Meghana Kambham: A Visionary Transcending Healthcare With School-Based Health Ecosystem
Meghana Kambham
Founder
Among the few ambitious women, Meghana Kambham stands as an inspiration to the one who wants to shine. Right from the time she was pursuing medical studies, leadership & mettle was deep routed within her. Making ends meet, the medical student turned to be a social entrepreneur and market leader in the niche of preventive healthcare. From the point of being an Executive Director at Annapurna Charitable Society to Heading new Strategies and Marketing at Sanskruthi Global School, and today outshining as a wellversed business leader by conceptualizing Carengrow, Meghana always proved to be the best.
To know more about CarenGrow and Meghana’s inspirational journey, delve into the following excerpts of an exclusive interaction between her and CEO Insights.
How was this journey of shaping yourself as a leader? What would you say to those who want to be your fellow entrepreneurs?
When we start something, we need to ask ourselves whether it is a good idea. Am I passionate about it? Do I want to do it? People often have a desire to do something, but there is always a part of you that says, "I do not want to do it because I might fail”, “If it goes well, it is exciting! The "yes" part exists, but the "no" side of us shows up when we begin to fail.
Most of the time, we as a gender have a natural tendency to talk about our things to establish connections! We talk about saving money but not about making money. And those are two very different ways of thinking and approaching the world. Women have smaller circles of business resources and networks to help with their business. So it is challenging, but the challenge does not mean that it
is impossible. I would say that you are willing to go through the hardship and do not give up.
The hitch in my journey were family obligations and expectations I faced as a young unmarried woman. I would say not listening to those who suggest that you cannot do it because there is always a chance of winning, and you have to bet on that chance.
What inspired you to establish CarenGrow? Also, tell us about the distinguishing aspects of your Healthcare Programme.
During my medical studies, I observed that most patients were women and children, mostly poor, spending time and money on treatments for the types of illnesses or diseases that could have easily been averted or prevented, which is an irony. I saw several cases of health issues in children, and I referred them to parents and hospitals for further diagnosis and treatment. Most of these were easily preventable. More importantly, they were affecting their future potential and performance at school. This gap led to the establishment of CarenGrow.
This brainstorming idea was to empower teachers and parents to be more cautious about children’s health. CarenGrow as a one-of-a-kind venture aims to create healthy nations by seeding in the holistic development of children. It intends to comprehensively monitor the present physical and behavioural profile along with the previous health history of children in school by a non-invasive, objective, intelligent monitoring system, to be carried out by teachers with minimal training.
The start-up is a technology-enabled platform that gives parents or other caregivers, i.e., teachers, comprehensive and simple-to-use non-invasive tools to screen and interact with evidence-based interventions. This platform forms the basis for preventing, promoting, and protecting the kids from avoidable health, emotional, and social issues that can be translated to a change in behaviour. Our solution is to seek digital interventions to solve problems, turning technology to build a preventive screening and behaviour change platform to ensure that children's development process and learning have a timely start and are guided by holistic, science-based guidelines.
Tell us about one of the unique facets that differentiate you from other similar players in the industry.
The hitch in my journey were family obligations and expectations I faced as a young unmarried woman. I would say not listening to those who suggest that you cannot do it because there is always a chance of winning, and you have to bet on that chance.
What inspired you to establish CarenGrow? Also, tell us about the distinguishing aspects of your Healthcare Programme.
During my medical studies, I observed that most patients were women and children, mostly poor, spending time and money on treatments for the types of illnesses or diseases that could have easily been averted or prevented, which is an irony. I saw several cases of health issues in children, and I referred them to parents and hospitals for further diagnosis and treatment. Most of these were easily preventable. More importantly, they were affecting their future potential and performance at school. This gap led to the establishment of CarenGrow.
This brainstorming idea was to empower teachers and parents to be more cautious about children’s health. CarenGrow as a one-of-a-kind venture aims to create healthy nations by seeding in the holistic development of children. It intends to comprehensively monitor the present physical and behavioural profile along with the previous health history of children in school by a non-invasive, objective, intelligent monitoring system, to be carried out by teachers with minimal training.
The start-up is a technology-enabled platform that gives parents or other caregivers, i.e., teachers, comprehensive and simple-to-use non-invasive tools to screen and interact with evidence-based interventions. This platform forms the basis for preventing, promoting, and protecting the kids from avoidable health, emotional, and social issues that can be translated to a change in behaviour. Our solution is to seek digital interventions to solve problems, turning technology to build a preventive screening and behaviour change platform to ensure that children's development process and learning have a timely start and are guided by holistic, science-based guidelines.
Tell us about one of the unique facets that differentiate you from other similar players in the industry.
We can positively impact a generation of children by building a sturdier foundation for future health, learning, and well-being. We believe that the key to this foundation is empowering parents and caregivers to be the leading promoters of their kids' development. We also believe that leveraging affordable technology to its best differentiates us from others.
Since its inception, how has the company nurtured itself? Illustrate the growth of the company.
I think we did reasonably well given the circumstances, we currently have a decent private school market and also have bagged a prestigious central government Smart city tender in Tirupati. Smart City Health Project prioritizes using scarce resources to address the critical health problems affecting the thousands of government school children.
The pandemic has affected our work over the past six months, but we have ventured on several initiatives such as the Digital Prevention Surveillance Platform - To face the challenges of online learning risks for children away from schools and design interventions around them. Post pandemic school safety management systems and platform for school campuses And other work and gathering places. As we progress, we will leverage big data and machine learning and process , our early childhood model.
Meghana Kambham, Founder, Care N Grow- School health
Educational Background
MBBS – Andhra medical college, Vishakhapatnam Social Entrepreneurship- Stanford GSB Social impact studies – INSEAD Currently pursuing MBA from the Indian School of Business
Care N Grow- School health
An award-winning THUB INCUBATED technology start-up with 21 member team. The company raised initial seed and angel rounds of funding and envisions to bring affordable, non-invasive preventive health, wellness, and behaviour change into children at an early age sustainably enabled by technology.
What Defines her Work and Activity?
• Tenacity to pursue
• Vision and Execution (Hands-on Approach)
• Inspiration and Communication
Other Interests
Adventure sports, Travelling & Affordable Fashion
Since its inception, how has the company nurtured itself? Illustrate the growth of the company.
I think we did reasonably well given the circumstances, we currently have a decent private school market and also have bagged a prestigious central government Smart city tender in Tirupati. Smart City Health Project prioritizes using scarce resources to address the critical health problems affecting the thousands of government school children.
The pandemic has affected our work over the past six months, but we have ventured on several initiatives such as the Digital Prevention Surveillance Platform - To face the challenges of online learning risks for children away from schools and design interventions around them. Post pandemic school safety management systems and platform for school campuses And other work and gathering places. As we progress, we will leverage big data and machine learning and process , our early childhood model.
Meghana Kambham, Founder, Care N Grow- School health
Educational Background
MBBS – Andhra medical college, Vishakhapatnam Social Entrepreneurship- Stanford GSB Social impact studies – INSEAD Currently pursuing MBA from the Indian School of Business
Care N Grow- School health
An award-winning THUB INCUBATED technology start-up with 21 member team. The company raised initial seed and angel rounds of funding and envisions to bring affordable, non-invasive preventive health, wellness, and behaviour change into children at an early age sustainably enabled by technology.
What Defines her Work and Activity?
• Tenacity to pursue
• Vision and Execution (Hands-on Approach)
• Inspiration and Communication
Other Interests
Adventure sports, Travelling & Affordable Fashion