On April 2, 2020, competitors from universities all over Idaho participated in the Idaho Entrepreneur Challenge. This year’s competition, hosted by Boise State, took place remotely due to precautions related to COVID-19 and awards were streamed on Twitch. The teams with the most promising ventures and small businesses had a chance to win money and services to help them advance their startups. Competitors went through three rounds of pitching in front of 10-15 finalist judges via Zoom conferencing.
Computing PhD Student Tobi Popoola and his team won the Presidential Award (given by Dr. Tromp) and were the First Runner Up in the Health Track. Tobi’s team presented Dermcare, a marketplace for people to meet licensed medical doctors in Nigeria. “Medical services are not readily accessible in Nigeria,” Tobi explained. “About 49.9% of the population (190 Million) lives in rural areas. People often turn to pharmacists, friends and unorthodox/traditional means to get medical help. These options most times provide wrong diagnoses and treatment.”
Dermcare as a mobile/web app has instant messaging and video call features to facilitate real-time communication between medical doctors and patients. This provides a means for patients to pay their medical bills from their phones, thereby reducing the need for patients to be physically present in the Hospital. It also allows practitioners to securely keep a patient’s medical history on the app.
For more interesting information about the Idaho Entrepreneur Challenge, visit here.