My name is Sofie Staelraeve and I started dashplus in 2016, after seeing so many good health professionals and companies struggling to find their entrepreneurs journey: how to do great things for patients; how to find connection with each other and share goals; how to stay tuned on new trends in the health-wood of possibilities; how to grow your idea into scalable business?

It struck me.

More than 25 years ago, my father, a self-employed gardener, got a heavy stroke. In the years to follow, we got to know all aspects of the health system. His handicap had a huge impact, not only on his life, but also on that of my mom, my sisters and me. And we noticed a lot of health workers travelling on their island. No support, no openness and -at that time- certainly no digital aids.

Times have changed now.

In healthcare as digital makes it possible to open knowledge, support cooperation, and make health more patient driven. Quality of life is as important as a long life. Health is the fastest growing start up ecosystem next to the financial sector. And mature companies use new channels and new partners. Innovation is finally there.

Times have also changed for me. After my phd in political sciences, I’ve been working for several years in the health business ecosystem: first in education, then as a policy maker and until 2016 with many small businesses and corporate organisations. I met a lot of ‘health explorers’ as I call them, driven by their will to do good, but lacking support, time and often also in-dept knowledge of the trends and parties in the health ecosystem. That struck me again. We have to move faster if we really want to deliver better outcomes for patients.