Ms Bon is a motivated self-learner and a visionary in the field of Medical Laboratory. With her collective experience as a Licensed Medical Professional, she is committed to adding value to the healthcare segment. Ms Bon believes that nothing is more important than looking after the people who demonstrate a level of trust towards the healthcare sector for their well-being.
Thus, the value must be directed toward their needs rather than the economy of the country. She leads her role by being a classic example of the same. This, in turn, aligns with the interests of the stakeholders within the healthcare segment. In a way, she is contributing to the overall sustainability and growth of the healthcare sector in the country.
In an interview with Insights Care, Ms Bon shares her journey and some of the important lessons that she has learned as a medical lab professional that have made her a passionate and committed leader in the field of Healthcare.
Following are excerpts from the interview.
Please brief us about yourself and tell us your source of inspiration for venturing into the healthcare niche.
I began my journey when I became a Medical Laboratory Professional. In the Philippines, this university course is top as a preparatory study for Medicine (becoming a doctor). I lost my dad due to cardiac arrest secondary to COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) as the main diagnosis and other underlying conditions as he has been on medication and home admission due to his chronic condition. I can still recall how his room has turned into a mini hospital for years with shifting nurses to attend to his needs.
My father’s passing has inspired me in pursuing this healthcare niche, and it’s what motivates me as a licensed healthcare professional and sustainable healthcare advocate. Moreover, my collective experience working as a lab professional and the insights that I received from community causes and initiatives that I have served in the Philippines, my home country, have pushed my interest further. Hence, I finished my MBA having the desire to run my non-profit organization, that I am currently working on together with a good friend and an international correspondent (to name a few), helping many Filipinos overseas for many years now.
The main objective of the movement we are working on is to promote the formation of cohesive and integrated volunteerism for the existing community and future culture, creating globally sustainable individuals recognized worldwide and making the host country proud. This is just the overall idea, but we are going to function in three segments. Going back to the brief, venturing into this is a niche that I truly believe to be the means to be able to shed the greatest value of my ultimate vision – An altruistic Sustainable Healthcare System with the highest achievement.
Please brief our audience about your organization.
The forming organization runs on a person-centered approach with tangible benefits in the outcome for stakeholder’s consequent to sustainability as a whole. As I have previously mentioned, there will be a three-segment approach, and we will operate on those aspects adding value, and within it includes the healthcare segment. The movement presents two correlating bodies: an organization and an institution. As stated, the bodies may work synonymously.
Kindly elaborate upon your journey as the guiding light of your organization and how you have positioned it as a reliable name in the healthcare sector.
My collective experience working as a lab professional while living in the Philippines and here in the UAE has pushed my interest further. Exposed to diverse (Australian, Singaporean, Korean, US) yet inclusive cultures volunteering with international organizations, humanitarian or foundations, I have processed in my head with, of course, the experience on the ground and picked up what matters most in this setting.
Fast forward, strengthening my business side enthusiasm together with my vision, my research paper that tackles altruistic leadership in the healthcare business (post-pandemic adaptation) positioned that “what mattered most” reliably. Referring to “as a reliable name,” I am in that headspace where it shall come to pass, as I have been working on it in addition to the credible respondents of my completed thesis paper in Business school.
As you focus on services and excellence, can you elaborate upon the various services provided under your leadership?
Leadership is one focus I am very nearly particular about, especially in the healthcare business. Although admittedly, there’s no perfect leadership, as every decision has pros and cons, the most important thing is how you manage risk and leverage the strengths in a purposive manner.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that the people’s welfare is more than the economic state (among others); that’s why I believe lockdowns and restrictions took place. With that, we now know that people are more valuable than profit (The UAE has highlighted that this is making them very successful in their pandemic response, and it is praised by its people, citizens, residents, and the world).
Assessing and assisting according to the need is my mantra in leading; however, there’s an end to a means to be sustainable. You cannot give what you don’t have (whichever aspect of life; emphasis mine), as the popular proverb would say. Leadership towards ourselves is a good practice to eventually be able to lead others effectively; this is what I have this time. And what leadership towards ourselves means for me is self-discipline and always trying to set the right intentions.
As the representation of women in the healthcare niche has increased, is the sector focusing on the needs of women more than ever before?
Fortunately, just recently, I joined a webinar discussing HealthTech venture capitalism, and to share with you that I have taken out from that, I would say that even though it is not a niche, women’s need for healthcare has increased by almost about 50% this year in comparison to 2020.
The data showed that Alternative Care as a subsector in HealthTech for Women’s health from 2020 had an investment of $242M and went to $308M in 2022. In addition, health tech female founders have the highest rate this year (2022), as mentioned, and two of them have advanced to a unicorn status having a huge amount of investment coming in by 19%, and more female-found ventures have valued more than $100M. Women’s health tech has the highest investment as well, especially in Fertility and Pregnancy (A.Scolamieri, 2022 MedTech Trends and HealthTech Investment and Exit Trends).
Having a broad experience in the healthcare field, what is your opinion on the integration of technological advancements in the healthcare sector, especially when it comes to catering to the dynamic needs of the healthcare sector?
Adaptation to where industries are heading is crucial same, as companies that resist innovation and swim against the revolution of the industrial era will only die out eventually.
Healthcare has become an expensive commodity. It is very helpful that technology has and can alleviate certain complex processes and systems in this industry. One of the most. I believe this is what tech is for, but hopefully, it will give more equity than a burden to the consumers.
Being an innovative leader, what advice would you like to give budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the healthcare niche?
Understand your audience. It’s the gold standard to succeed in anything you want to venture on. I also found collaboration and partnership are very important but only to the right people, in a sense, same vision, same passion. You aren’t fast venturing alone; you journey substantially in having the right support. No one got to whereby themselves, I believe. I’m saying no one is self-made; it’s all collective, contributory.
How to envision scaling your services and operations in 2022 and beyond?
Partnership: Adding value only to the stakeholders. I often ask myself why I should do something. If the answer is a selfish personal interest, then I have to change my mindset and focus on a win-win analogy; only then I’d find flow. And flow as an organization means growth.
