessible healthcare, to hundreds of millions of people globally.

According to the GSMA, the projected number of unique mobile subscribers globally in 2025 will be 5.7 billion, a penetration rate of 70%. The number of mobile internet subscribers over the same period are projected to be 5.0 billion, a penetration rate of 60%. The percentage connections of smartphones over the same period are projected to be 84%. Most of the growth will come from emerging markets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

For many people, mobile networks remain the only form of internet access, underlining the urgency to identify solutions to accelerate mobile internet adoption and use. In 2021, more than 200 million people connected to mobile internet for the first time, bringing the total to 4.19 billion people (53% of the global population). By 2025, this number will rise to 5 billion, equivalent to three in five people globally.

Percentage of regional mobile Internet subscribers:
Latin America 58%
Sub-Saharan Africa 28%
MENA 49%
Asia-Pacific 44%

The growth of the mobile wallet has been attributed to the displacement of cash, bank transfers and card transactions as consumers seek secure payment methods and more convenient ways of purchasing goods and services via the smartphone. In addition, many consumers in emerging markets, particularly younger ones, are opting for the use of mobile wallets due to their ease of access.

A recent study by Boku and Jupiter Research found that 7 of the top 10 fastest growing countries for mobile wallet purchases hailed from the emerging market regions.

Asia-Pacific will grow fastest, with cashless transaction volume increasing by 109% from 2020 to 2025 and then by 76% from 2025 to 2030, followed by Africa (78%, 64%) and Europe (64%, 39%). Latin America comes next (52%, 48%), and the US and Canada will have the least rapid growth (43%, 35%). 6 billion people, or approximately 80% of the world's population live in emerging markets.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) measures access to healthcare in terms of the number of doctors per 10,000 of population. Over 40% of WHO Member States report to have less than 10 medical doctors per 10,000 population. In many emerging markets the average number is less than 3. Millions of people in emerging markets are at high risk of illness or injury, with no immediate access to healthcare. Often, they need to travel considerable distances and endure lengthy waiting times to see a doctor. Esprit plans to disrupt the health and insurance markets in these regions by delivering accessible and affordable primary healthcare direct to the public via the digital mobile networks.

Our mission is to provide accessible, affordable, healthcare to hundreds of millions of people in underserved global emerging markets, via smartphone and digital mobile health wallet, on the global mobile digital networks. Esprit has identified Africa, Asia and Latin America as being the most populous regions of the world in which to provide mobile healthcare and Insurance products and services.

There is a growing middle-class population in emerging markets that is demanding better healthcare for themselves and their families and are prepared to pay for it out of their disposable income. In many cases government funded healthcare plans are not keeping pace with demand leaving a supply gap that is widening.