Transforming businesses to address global health challenges has been hampered by a shortage of professionals possessing the ability to translate innovation into action, especially in lower- and middle-income countries. In response, the Sustainable Health Initiative (SHI) at the Yale Institute for Global Health has created the Mentors in Residence program to empower entrepreneurs with the knowledge and skills most needed in today’s global health start-up landscape. Emily Sheldon, Co-Founder and CEO at the African Health Innovation Centre (AHIC), and Sunita Maheshwari, Co-Founder and Chief Dreamer at The Telerad Group, joined the program as inaugural mentors.
What drew you to global health innovation and entrepreneurship?
Emily: While in Ghana with my Project Pyramid team in 2016, I had the privilege to spend a year in a second, sector-agnostic role as the Africa Regional Lead for the global Impact Hub network. This experience allowed me to grow core innovation, strategy, and community-building skills beyond the arena of public health. From there, I co-founded AHIC with my friend and colleague Freda Yawson after three years of serving as the Director of Health Innovation for Impact Hub Accra.
Sunita: Interestingly, it was the lack of job opportunities for us in India when we moved back there from Yale and were considered “overqualified.” My learning was that if one door doesn’t open, dig a tunnel around it!
What are your biggest lessons learned in your current role?
Emily: Business can be a tool for social impact, not just the backbone of an NGO. Collaborating with partners, such as the Turner Family Foundation, has helped me understand how to take business models and apply them to public health. Having now incubated dozens of startups, working with researchers who are dipping their toes into the business world for the first time, as well as business experts who were trying to break into the world of public health, I have seen a lot of “typical” things that were done by young entrepreneurs that could’ve been done better. I’m grateful for the learning opportunities available to me and the entrepreneurs I have worked with.
Sunita: Innovation is not necessarily an aha moment—it’s a series of little steps born out of a desire to find solutions, as what works on a PowerPoint may not work on the field. In global health, patience and longevity are key, and we need more “dreamers” and “pushers” to make a difference.
What are you most looking forward to sharing with the mentees?
Emily: The conversations I’ve had with student mentees in the Mentor in Residence Program was incredibly diverse. I would share my journey in global health innovation with one student and walk another student through their company’s business model and competitors, expansion plans, and ways to adapt from a product perspective. Both were a lot of fun. I was excited to learn about their interests and am looking forward to helping advance ventures by students and the broader Yale/New Haven community alike.
Sunita: I was extremely shy when I joined Yale. I don’t think anyone in my pediatrics residency would have imagined that I would become an entrepreneur and a motivational speaker. Yale gave me a lot more than I can ever imagine—the ability to think, the confidence to walk into any room in the world and to speak up. I hope to be able to repay my gratitude debt to Yale by supporting the mentees in any way I can—learnings from my mistakes, learnings from my successes, a sounding board, and opening doors when possible.