Interviewed by Jules Lavallee
Jules Lavallee is a Celebrity Writer in LA. She covers celebrities, entrepreneurs, global leaders, authors, and business leaders.
Jote brings over 20-Years of experience as a customer-centric IT executive with proven outcomes of influencing, shaping, and executing enterprise strategies that take data and translate into meaningful digital transformations which enable C-Suite business executives to incorporate new insights into their decision-making processes. He is a proven industry thought leader with many years in senior leadership roles with strategic accountabilities in the areas of Data Monetization, Enterprise Data Architecture and Digital Transformation capabilities. In addition to being a C-Suite strategic advisor, a board executive, and a social entrepreneur. Jote is a connector of individual strengths to make dreams come true by approaching every interaction as an opportunity to inspire others and look for what is possible versus focusing on the problem. He is a Lifetime-Learner, a Coach and a Mentor focused on fostering a culture of curiosity to inspire entrepreneurial spirit, innovation and co-creation in order to deliver meaningful business value in global and matrixed organizations. Jote is also the Co-Founder of DiaspoCare, a social enterprise healthcare start-up whose mission is to bring the capacity to individuals who are away to take care of their loved ones’ needs for medicine and healthcare services from anywhere in the world through technology and advocacy.
You have 20-years of experience shaping and executive enterprise strategies. Tell us about your background.
I come from a technology background both academically and professionally. As I progressed in my IT leadership career, I began to cultivate an interest and passion around how data and analytics provide critical insights into pressing business problems that C-Suite executives often struggle to address. For example, as an IT strategist and advisor, I often spend time with healthcare and other industry executives to help them develop new business or revenue models that are powered by digital platforms, data, and analytics. I use my experiences in digital platforms, data ecosystems, and storytelling to help business executives see new possibilities on how they can grow or transform their businesses.
As a global thought leader, what are the trends you are seeing today?
The biggest global trend shaper today is the COVID-19 pandemic which has certainly changed the face of the healthcare industry let alone the transportation, supply chain, distribution, manufacturing, hospitality, travel, and tourism sectors. We are already seeing expanding trends in healthcare delivery models such as the growing ecosystems of Telehealth platforms. This is because governments, policymakers, and healthcare organizations across the globe have responded to the pandemic by rapidly implementing digital health capabilities. As a result, it is clear that the pace of digital transformation has accelerated across governmental and private institutions. The other trend is how we think about our individual health journeys and experiences – the pandemic is challenging today’s status quo of in-person healthcare delivery model by forcing care providers to prioritize a digital way of providing health services throughout the entirety of our individual health journey. This means how we interact with doctors and clinicians, how we reach and find local pharmacies and clinics, and how we search for, find, and receive our medications, therapies, procedures, and how we pay for all these healthcare services will dramatically and permanently change.
You are a C-Suite strategic advisor, what are your strengths?
As an IT strategist, my core strengths lay in my ability to communicate visions and strategies that executives and decision-makers can rally around. This requires that my ideas be cutting edge, my facts be indisputable and my arguments and talking points be capable of holding their ground. I also understand that selling a strategic vision requires more than presenting facts and figures and that a vision I present will not go far without a demonstration of my credibility as a trusted advisor and leader. So, I had an acute awareness that orienting myself towards cultivating my credibility is an indispensable prerequisite to my taking on the task of persuading C-Suite executives to buy into a vision. This self-awareness taught me several things, among which were that the strength of my leadership character would be measured by my ability to be a connector by building bridges and relationships and that the trust of my stakeholders and partners was my most important asset as an advisor and of much greater value than my subject matter expertise.
You are currently a Vice President of Engineering at Rally Health, Inc. How is Rally Health, Inc, impacting the world?
I am an impact and outcome-driven leader and my professional job enables me to live out my purpose in a meaningful way. At Rally Health, I am part of a community that shares a common belief in providing people with personalized, data-driven health care information and recommendations that help improve outcomes and lower costs for everyone. Simply put, we are a mission-driven company, guided by our founding mission to put health in the hands of the individual.
You are a Connector of individual strengths to make dreams come true. Share a few stories.
The gift of recognizing the value in individual talents was instilled in me at a very young age when I often assumed the team captain roles at neighborhood soccer matches. As a young boy, one of my favorite activities was to select players to build a winning soccer team by harnessing strength from the skills that each player would bring to the team. I understood very well what individual talents were required to play each position in a soccer match and how each player complemented one another to make a cohesive team. This passion has stayed with me where I now apply the same principles in my community and work settings to engage, inspire and build high-performing teams.
Tell us about DiaspoCare.
DiaspoCare is a digital healthcare platform connecting the African Diaspora to the pharmacists and clinicians that care for their families back home. Whether separated by thousands of miles or living in another city, our healthcare financing services give you the peace of mind that your funds are used as intended to deliver quality healthcare for your loved ones. To truly understand what DiaspoCare is about, consider the following scenarios:
- Imagine you have family members who live in a part of the world where basic medications are not affordable to 2/3 of people and needed medications are not available 60% of the time
- Imagine your family members live in communities where 12 of the most prescribed medicines cost 5-50x the international price
- Imagine the majority of the time the funds you send for your family’s health care expenses are diverted for other purposes because they are low-income earners and often spend 93% of their income on housing, food, transportation and utilities, leaving only 7% for medicines
- Imagine 80% of all pharmacies in the country where your families get their medications from lack an electronic inventory management system
- Imagine the majority of private clinics and specialists that care for your family lack electronic medical records
Essentially, our digital platform builds a support system for the entire community within the value chain. We have been testing and validating our business model in various African markets. We are happy to report that we have successfully tested our platform for customers in Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria. Our focus for 2021 will be to secure the funding required to scale our platform in these three markets through an aggressive marketing and customer acquisition process. If you are curious to learn how our platform works, take a look at this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAyfk6sqPcY
If you are inspired by our mission and you are interested to get involved with DiaspoCare, please get in touch with us at hello@diaspocare.com
You are an advocate for literacy with a deep passion for how technology innovations enable access to quality education for students in under-served schools and communities worldwide. Tell us about your initiatives.
Technology will continue to level the playing field between the Haves and the Have Nots when it comes to providing access to knowledge and information. In 2019, during my tenure as President of Books For Africa, I introduced an initiative called E-Books For Africa, a simple name for our next-level program that expands the organization’s simple mission to seize the opportunity of this modern, digitally connected world. Imagine the ability to collect, sort, and distribute books electronically to students of all ages in Africa. This will give us exponential power not only to end the book famine in Africa but also create an abundance of digital learning platforms for all ages, making books and other learning formats accessible at a whole new level. Last year, Books For Africa provided 650,000 digital books to students in African.
Tell us about Books for Africa and why it is so important to you?
Books For Africa remains the largest shipper of donated text and library books to the African continent, shipping over 51 million books to all 55 countries on the African continent since 1988. Last year alone, Books For Africa shipped 3.1 million books, valued at over $26.2 million, and 224 computers and e-readers containing over 650,000 digital books, to 28 African countries. More than $3.1 million was raised last year to ship these books to the students of Africa.
Want to be more involved with our mission to end the African book famine? Besides donating funds or books, please consider volunteering at one of our warehouses, attending an upcoming event, or becoming a member of one of our giving societies! https://www.booksforafrica.org/getting-involved.html
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