In recent years, the Healthcare consulting industry has seen a lot of expansion. Increased access to health insurance has resulted in increased demand for services, posing new obstacles for healthcare professionals. Healthcare consultancy aids businesses in navigating the industry’s frequent stumbling blocks. As a result, there’s a lot of demand for advice and consulting people to help providers deal with rising patient loads and new organizational issues.

Healthcare consultancy has effectively become an integral part of the healthcare system. These consultancies provide valuable guidance regarding the uprising issues in the healthcare system and help adapt to the shifts in it. The increasing demand for healthcare consultancies gave birth to many successful companies. One prominent name on that list is Nextzon Business Services Limited. Nextzon is a market consulting company that is focused on supporting organizations for remarkable success.

In an interview with Insights Care, Sir Macauley Atasie, the Managing Director and CEO of Nextzon, sheds light on the inception of his company, its values, and the ever-growing demand for healthcare consultancy services. Below are the highlights of the interview:

 Please brief our audience about Nextzon Business Services Limited, its values, and the key aspects of its stronghold within the healthcare consulting industry.

Nextzon Business Services Limited is an emerging market management consulting and enterprise development company inspired by a collective mission of building and transforming business enterprises for phenomenal success in the markets where they operate. We have strong conceptual and problem-solving skills, and we are enterprise builders. Hence, we see opportunities where other venturing players see obstacles.

We are driven by our RIIPE culture, which stands for ‘Responsibility, Innovation, Integrity, Passion, and Entrepreneurship’ – these values continually make us aspire, learn, and grow. We are responsible to our clients in delivering first-class services. We are innovative in developing new ways to solve client problems and accountable for our words and promises. We exhibit unparalleled zeal in serving our clients, and we adopt an entrepreneurial approach in the service of our clients and the building of our business.

Armed with a multidisciplinary team with over 60 years of combined experience, we have served a wide variety of value-adding engagements ranging from enterprise building among Nigeria’s emerging small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to corporate turnarounds for organizations spanning across different industries (Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals, Financial Services, FMCGs, and Regulatory Agencies), economic blueprint development, and policy formulation for various levels of government and regulators.

Some of our value offerings include but are not limited to are – Strategy Development, Corporate Planning and Project Management, Recruitment, IGR Expansion, Asset Mapping, Customer and Market Research, Technology Conceptualization and Development, SME Solutions, Performance Management, Corporate Governance Design, and Audit, Process Engineering and Automation, and Transaction Advisory.

 Tell us more about the services that make Nextzon stand out from the competition?

We offer a variety of value-adding services that support organizations to achieve success in a dynamic environment. Noteworthy of them is our Corporate Planning and Project Management Service. We pride ourselves as the best-in-class with several years of intervention experience, formulating and executing strategies across private and public sectors of the Nigerian economy. We have a robust understanding of the business environment at global, local, and industry levels.

Our understanding of the competitiveness and dynamism of the market means we can tailor corporate planning and project management solutions through unique designs and execution. This will include process reengineering and redesigning, automation conceptualization, advocacy and deployment, and people-oriented programs to provide a custom-made approach that would differentiate an organization from its competition and enhance the sustainability of culture, values, and performance in the long term.

 What is your opinion on the impact of the current pandemic on the global healthcare sector, and how has Nextzon fared during the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns?

As an entrepreneur that has gone through boom-and-bust business cycles, I understand what it feels like for companies during this period. The healthcare sector faced significant challenges during the pandemic, as medical practitioners around the globe were at extremely high risk of losing their lives. There was also global pressure on pharmaceutical companies to produce a vaccine. Hence the race started to manufacture the most effective vaccine and get it to the market in time.

The pandemic changed the way the world perceived medical services leading to the massive adoption and use of innovative technologies permitting doctors to remain in touch with their patients without meeting physically. For Nextzon in particular, we employed rigorous remote productivity tools and adopted an effective online communication and video conferencing tool for meetings and interactions with our clients. In addition:

• We went fully remote with our staff working from the comfort of their homes
• We became a more digitally-driven business
• We identified new business opportunities arising from the global disruption
• We built new technology-driven market solutions
• We worked with several healthcare companies to return their growth strategies

These readjustments to the new normal positioned our company to withstand the effects of the pandemic and fulfil job mandates from our clients.

 In your opinion, what could be the future of the healthcare consulting services sector post the pandemic? And how are you strategizing Nextzon’s operations for that future?

