Jacqui Rogers. Image Supplied
Jacqui Rogers is a force of nature, serial entrepreneur and genuine all-around nice person, so developing an award-winning app that sets out to help women through their pregnancy is no surprise.
Her keen eye for spotting a gap in the market has seen her launch more than one successful business. Her latest brainchild is My pregnancy journey.
Jacqui tells us the story of how her journey began: “I started my first business when I fell pregnant with my daughter and couldn’t satisfy my fashion needs and growing bump. I realised that there are not many clothing brands out there catering for the stylish mom-to-be. I saw the gab, bought myself a R200 sewing machine, and with no fashion experience, I started sewing lessons and did a year of pattern design course.”
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“I found local clothing manufacturers and fabric suppliers and so I started my first clothing range with 7 styles. I was thinking to myself, how am I going to introduce this amazing new brand to the public? I found boutiques closest to me, I bought a fake strap on pregnancy tummy, I wouldn’t phone them because they could easily say no to me,” she adds
She laughs while saying that “I would just pitch up at their boutiques and I did fashion shows for them. Some agreed to consignment stock, and so my first sales started”.
A stylist from magazine then found out about her brand and started using my clothing in their
editorials, so she got free publicity. Other boutiques started learning about my brand and they started placing orders, and so her business grew. The garments featured in over 60 different magazine features.
She tells of her business highlights, “I got to introduce my business to Richard Branson, and I won a competition with Standard Bank and NBC Universal”.
During her entrepreneurial journey she has always been looking out for other opportunities and gaps
in the market, until one day she came across what she felt were shocking statistics when it comes to pregnancies in South Africa and the rest of Africa.
With the African continent having some of the highest rates when it comes to adolescent pregnancies, HIV infections and birth deaths, with many African countries having one out of 4 pregnancy-related fatalities.
According to Stats SA, there are about 900 000 pregnancies in South Africa every year alone, with 19%
being adolescent pregnancies. But during the hard lockdown period teen pregnancies went up by 60%.
South Africa is also sitting at 119 000 maternal mortality per year, but due to teen pregnancies going up
this will also increase.
On further research, it was discovered that the only other pregnancy solutions are SMS, WhatsApp, or Web-based solutions, OR are internationally based pregnancy apps that are not focused on Africa, or any other developing country in the world.
“And these are the exact reasons that motivated us to create our educational pregnancy app called ‘My
Pregnancy Journey’ app.”
“We have created the first comprehensive educational pregnancy app from the
African continent.”
“Our app focuses on the unique challenges that our local women and girls face in pregnancy,” she adds.
“It took me and my team 2 years of putting our content, videos, illustrations, photos, app development, and information together. Our app is local, educational, interactive, beautiful, addresses issues and allows for mass communication and healthcare reach.”
Each user can personalise the app for themselves and use any of the 30 features to track their own
pregnancy from week to week. The app updates new content, videos, and information each week
guiding the expectant mom from week to week.
“But through our research, we also realised that it is not just the social aspect that is a gap in the market, but there is no local tech platform linking the user to local products, services, providers, hospitals, and clinics, so we have created a whole digital echo system, linking everyone in the industry to one another.”
Since the start of the project, Jacqui was nominated by the World Health Organisation as one of Africa’s
top 30 innovators, the app has won 2 MTN App of the Year awards and we have also won 2 Huawei app
awards for best app and social impact app.
They still have a lot of work ahead of them. Currently, the app is only available in English, and they would need to translate the app into other local languages with a massive roll-out into our local communities.
The future plans are to expand into other African countries. The app doesn’t just relate to African
women but also to many other countries in the world with the same societal problems The app is
relevant, timely, cuts across continents, religions, and race and they stongly believe that My Pregnancy Journey has the potential to make a huge societal impact.
We are a 100% women-owned tech start-up from South Africa and are proud to represent women’s
empowerment, entrepreneurship and our country. We have also identified many other gaps in the
market and industry.
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