Ben J. Ncube, Champion in Chief for Males’s Well being

Ben J. Ncube, Champion in Chief for Males’s Well being

Ben J. Ncube, CEO, Males’s Well being Zimbabwe, Mandela Washington Fellow (2021)

By Artiom Turcan

Trailblazer and medical companies entrepreneur, Ben J. Ncube’s mission is to interrupt the stigma round males’s well being. Ben based Males’s Well being Zimbabwe, a clinic that focuses on the availability of males’s well being care companies.

A educated lawyer, Ben pivoted to males’s well being care attributable to his father.

“My father began having well being issues,” says Ben. “Nonetheless, he didn’t need to get checked due to social stigma hooked up to it.  It’s a large subject right here in Zimbabwe. Males don’t search well being care companies as a result of they concern showing as weak.”

The conclusion that Zimbabwe wanted well being care facilities that specialised within the remedy of males and addressed social stigma sparked an revolutionary thought in him. He launched in 2018 the Males’s Well being Clinic. He was solely 23 years outdated.

“It began out small. I discovered a medical physician to companion with,” says Ben.

“At the moment, I used to be so younger. There I used to be, a fledgling lawyer with a giant imaginative and prescient for a medical begin up. Truthfully, I can say the imposter syndrome acquired to me at instances. Most individuals wouldn’t belief such a teenager to hold out a imaginative and prescient of this scope.”

In 2021, Ben participated within the Mandela Washington Fellowship (MWF) for Younger African Leaders (YALI) program after a buddy advised him about it. “I utilized for it as a result of I hoped that I might get entry to the precise data and abilities I have to develop my clinic.”

“One of the crucial vital classes I discovered in the course of the MWF program was a ‘strengths mindset.’ Leaders ought to deal with their strengths, somewhat than obsess over weaknesses. All MWF fellows take an exhaustive take a look at, measuring their aptitudes and abilities. In lots of instances, fellows uncover/notice abilities they by no means thought they’d. The method modified my total life, and I not solely apply them in my work, but in addition my private life.”

“One of the crucial vital classes I discovered in the course of the MWF program was a ‘strengths mindset.’ Leaders ought to deal with their strengths, somewhat than obsess over weaknesses. All MWF fellows take an exhaustive take a look at, measuring their aptitudes and abilities. In lots of instances, fellows uncover/notice abilities they by no means thought they’d. The method modified my total life, and I not solely apply them in my work, but in addition my private life.”

Ben cites one other MWF benefit as essential to his success: his newly acquired community. “Having a community of different younger leaders, who’re going by means of comparable challenges to mine, has been invaluable. We are able to name upon one another, collaborate, share concepts and experiences.”

Ben now ceaselessly works with different fellows of his cohort. “I can’t separate the fellowship from my life and work, as every part I’m doing is now together with different fellows.”

The lads’s clinic has grown considerably and now has a workforce of 12 core workers, 9 supporting workers and 55 group well being champions. The clinic has handled over 8,000 male sufferers. It has reached out to 10,000 extra by means of outreach applications in each rural and concrete areas. The clinic additionally produces a free weekly males’s well being journal, which gives simple to learn and jargon free insights into males’s well being. It additionally has a major social media footprint.

The journey has not been simple because the Covid-19 pandemic was a colossal problem.

“The pandemic hit us extraordinarily laborious. At one level, I used to be prepared to shut the clinic”, states Ben.  He was personally satisfied in any other case, nonetheless, by means of private interactions with earlier sufferers. “My one-on-one encounters with sufferers jogged my memory why I do what I do. To listen to their accounts of how a lot the clinic has helped them gave me the drive to persevere and adapt.”

“Typically the most important obstacle to our progress at leaders and innovators is our personal self-belief. Being a part of MWF, I’ve met individuals in comparable positions. Our alternate of experiences and experience has helped inspire and validate my journey. I do know I’m not alone.”

Ben’s long-term aim is to maintain preventing social stigma. “I’ve been concerned in a variety of group initiatives making an attempt to assist males see the significance of healthcare. Not only for them, however for his or her households’ sakes as effectively. I need to educate males that well being isn’t just for girls and kids. Everybody ought to get the assistance they want, and I hope to maintain being a champion in chief for the reason for males’s well being within the foreseeable future.”