In my opinion, the key driver for the future of Healthcare Consulting is an advancement in research and development skills leveraging technological innovation in the entire healthcare value chain; as such, consultants need to expand their knowledge and skills in accessing risks, proposing relevant solutions, and innovations to better prepare their clients to be future proof.

The future of healthcare consulting lies in the integration of both top-notch technology as well as advanced techniques in clinical practice. The idea goes behind the need to make services as virtual as possible while leaving crucial health challenges to physical procedures and consultations. As a business consultancy firm, being able to provide advanced techniques in handling clinical operations that would not only save cost but provide instant health services to customers is key.

Integrating virtual meetings, planning, and implementations are some of the things we have mastered over the past year since this pandemic. Hence, we are adequately upskilling our resources in the wake of new realities to support our clients in the healthcare space to weather challenges now and in the future.

 As an established leader, what would be your advice to the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the healthcare consulting services sector?

There is a world of opportunities in the healthcare sector. The Healthcare Consulting sector has so many branches and opportunities in which one can provide consulting services. There are no restrictions as far as consulting is concerned, as long as world-class practices are observed, and quality standards are maintained.

My advice, examine holistically the entire value chain of the healthcare industry and seek an aspect that has a challenge that has not been solved, an issue that seems to need a solution, which you as an advisor can provide a solution to.

 How do you envision scaling Nextzon’s operations in 2022?

We will invest in rigorous capacity development and skills acquisition to position us to further support the healthcare space. We will also adopt an automation mindset towards providing solutions that will be of use to healthcare professionals and players in the industry.

 About the Leader

Sir Macauley Atasie is an unconventional entrepreneur, a strategic business leader, and a thought-leader in payments, ventures, general management, and public-sector governance. His objective is to foster an environment where creativity and entrepreneurship are valued, resulting in businesses and ideas that creatively solve human, business, and public-sector challenges while improving human comfort.

Mac’s career goal is to continuously build his knowledge, network, health, and financial base to enable him to help people and corporates to deliver innovative solutions successfully. Working in various executive capacities in Nextzon, HEIRS Alliance Limited (forerunner to Heirs Holdings), and Accenture, he led various teams in delivering several value-adding assignments to well over 500 clients across Africa. In tune with his focus on innovation and entrepreneurialism, Mac has been quite busy creating value in the healthcare, ventures, financial services, and technology sectors.

Over time his key projects in these areas include:

• asset mapping for the World Health Organisation (WHO)
• corporate planning and project management services for both a multinational pharmaceutical and indigenous pharmaceutical company
• championed the introduction of a Health Management Information Solution (HMIS) in the public sector
• provided human resource and advisory support services for health managed organization
• conducted feasibility report on the state of healthcare project for a state government in the mid-belt region of Nigeria
• institutionalized Management and Business Process for a Pharmaceutical Stores
• overhauled financial processes and designed frameworks for performance management reporting in addition to outsourced financial management support and technology for a Memorial Medical Centre.

Beyond the healthcare sector, key projects include the launch of the first for-profit business incubation platform in Nigeria with funding support from the world bank.

• This led to the support and establishment of about 25 companies in 10 years
• the conceptualization and set up of the pioneer shared services platform for microfinance banks that linked them to mainstream ATM, PoS, and Mobile banking networks
• the development of high-level strategic plans for and to support commercial banks for corporate and international expansion, insurance companies, SMEs, and regulatory agencies such as CBN, NAICOM, SEC, etc.
• the project management of the nation’s multisector FSS2020 Blueprint in 2006/2008
• the framework design for the revalidation and issuance of vehicle license plates for the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC)
• the conceptualization of the first education portal in Nigeria which was deployed in the University of Benin.

These also include the restructuring of the then-HEIRS/STB Group, thereby fostering enhanced integration amongst its members and upgrading strategies of the various member companies for enhanced competitiveness.

Following his drive for technological innovation in the healthcare space, Mac sits on the board of several transformational companies, among which is AVON HMO, an HMO that provides innovative healthcare services to public and private sectors players in the economy.

His strife for improved healthcare never wavers as he continues to partner with hospitals like Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Teaching Hospital (COOUTH) in Awka, Anambra state, supporting renovations and procurement of high-end medical equipment to improve the functionalities of the teaching hospital. He is also an avid participant in international health conferences such as the World Congress on Healthcare and Technologies.

 URL: https://nextzon.com/

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