Meet The Team - Sally Williams

Balancing work and personal life can be difficult. This is especially true if you have a demanding job like Sally Williams.

Sally is the Project Manager for Sierra Leone’s 117 Call Center and she leads a nation-wide multi-disciplinary 44-man team of District Coordinators, Project Coordinators, Administrative Support and Technical Consultants and the entire staff at the call center in Freetown. While being a project manager extraordinaire during the day, she is still able to find time daily for her passion, fitness, and exercise. 
Sally believes that teamwork is a large part of the reason she is successful in her role and can find time to ensure work/life balance. She relies on all members of her team to perform well in their individual roles and work together to accomplish the goals set for the team and because they’re successful in this, she is able to focus on strategic initiatives that have moved the 117 Call Center forward. Some of these strategic initiatives include transitioning the 117 Call Center from an ebola emergency hotline to a surveillance platform and the 117 Call Center rebranding efforts.

Sally receiving her Team of the Quarter certificate

She recognizes the fact that her team’s dedication and efforts are a key factor in achieving their goals and getting some of the accolades and milestones they are celebrating. Her team’s dedicated work is paying off. In Quarter 2 of 2019, Sally’s team was voted the winner of ‘’Team of the Quarter,’ award,’ one of eHA’s ways of recognizing teamwork, having fulfilled certain criteria-including outstanding performance, innovation, and quality, during the course of a given quarter.

“My role is a challenging but thrilling one. I have an affinity for teamwork. The favorite part of my job is interacting with my team in the districts because they are the ones in the field that go day-to-day out in the community spreading the message of 117. Their dedication is priceless.”

— Sally Williams

“When Sally is around us, you would hardly tell who is the boss. She mixes well but knows how to get us to do a good job. Her positive attitude towards us motivates us to work harder for best results.”

— Maseray Sesay, Project Assistant, 117 Call Center project

Sally works well with everybody, both within the 117 Call Center team and the eHA team as a whole, and is an inspiration to all. She is always encouraging to others and makes others feel comfortable enough to communicate openly and honestly with her. She works collaboratively, allowing everyone to bring their strengths and motivates them to identify and work on areas where they need to get stronger.

Sally loves teamwork but is also passionate about serving in an organization or team that shares her vision. Like eHA’s mission, she finds joy in serving underserved communities, and this is what makes her go the extra mile as a member of the #eHA team.

Sally with some members of her team

Sally bringing her passion to the workplace, leading fitness activities during our employee engagement events

“I love an organization that is dedicated to helping the underserved population. eHealth Africa is also a family-oriented workplace and that was appealing, especially when one is already far away from home. Knowing that our services to the community do not go unnoticed, excites me the most. Although we have trying times, the day to day challenges motivates me to do more!”

— Sally

Meet the Team - Maryam Haruna

What do you do when you have to get 30 people to 25 destinations?

We don’t know but Maryam Haruna does.

Maryam Haruna works with the operations team at our Kano campus as the Senior Associate in charge of travel. Here is how she works traveling and accommodation miracles for our staff coming in and out of base locations on a daily basis.

1. Be prepared, even in your sleep

Keeping track of travels is no mean feat! Sometimes, demands for tickets come at odd times and require urgent attention. Maryam’s strategy is to have her work tools on her at all times so that she can access and verify information and respond to travel requests. Of course, this is slightly easier for her because she used to be a Project Field Officer (PFO). Before joining the operations team, Maryam worked on several field tracking and disease surveillance projects and this experience helps her to anticipate and mitigate the challenges of field staff who require her support.

2. Think fast but pay attention to detail

In Maryam’s line of work, it is all too easy to mix up information about who is going where and when. She prevents this with her keen eye for details and her best friend, Google Calendar! Her calendar is one of her most priceless tools and she uses it to manage her time and keep track of appointments and deadlines.

