International Women's Day
1.???Tell us about yourself. Who is Brook Fekadu
I was the oldest of three children born to civil servants of the dergue era. My mother worked at the ministry of education and my father worked at Addis Ababa University. ?I did my elementary education at Nativity Boys School (Cathedral) and High School at St. Joseph. I did my higher education Bethany College in Lindsborgh Kansas, USA. I did most of my growing up around Megenagna, doing what most kids of the day did, playing football and hanging out with friends when outside and watching TV and playing board games when inside. I loved watching Kids program on TV (Ababa Tesfaye), Variety show (Hibre tr-eet). Tilahun Gesese and Bizunesh Bekele have remained two of my favorite singers among many. I am now a father, a husband and an Ethiopian entrepreneur passionate about making a difference in Ethiopia. I love world culture in general and the diverse Ethiopian culture in particular.?Ethiopia is uniquely rich in ethnic food and music. One of the things I love about being Ethiopian is the mosaic of ethnic music and food we get to enjoy. I am easy going and can have fun in diverse environments (upscale and downscale). I have a deeply held belief that all human beings regardless of wealth, circumstance, gender, ethnicity should be treated with dignity. I hate bullies and I get annoyed when I see people being rude or disrespectful to waitresses, doormen, janitors etc.?
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2.???Tell us about the organizations you run and why you established them
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The three organizations have one central goal, improving outcome for patients in Ethiopia. This is essentially why the companies were setup. Most Ethiopian doctors provide substandard services when they work in Ethiopia but they perform very well when they go to places like Europe and United States. This is mainly due to the lack of an environment that allows them to do excellent work. The goal of the companies I set up has to do with helping health care institutions create this enabling environment for healthcare professionals so Ethiopians don’t have travel overseas to get good quality care.
Our moto at Pioneer Diagnostic Center is “helping doctors help patients”. Before we set up Pioneer Diagnostic Center, neurology patients in Ethiopia used to go through an invasive and painful procedure called myelography so neurologists can image the spine. After patients go through this invasive procedure in which patients get injections in the spine, the end result was poor quality images that were not very helpful in identifying pathologies. While this procedure was being used in Ethiopia, most of the world had already abandoned Myelography and MRIs had become the gold standard for spine imaging. We setup Pioneer Diagnostic Center, brought an MRI machine that all health care facilities can use. This allowed neurology patients to lie down for 20 minutes listening to music and get excellent images of their spine. When we showed what was possible many others wanted to do the same. And we setup another company to help them bring their own MRIs and other advanced medical equipment. Now, myelography is ancient history in Ethiopia. 17 years later we are in the process of introducing another technology called Nuclear Medicine Imaging that will be the first of its kind in the private sector.
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Our other company, Infinity Advanced Technology Solutions, identifies and introduces medical equipment and supplies that meet the needs of healthcare professionals in Ethiopia. Here again the idea is to help health care facilities create an environment in which health care professionals can excel thereby improving outcome for patients in Ethiopia. This is why the business model at Infinity is not selling products but rather providing solutions. Infinity brings long lasting reputed brands from western countries that empower our health care professionals. From site preparation to product selection, to training, to consumables supply and after sales maintenance Infinity’s goal is to make sure our customers are successful in creating that enabling environment for doctors and producing outcome for patients.
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Redat Healthcare was also established to provide a technology enabled high standard healthcare experience to Ethiopia’s growing middle class who currently meet their needs through outbound medical tourism. It is also Redat’s stated objective to create employment opportunity for thousands of unemployed Ethiopian healthcare professionals. Redat plans to combine in clinic and at home care services with the goal of optimizing patient comfort and outcome. Patients can heal better in their own homes. Moreover, there are a lot of patients, especially the elderly who are suffering from chronic issues including Stroke, Alzheimer, dementia etc. Routinely transporting these patients to and from hospital outpatient departments is very inconvenient and burdensome to the patients and their loved ones. Through its home health program, Redat aims to bring a never before experienced, outcome driven, high quality health and healing to patients in the comfort of their homes.
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3.???Your 3 organizations, Pioneer Diagnostic Center, Infinity Advanced Technology Solutions & Redat Healthcare are led by women. Is this on purpose or was it a coincidence. If it was on purpose why?
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It is possible that being an older brother to two younger sisters may have shaped my subconscious sensitivity to gender equality.?But I put women as heads of these companies because the women were the best qualified to hold these positions. In the current work environment where productive employees are expected to be empowered and good leaders are expected to empathize, I believe Ethiopian women have the temperament and soft skills that are important to be good leaders that build high performing teams. So, experience and education being equal, I would choose a woman over a man for a leadership position. ?
4.???Do you think it’s important to celebrate International Women’s Day? If yes, why?
I think it is important to celebrate international Women’s day because despite a lot of progress, in many parts of the world including Ethiopia gender equality remains to be an issue. March 8 gives us an opportunity to celebrate women’s accomplishments and highlight the work that remains to be done.
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5.???Any message you would like to pass about today’s celebration?
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Our world has a long history of discrimination against women, so anyone can have biases whether they know it or not. March 8 provides an opportunity to reflect on our own beliefs and biases and craft a personal plan. I would like to ask everyone to reflect and think about the women in their lives (sisters, mothers, wives and children) to see if and how they might be a victim of biases and long held beliefs.