Maya

Area of Focus:

Digital Health

Geography:

Bangladesh

Maya provides a mobile-based digital wellbeing assistant that eliminates barriers to accessing health advice by connecting users to medical information and experts. This is achieved through an artificial intelligence (AI) based anonymous messaging solution that leverages licensed physicians/counsellors and connects them with users. The platform has been specifically designed to make it easier for women, who make up 70% of users, to access meaningful and stigma-free healthcare, especially for sensitive issues like reproductive needs and mental health.

Maya worked with TRANSFORM on its ‘digital wellbeing assistant’. Unilever’s marketing expertise meant that TRANSFORM could offer Maya advice on how to innovate and scale to reach new audiences, as well as input on recruitment.

Maya also leveraged TRANSFORM and Unilever’s reputation to boost their credibility when approaching organisations including Primark and Marks & Spencer, locking in partnerships faster and enabling Maya to provide free digital healthcare to predominantly female garment workers, who fall under the lowest income group in Bangladesh. Follow on support provided by EY helped Maya to refine the scale pathway for the business models and enable future growth.

As the COVID-19 pandemic reached Bangladesh, there was an urgent need to provide access to expert medical advice and information on the virus, but few organisations had the scale or reach to do this effectively. TRANSFORM awarded Maya a grant that allowed the business to discount subscriptions and launch a marketing campaign targeted at low-income families most in need.