Maryam at work

3. Communicate frequently and clearly

There will always be changes and last-minute developments to accommodation and travel bookings. Sometimes, flights can get delayed for hours leading to changes in pick-up and drop-off arrangements. Maryam has to ensure that she shares information with the fleet team, the staff member and any other stakeholders as soon as possible.

4. Reward yourself

After a long day, she congratulates herself with a pat on the back and a bowl of frozen mango slices.

Meet the Team - Masud Abdullahi

Masud Abdullahi is the face of eHealth Africa at the Katsina Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

As office manager, Masud makes sure that our polio eradication partners, who utilize the EOC have access to all amenities including steady electricity and internet connectivity at all times so that Routine Immunization reports and data from Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIAs) can be promptly reviewed and acted upon.

He has been the Office Manager at the  Katsina EOC for three and a half years now but insists that every day feels like the first day that he resumed. He is still in awe of the time and efforts that go into polio eradication and surveillance.  In addition to managing his eight-person team, he supervises how the assets and supplies that are deployed to the EOC are used. He represents eHA at meetings, builds and maintains relationships with external stakeholders and serves as eHA’s liaison person in Katsina state. 

Masud’s driving force is to never be the weak link in any organization or team. This mindset has helped him evolve from being just a boss to a leader who leads by example. He is especially proud of his team and in his eyes, his greatest achievement is that he is able to lead and build the capacity of his high-performing team so that they can support the organization's objectives and initiatives.

Despite his quiet exterior, he is very adventurous and curious about other places and cultures. He satisfies this curiosity by traveling and watching movies.

“I am proud of how far I have come. Since I started working at eHA, I have gained several skills from the numerous trainings that the organization has organized. I have learned how to use digital tools and solutions to support polio eradication activities such as mapping and microplan development. This has increased the value that I add to our work and my potential to be an asset to any other organization. The work at eHA is very rewarding. Last year, the EOC was a command center for Cerebrospinal Meningitis, Cholera, and Yellow Fever outbreaks and I am glad that I contributed to those efforts, in some capacity”

— Masud Abdullahi

Meet the Team - Mohamed Sulaiman Kamara

Meet Mohamed Sulaiman Kamara, a die-hard Arsenal fan and the Chief Accountant in our Sierra Leone office!

Mohamed joined eHealth Africa (eHA) as a Project Accountant in 2017 and was promoted to this current position after consistent hard work and excellent performance. Mohamed has always worked closely with his team to ensure that they are working towards their team goals and the organization’s overall goals.

Mohamed’s role is a challenging but exciting one, he and his team primarily support all projects by ensuring their accounting and finance processes and procedures are in line with best practices. He ensures the books are closed on a monthly basis in compliance with regulatory standards and makes sure that all the i’s are dotted and t’s crossed for audits. Mohammed also guides and mentors the project accountants, he provides technical support to them when needed and ensures his team remains high performing.

For him, the most rewarding part of his job is the challenges. These challenges help him think critically and innovatively to come up with solutions. Mohammed also enjoys working with diverse teams that include partners and stakeholders, they ensure that no two days are the same at eHA.

In addition to his love and passion for Accounting and Arsenal, Mohammed loves reading motivational books and listening to business news.

My Internship at eHealth Africa Helped me Find my Path

My name is Juliana Jacob and I am a Helpdesk associate with the IT Engineering and Operations team.  I studied Mass Communication at Kogi State University and I am currently studying to earn my Masters in Public Relations at Bayero University, Kano. Up until January 2018 when I became an intern with the Helpdesk/ Network Operating Center at eHealth Africa, all I could think about was pursuing a career that would put me in the limelight and make me a household name.

Everything changed during my National Youth Service year in 2016. I worked at the Nassarawa Broadcasting Service (NBS) as a Radio/TV presenter but I had the opportunity to participate in a project as a data collector/ enumerator. I visited settlements in very remote and hard-to-reach locations and saw first-hand the deplorable state of health care in those communities. Many health facilities were dilapidated and had no vaccines or medicines. I decided there and then that I had to play my own part to improve healthcare for the people in such communities.

