Stakeholders in the health sector have stressed the need for health professionals to go beyond clinical skills and embrace digital literacy, leadership development, and entrepreneurial thinking.
This, they said, would ensure the many opportunities in the healthcare space are maximized to achieve optimal service delivery and bridge Africa’s $55 billion healthcare gap.
According to them, there are opportunities to build the Nigerian healthcare system only if the professionals go beyond clinical skills and develop leadership and management skills.
Speaking at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Healthcare Business Academy and First City Monument Bank recently, a former President of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria, Dr. Pamela Ajayi, stressed the need for healthcare professionals to take advantage of digital and management skills to boost their efficiency.
She said that education in the healthcare sector must evolve to include entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and management training to match current realities in health service delivery and innovation.
Ajayi, who is the Founder and Managing Director of Synlab Nigeria stressed “the importance of educating our health professionals. It’s not enough to have clinical skills. They’ll need digital literacy. We’ve been talking about digital opportunities. What’s the point in creating digital opportunities, and then turning around to find that the health professional can’t take advantage of them?
“We need to have entrepreneurial thinking. We talk about so many opportunities in the healthcare space — we need to make sure they’re able to see them, to envision them, and take advantage of those opportunities and come up with a bank like FCMB to actualise their dreams.”
Ajayi also called for deliberate investment in leadership development and urged health sector stakeholders to adopt public-private partnership models that allow the government to fund care while the private sector provides services.
She said, “We also need them to have leadership development and management skills. There’s so much that needs to be done and I think it’s time for us to stand up, put our private sector where it needs to be, and move forward with partnerships like this, ensuring public-private partnerships.
“One of the models I think we should all be looking at is one where the government just pays for care, and the private sector — which has the capacity — actually delivers the care. That’s something I’d like us to think about as we move forward.”
Ajayi also urged healthcare stakeholders to look inward, noting that other countries like India have leveraged their workforce and pharmaceutical industries to become global players in medical tourism and health technology.
“Is there any reason why Nigeria cannot be, at the very least, the hub for West Africa? There should not be..
“So the opportunity for us to build that healthcare system is there. The workers are there. We need to attract them back. And that’s the reason I’m excited when a bank wants to work in the healthcare space — because that means you have seen that vision, you have seen that opportunity, and you want to develop it,” she added.
On his part, the Executive Director of the Healthcare Business Academy, Mr. Wale Olajubu, lamented that poor governance and inadequate training were holding the sector back, citing data that showed 65 per cent of healthcare organisations in Africa struggle with leadership and governance.
“Why are we here? Because only 30% of healthcare professionals in Sub-Saharan Africa currently receive ongoing training. This highlights a serious gap in professional development and directly affects the quality of healthcare delivery, especially here in Nigeria,” he said.
He also cited labour market disconnect and poor business management as leading causes of health facility failure in the country.
“Because 55% of healthcare professionals in Nigeria have skills that do not meet market demands. A report from the NHIS shows that 40% of private hospitals in Nigeria fail within the first five years of operation. Why? Poor management and a lack of qualified healthcare professionals,” the HBA boss said.
Olajubu noted that operational metrics and financial systems within the healthcare industry must be improved to sustain growth and achieve universal health coverage, adding that the funding gap in African healthcare remains a significant barrier.
“The World Bank estimates that African countries need at least $55 billion annually to achieve universal healthcare coverage. But where will this funding come from? It won’t happen without innovative leadership and strong business acumen among healthcare managers,” he said.
According to him, the partnership with FCMB would help address critical gaps in healthcare leadership, financial inclusion, and operational competence.
“In the healthcare space, we have many professionals — doctors, pharmacists, lab scientists — who want to make a difference, but they may lack business knowledge. FCMB can step in to provide structure, guidance, and funding to scale their efforts,” Olajubu said.
He revealed that the partnership includes co-branded executive courses, tuition subsidies, a healthcare business growth fund, and exclusive banking benefits for HBA members.
“We want FCMB to unseat the current industry leader in healthcare financing. We are ready to work with you to make that happen,” Olajubu added.
According to him, the HBA-FCMB partnership is designed to tackle these challenges head-on by fostering capacity building, strategic financial support, and access to resources that empower health businesses to thrive.
“This partnership will strategically position FCMB as the preferred financial institution for healthcare businesses. It will advance financial inclusion, industry capacity building, and economic growth within Nigeria’s healthcare space,” he said.
On her part, FCMB’s Group Head, Women’s Desk, Nnenna Jacob-Ogogo, reiterated the bank’s commitment to transforming the healthcare sector through strategic investments and sector-specific leadership.
She revealed that the bank made a deliberate decision to appoint healthcare industry experts, rather than traditional bankers, to steer its health initiative, ensuring that those with practical knowledge lead the charge.
Jacob-Ogogo also underscored the link between healthcare and women-owned businesses, stressing the need for intentional support for female entrepreneurs operating within the sector.
She added that the bank’s partnership with stakeholders is expected to play a significant role in narrowing Africa’s $55 billion annual healthcare funding gap.
The initiative, she noted, would not only boost financial inclusion but also drive innovation and sustainability across health systems on the continent.
