Podcasts · Financially Incorrect

From Debt Collector to Healthcare Manufacturer | Simon Maina

31 Jul 2026 · 1 h 16 min

Every quarter, Simon Maina's company manufactures nearly 300,000 obstetric drapes across Africa. The surprising part is not the scale. It's the economics.Njembuma operates on margins of roughly 3%, selling affordable medical products designed to detect postpartum hemorrhage, one of the leading causes of maternal deaths across the continent.Before healthcare manufacturing, Simon spent years in debt collection. Then COVID disrupted everything. What started as a temporary pivot into PPE imports eventually became a social enterprise serving hospitals in nine African countries and Yemen.In this episode Simon breaks down what it really takes to build a mission-driven company in Africa: raising capital without investors, surviving cash-flow crises, navigating government procurement, selling personal assets to buy machinery, and balancing social impact with commercial reality.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Access all our links in one place: https://lnk.bio/Financially_Inc💹 Ready to start trading?🧑🏫 Learn how to trade: https://lnk.bio/fxpesa📲 Open a demo trading account: https://bit.ly/DemoAccountYT 📈 Start live trading: https://bit.ly/LiveAccountYT---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Episode Chapters00:00 Intro02:14 Simon's early career in accounting07:36 Building a debt collection business14:12 When COVID changed everything20:05 Discovering the PPE opportunity26:47 The hospital moment that sparked the idea33:21 Building the first obstetric drapes40:18 Landing the first major order46:52 Why the margins are only 3%53:11 Selling assets to keep the business alive58:34 Scaling production across Africa01:04:27 Working with governments and NGOs01:09:42 Cash flow, manufacturing and expansion01:13:38 The future of Njembuma

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