Someone told me about an eHealth Africa internship placement. I was immediately interested because eHA was a NGO and I knew it would give me the opportunity to touch lives in some way. I am not sure what I expected but when I found out that I would be placed with the Helpdesk/ Network Operating Center, I was worried. I didn’t see any similarities between my background in Mass Communications or my prior experience as an on-air person and working in Information Technology (IT). I had very little knowledge about IT or what it entailed, prior to this internship. My only experience with IT was a course that I took as an undergraduate student.

My time as an intern was the most challenging experience of my adult life but it was also the most enlightening. The Helpdesk is perhaps the busiest unit in the entire organization because it supports the delivery of all the projects in some capacity. We make sure that every team member has all the digital tools that they need to deliver their results. The helpdesk also functions as a customer call center and provides support, information, and solutions to eHA staff and partners. Working at the helpdesk helped me to internalize and exhibit the eHA values especially innovative problem-solving. In no time, I found that I had gained valuable skills such as interpersonal communications, and time and task management.

I have become familiar with IT terms and concepts—that I never thought I would encounter. I have fallen in love with IT and what is so amazing that I did not have an IT or tech background. Everything I know about IT and network operations, I learned from my team at eHealth Africa. Not only were they patient with me, but they also recommended several courses and seminars for my own personal development.

At first, I didn’t think that I could really be of any help to the communities with poor healthcare if I was not on the field or if I was not in the medical profession but my internship with the Helpdesk proved to me that everyone can do something to improve the quality of healthcare for vulnerable populations or communities. At eHealth Africa, everyone brings their strengths to the table and contributes their quota to achieve our mission and vision. We have staff who are not medical doctors or nurses but contribute to the improvement of health service delivery through their expertise in software development, logistics, construction or communications.

In February 2018, I became a full-time staff at eHA. One of the things I love most about eHealth Africa is that it focuses on applied knowledge rather than theoretical knowledge. To a large extent, what matters is getting the job done and not what you studied in school. This is why an intern with a Mass Communications background can become a full-time staff in one of the most technical fields in the organization.

My internship experience helped me to discover what I truly want to do career-wise. Even though my masters is in Public Relations, I have decided to pursue a career in IT. I am currently taking several online courses to attain some certifications in Information and Communications Technology (ICT). There are so many intersections between PR and ICT and I cannot wait to explore them.

I am truly grateful to my team and to eHA for this opportunity. If you are looking for an organization with bright, progressive people who are passionate about transforming health systems in Africa, eHA is definitely the place for you.

Meet the Team - Gift Ogbaje

Meet Gift Ogbaje, our “Director of First Impressions”. She is a security associate/ receptionist with the Operations unit at our Kano office in Nigeria.

She joined eHealth Africa 2 years ago. Gift’s primary responsibility is visitor management and she is the first person that our visitors meet when they walk through our doors. Gift takes this responsibility very seriously and has made a conscious effort to improve her interpersonal skills so that guests can feel welcome.

At eHA, our strongest asset is our people. Gift embodies our values here at eHA and has shown a remarkable aptitude for innovative problem solving by creating unique and workable solutions to problems within her team. One of her major successes was her simple solution to the traffic during on-site events with external participants. In place of the cumbersome process of generating and printing individual visitors tags, Gift created tags for the training which she could print ahead of time; as well as a register where each participant could enter their details. Her solution reduced the traffic by over 85% and made work much faster.

“At eHealth Africa, I am able to utilize my strengths such as accuracy and attention to detail, optimally. I collect and handle invoices from vendors, which I forward to the finance team for payments. My attention to detail aided by proper documentation has helped to reduce errors and delays in processing payments. I have also gained new skills in time management and multitasking which enable me to perform multiple tasks efficiently, without getting flustered.”

— Gift Ogbaje

We are proud to have Gift as part of our team, if you’re ever visiting our office in Kano, be sure to say a warm hello.

Meet The Team - Abdulai Dumbuya

Meet Abdulai Dumbuya, Senior Network Administrator,  in our Sierra Leone office.

