Connecting wider healthcare ecosystem to improve accurate patient information.
At a time when accessing quality healthcare is becoming increasingly difficult, Dr Yaseen Khan and Dr Mohammed Dalwai identified a critical gap in the system: the need for reliable, accurate clinical information at the point of care. To address this, they developed EMGuidance, a platform that connects clinicians, medical schemes, industry partners, and government to support better clinical decision-making across Africa.
In simple terms, EMGuidance is a healthcare professional app built on three key pillars: clinical decision support, offering local high-quality guidance for daily use; compliance and learning, providing accessible CPD and professional education; and e-prescribing, enabling safe, compliant digital prescription tools.
The idea behind EMGuidance began modestly, long before the platform became a central part of South Africa’s clinical ecosystem. Dr Yaseen Khan, co-founder of EMGuidance recalls how it all started.
“The company began as a non-profit project focused on building simple mobile apps for doctors,” he explains. “As usage grew, it became clear that we needed to scale and sustain the initiative.”
That shift required a major leap.
“That led to EMGuidance being spun out as a private company with support from early-stage investors,” he says. “In the beginning, Mohammed and I were working night shifts in emergency units and building the business during the day. It was tough, but the mission kept us going.”
He notes that the urgency behind the platform came from lived experience on the ground.
“Every shift made it clear how difficult it was to access reliable, localised information at the point of care. The clinical knowledge existed, but it was scattered, outdated or hard to find,” Dr Khan explains.
He says they set out to close this gap.
“We wanted to make it easier for healthcare professionals to make confident, evidence-based decisions within the realities of our healthcare system.”
Today, EMGuidance reaches nearly every hospital, clinic and town in South Africa, with a clinical search taking place almost every second. The platform has been endorsed by the National Department of Health as a central source of clinical information, and its systems are being integrated into hospital, practice and third-party software across the country. As the company continued to grow, support from the MultiChoice Innovation Fund (MIF) became an important part of its journey, providing the financial backing and strategic guidance that helped strengthen its operations and expand its impact in the healthcare sector.
Dr Khan credits the MultiChoice Innovation Fund with supporting the company at a crucial stage of its development.
“This fund has been nothing but transformative,” he says. “It placed us in rooms we wouldn’t usually be in. Through the programme, we had access to senior leaders who were willing to share their experience, challenge our thinking a little, and help us navigate some of the tougher decisions.”
Bonisiwe Dlamini, transformation and CSI senior manager at MultiChoice, explains that this impact is by design.
“The Fund bridges the ‘missing middle’ gap by providing financing to businesses that are often overlooked by traditional lenders,” she says.
These entrepreneurs typically have validated concepts and viable ideas but lack the collateral or financial history required by traditional institutions. Beyond financing, the MultiChoice Enterprise Development Trust provides post-investment management and capacity-building support to help these businesses grow sustainably.
Launching a tech company in the healthcare space comes with its own complexity, and Dr Khan reflects on one of their toughest challenges.
“Finding a sustainable commercial model in a space that feels like a public good,” he says. “Healthcare professionals see the value immediately, but the budgets and incentives are fragmented.”
He adds that learning to balance purpose and sustainability has been one of their most important lessons.
Looking back, Dr Khan says EMGuidance was never just a business idea, it was a response to problems he and Dr Dalwai saw every day.
“EMGuidance came from seeing the same problems every day and knowing that they could be solved through technology,” he says. “At some point, you stop waiting for someone else to fix it. You take responsibility and start building.”
