[100 Emerging Women Leaders] How this first-generation entrepreneur is making healthcare more accessible

Rima Sunit’s life took an unexpected turn when her son was diagnosed with a medical condition in 2017. She was working as a chartered accountant at that time, which meant having a busy schedule. 

What eventually became critical was her son’s well-being. With this, she also realised she wanted to change career paths. Her vision was to start something of her own, which would give her ample freedom and more importantly, time. 

As she contemplated what to do next, Sunit visited medical centres for her son’s consultations. Here, she noticed how simple visits would turn into an elaborate process. While some struggled with accessing digital copies of medical documents, others would work with meeting practitioners or getting tests done at one centre. 

Attempting to fix this gap piqued her interest in healthcare aggregation. This eventually led her to set up Healthnovo, a hybrid healthcare and diagnostics startup, in 2020, along with Abhay Deshpande and Gautam Thakker. 

As a first-generation entrepreneur, this was new to Sunit, who hails from a working-class Marathi household. Growing up in such an environment instilled in her a need for a good education and financial independence. 

“Chartered accountancy was the only course which required minimum investment but could offer maximum returns,” she adds. This intrigued her, which is why she pursued the same. 

During her corporate career, Sunit always felt like there was more she could achieve. Doing something in the field of psychology was always on her mind. So, in the same year that she founded Healthnovo, she also pursued a postgraduate diploma in Psychology and Counselling Skills from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. 

“At Healthnovo, we are creating a network of clinics, which offer affordable and quality primary healthcare services,” she says.  

Its franchise-based platform, First Mile clinic provides services like primary screening among various other healthcare-related services. At present, it has eight such clinics active in Mumbai. 

The name ‘First Mile’ is indicative of a user’s proximity to the nearest clinic, she says. “From your residence, within the first mile of the radius you have the option of quality and affordable healthcare services at one point, '' she explains. 

Sunit is the youngest member of her team. To her, working with people who are at least 20 years old can sometimes be a challenge. “At times, I feel that taking inputs from a younger team member and that too from a woman, is difficult for certain people,” she says.

She does not let this affect her process. “When the work fetches the desired result, the other person gets to see that age or gender does not matter," she says.

This is how she has learnt to deal with conscious and unconscious biases over the years. 

As for advice that she would give women leaders, Sunit says taking the first step to shape your life is crucial.

“Women generally tend to push themselves behind to fulfil others’ dreams… But if they seek help from their friends, family or fellow professionals, and take that first step, it will be a success story for everyone,” she concludes.