Abdulai has been part of the eHealth Africa (eHA) team for approximately 4 years. He is a team lead and go-to person for issues relating to networking, troubleshooting,  systems backups, the configuration of network application systems, maintenance and administration of Wide Area Network (WAN) technologies and the execution of network disaster recovery plan.

He also the deputy to the ICT Manager and performs administrative duties for the ICT team, including assisting with the preparation of annual ICT budget and procurement for the department.

“eHA’s approach to serving underserved communities in Africa is one of my motivations for working with the organization.”

— Abdulai Dumbuya

One of Abdulai’s biggest contributions to eHA is reducing the operational cost of the 117 Call Center by over 50%. He achieved this by moving the 117 call center ICT infrastructure from an external provider to the Emergency Operations Center  (EOC), under the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS).

We are glad to have Abdulai on our team!

Meet the Team - Sylvia Kalley

Meet Sylvia Kalley, our Grants and Contracts Senior Manager,  who works in our Sierra Leone office!

Sylvia joined eHealth Africa (eHA) approximately 2 years ago. She plays an integral role at eHA, as she supports the entire project and program portfolio of eHA, across our country offices. She leads the grants and contracts department and is ultimately responsible for the effective management of the full life cycle of projects, from pre-award to close-out.

She manages a team of four, who all contribute to ensuring that the Grants Management office meets the requirements of our clients. When Sylvia first joined the team, she focused on identifying gaps with regards to Grants Management and better internal controls for meeting donor requirements and fostering accountability, in her first year. Now, in her second year, she leads her team to address those gaps and create solutions for better grants and contracts management.

Sylvia’s biggest contribution has been the formalizing of the Grants Management Office including the establishment of the New Business Development Department. Having a formalized office allows for a one to one ratio between a member of our department and each contract within the eHA portfolio. This oversight allows the organization to meet the requirements of each of its contracts as well as improve our credibility with our clients.

Sylvia is particularly proud of her achievements in streamlining the Award Set Up Process for the organization. Before the establishment of this process, visibility regarding signed contracts was quite limited to a few. In collaboration with the larger Finance & Administration team, they created a thorough award set up and project extension notice which provides key information to set up a project in their accounting system once the official contract is signed.

We are happy and proud to have Sylvia as part of our eHealth Africa team.

Would you like to be a part of our team? Click here to find out more.

Technical Career Development at eHealth Africa

Health systems, especially in within Africa, face the challenge of delivering high-quality services to an ever-growing population with limited resources. This has necessitated the development of innovative approaches to expand access to healthcare to larger numbers of people, even in the most difficult-to-reach locations. The role of electronic and mobile technologies, ranging from simple SMS messaging for reporting and complex information and data management systems for studying patterns in disease prevalence, in the transformation of healthcare delivery has become more evident.

eHealth Africa was founded in 2009, on the belief that adapting technology to meet local needs and settings, is the key to delivering better health services. A decade later and with projects such as the Geo-Referenced Infrastructure and Demographic Data for Development (GRID3) and solutions such as LoMIS Suite and Gather under our belt, eHealth Africa is an established leader in the Global Health Informatics (GHI) space.  Our approach to technology is that systems designed in proximity to the environment in which they are needed are stronger, more effective, and help close the gap between design and use.

Our GHI program spans several technical areas including software development, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) & Analytics, Information Technology & Engineering Operations, Business Analysis and DevOps Engineering. We therefore constantly seek to connect and leverage our work across focus areas while attracting and retaining the best employees. Through a more deliberate focus on employee development, we focus on building and keeping an outstanding Africa-based team to execute our work.

There’s always time to laugh when you love your job

Some members of our GHI team share some of the ways that eHA supports the development of careers in tech.

