Happy Ghosh is a health justice activist, political organizer, biomedical engineer, and global health researcher committed to ensuring access to holistic healthcare globally. She is the Chief Product Officer and co-founder of Kalia Health, which is an early-stage startup company dedicated to improving maternal health for women and birthing people globally. Their home-based, point-of-care diagnostic test for preeclampsia aims to increase access to care for millions.
- Can you tell us a little about your background and your company?
- My background is in biomedical engineering, political science, and global health. I am a graduate of Boston University and Duke University. My work is driven by a sense of justice and I am committed to ensuring access to healthcare globally. I have experience with developing and assessing medical devices for low resource settings including an ultrasound gel for use in low resource countries and lateral flow technology for assessing traumatic brain injury.
- Kalia Health is a health justice, biotech startup that is developing a preeclampsia diagnostic test capable of providing accurate and early diagnosis, which addresses barriers to care for under-resourced communities. This at-home technology would significantly reduce maternal, fetal, and neonatal mortality while improving access to care and health outcomes for women and birthing people who are uninsured or underinsured and live in underserved areas. This test is Kalia Health’s first technology, and the startup plans to develop tools for other conditions and service delivery models to reach patients that cannot otherwise seek regular care.
- What inspired you to start your business?
- I was looking for a meaningful and impactful way to combine my background as an engineer and global health research. I wanted to focus on developing and implementing technology in low resource settings and wanted to follow the product through the entire life cycle rather than one specific segment. These opportunities were rare, so I decided to create the opportunity for myself.
- How did you create awareness for your brand?
- We haven’t focused much on brand awareness as we are still in a product development stage. We have tried to develop preeclampsia awareness through our blog and community events, such as a community baby shower we hosted with a local (Durham, NC) non-profit, Maame.
- What strategies helped you secure funding and scale your business?
- We have bootstrapped our funding by casting a wide net and consistently apply for opportunities and attend events. We took advantage of student status when we had it and won many student entrepreneur grants and pitch competitions. We are currently running a crowdfunding campaign. We have participated in many incubators and accelerators and continue to stay connected to the communities we have built through these programs, which opens more windows for funding. Staying persistent is key.
- What have been your biggest successes so far?
- I consider winning the Social Justice Innovation Award one of our biggest successes. It evidenced that others could not only see the value in our mission and ethos but found it worth funding. Of course, we’ve also met several milestones with the technology itself including developing custom antibodies, developing a functional prototype, and launching our biomarker study.
- What challenges have you faced, and how did you overcome them?
- Our greatest challenge has been securing funding. As young researchers, we lacked the credential history that is required for federal research grant funding and, as an early-stage startup, we are too early for many investor opportunities. We have found advisors and clinical partners to join our team and add expertise. We have participated in many pitch competitions, accelerator programs, and applied for and won many private grants to piece meal the nearly $2M in funding we have raised to date. Currently, we are running a crowdfunding campaign to further out fundraising efforts and open the investment opportunity to a broader community.
- What are your plans for the future?
- Right now, our focus is to finish developing our preeclampsia diagnostic and get it out to market. We have ideas for other diagnostic tools for pregnant folks that we’d like to develop in the future as well as some ideas on how to impact the community and ethically run a company (once we have a team of more than 3).
- What advice would you give to aspiring female entrepreneurs?
- There are no “shoulds”. Make up your own rules grounded in your values.
- Find community among women and build healthy relationships.
- It’s easier (and better for your stamina) to start with the allies than persuade the skeptics.
- What are your top three tips for entrepreneurial success?
- This journey is full of ups and downs. Do your best to stay even keeled.
- Don’t do it alone. Find a co-founder or team that you align with.
- Be receptive to learning, but take stock of many perspectives before following any one bit of advice (my tips included ;)).
- Who are five people who inspire you the most, and why?
- My closest friend, Konyin- she’s brilliant, passionate, deeply understands people and humanity, and has a lot of integrity.
- Denali, my co-founder- without her none of this would be happening. She is the embodiment of entrepreneurial spirit and I have been moved by her zest for life.
- The Durham for All community organizers (there are too many to pick one and I am inspired by them all)- they are kind and inclusive, curious, and thoughtful, innovative and driven, and have nuanced political analyses that explain injustice.
- David Bronner, CEO of Dr. Bronner’s- I admire the company structure (CEO wage caps, profit sharing, political advocacy).
- My mother- Rupi Kaur said it best, “i am the first woman in my lineage with freedom of choice. to craft her future whichever way i choose. say what is on my mind when i want to. without the whip of the lash. there are hundreds of firsts i am thankful for. that my mother and her mother and her mother did not have the privilege of feeling. what an honor. to be the first woman in the family who gets to taste her desires. no wonder i am starving to fill up on this life. i have generations of bellies to eat for. the grandmothers must be howling with laughter. huddled around a mud stove in the afterlife. sipping on steaming glasses of milky masala chai. how wild it must be for them to see one of their own living so boldly.”
- What are your favourite inspirational or motivational quotes?
- Getting to the top has an unfortunate tendency to persuade people that the system is OK after all. -Alain de Botton.
- Where can our readers connect with you?
