THE CURIOSITY SPECIALIST
“I’m a vibrant, caring and creative human being who fell in love with medicine at a very early age. The desire to help and serve people has been a driving force for most of my passions. I am a scientist, and also a curiosity specialist – I specialise in being curious and discovering everything that I can about life,” shares founder of MediSpace Lifestyle Institute, health advocate, speaker, celebrated author and entrepreneur Dr Tshidi Gule. She believes that her passion as a proud black woman embodies all the great values that her parents instilled in her.
A SERIES OF LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Being daring enough to take on one of the least-travelled roads of entrepreneurship – finding yourself learning something new about the world, yourself, people and about the reality of society – has been the norm in Dr Gule’s life. “It puts you on the front seat where you get to see the best and worst of society. Navigating it as a black woman has been very interesting because I have directly experienced things that were initially farthought of, and had to confront them headon, such as racism, sexism, discrimination, inequality and lack of equal pay,” she shares. “I’m grateful that I chose a space where healing is the main language. And through medicine, I’ve discovered my own language of healing as a human being.”
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
“I was so fascinated with doctors in my township that I would follow them around all the time. I was intrigued by this art form where someone was in a bad shape physically or mentally, and you could leave them better off through a series of techniques and strategies,” Dr Gule says.
When she was 13 years old, she told her parents that she wanted to be a doctor. The entrepreneurship side, however, was a big surprise because she was more certain about being a scientist than going into business. It only hit her when she was in medical school. She couldn’t shake off the thought of what preventative medicine could be if it was fully developed in South Africa as part of primary healthcare. “I’m very grateful for daring greatly and risking a lot to believe in something that, perhaps at that time, was a little bit further than what most conventional dreams should be,” Dr Gule shares.
EDUCATION TAKES ON THE FRONTLINES
Education, awareness and distributing intelligence, where required, are important if you have prevention as your biggest approach.
“The work I’ve been doing with regards to COVID -19 largely revolves around that, and informing people of the impact of positive health behaviour. It also revolves around informing them of what it will do to the trajectory of the pandemic if they adhere to primary prevention measures. These include social distancing, wearing your face mask, good screening protocols and early presentation of symptoms,” Dr Gule says. Health workers continue to educate and do their very best to look after affected and infected patients, teaching families how to take care of their loved ones and safely reintegrate them into their families and communities without stigma or prejudice.
BIG BUSINESS MOVES
Dr Gule says having the courage to start her own business, when she could’ve chosen a career of employment and done well, is probably the bravest thing she’s ever done. She is in a climate where entrepreneurship is not supported, and in the healthcare industry where “bums on beds” are favoured over other healthcare models because they aren’t familiar. All this because “doing something unfamiliar, and still having the guts to carry it through despite all the odds and sacrifices, is a form of heroism”.
CEMENT THE WORK YOU’VE DONE
The curiosity specialist wants to make sure that their intelligence is one of the go-to health models used because she believes that they’ve proven in various markets that it works.
“I would like to inspire more healthcare minds to be innovative and dare enough to dream about creating their own models, and to present them to bodies that can take them further.”
She shares that we need more thinkers, idea generators and enough support to make sure that the dreams and ideas live long enough to see the light of day to improve society. “There are a lot of bright minds looking for an opportunity. I’d like to play a role as an investor to some of those dreams because I believe the backbone of society is healthcare education and finance,” she concludes.