Evance, Senior Software Developer in Software & Solutions Development

“Working at eHealth Africa is by far, the most rewarding career experience I have had. I joined eHA two years ago and before that, I had several years of experience developing software for customer-oriented companies. At eHealth Africa, the focus is on saving lives in the most constrained environments in Africa. Not only have I worked on many projects, all requiring different technical specifications and I have done so in three countries namely, Guinea, Liberia, and Nigeria, using some of the coolest technologies available in our age such as Big/Sensitive data management, Offline- aware apps, Biometric identification). Creating software for various contexts and needs, motivates and challenges me to be more creative and to try new methods. I have grown as a software developer because of the work that I do at eHA. It is an amazing feeling for me to see how the codes I write contribute to improving healthcare among underserved populations.”

— Evance

Sandra, Senior Business Analyst in Software & Solutions Development

“As a Senior Business Analyst with the GHI program, I work in the capacity of a project manager, responsible for planning and executing a project. I am also responsible for the requirements analysis and documentation, specifications, development cycle and execution of a variety of GHI projects. eHA has provided me and my colleagues with a platform to excel. I have been given way more opportunities in just 1 year working with eHA, than in the two years I spent working with other organizations. At eHealth Africa, there are a lot of opportunities for career growth within the organization, irrespective of your tech inclination. I joined eHA as a Business Analyst in 2017 and by the end of 2018, I had been promoted twice. I have worked on many projects and last year, I was made the project lead for an eLearning initiative for employees and clients. Thanks to eHealth Africa, I and other colleagues were trained and have received the Projects in Controlled Environments (PRINCE2) certification, which is invaluable for a career in project management. The organization expects great results from their staff but what is most important is that eHA pushes and supports us to achieve our personal development and career goals.”

— -Sandra

Oluwafemi, Associate Manager, DevOps Engineering

“DevOps is a growing culture which was born out of the need to roll out incremental changes to software several times daily. In the past, it was not scalable or automated; now with new technologies in cloud computing, automation and deployment, development and operations process are easier and more cost-cutting.
At eHA, we use open source technologies to solve health-related challenges in contexts which are constantly evolving. It is very important for the solutions that we create to move from writing to pushing to production within minutes. DevOps simply eliminates the barrier between the people who develop software and those who operate it, allowing the development of solutions that integrate functionality with enhanced usage and minimal error. I joined eHA about 2 years ago as a DevOps engineer and in that time, I’ve worked with the team on the best and most cost-effective way to evolve and improve our solutions at a faster pace.
The best part of working in eHA, for me, is that there’s always room to learn and grow. I am continuously exchanging knowledge and learning about the latest technology trends to keep up with the ever-growing DevOps culture.”

— Oluwafemi

Detan, Associate Manager in Geographic Information Systems

“There is a tendency for techies to be somewhat distant from the clients who use their software or solutions. eHA allows members of the GHI team to be seconded to other eHA offices in Berlin, Sierra Leone, and Liberia and to clients in different parts of the continent (Chad, Cameroon, Niger) in order to ensure that the team is fully embedded with clients and fellow technical consultants. This provides a deeper grasp of the context and increases empathy towards the client and the work that we do, making work enjoyable, irrespective of the inherent challenges and risks in implementing a project.
In addition, jobs roles within the organization and division allow for flexibility and adaptability to suit project requirements and career goals. For example, business analysts may double as project managers on a small project, and there are opportunities for project managers and UI/UX designers to transition into product management roles if they are interested in such career paths, while technical leads may also double as technical project managers if need be. Members of the GHI team attend and plan conferences, hackathons and other meetups within the technology industry. This helps our team stay abreast with new trends in our field so they can improve themselves, and deliver better results.”

— Detan

eHealth Africa is committed not just to delivering data-driven solutions that address systems-level issues across Africa, but to providing career and learning opportunities to tech enthusiasts. We are passionate about sharing our knowledge, experience, and skills with the next generation in order to inspire positive change. eHealth Africa frequently hosts tech meetups in Kano and Berlin to bring together individuals who are interested in developing technological tools for development.

If you are interested in pursuing a career in tech or global health informatics with an established leader in the field, visit the careers page on our website to keep up with internship or job opportunities.