myPaddi is dedicated to providing a safe space for young people to discuss sex
myPaddi is dedicated to providing a safe space for young people to discuss sex
When Dr. Charles Immanuel Akhimien and Dr. Emmanuel Owobu, two medical school classmates from the University of Benin, co-founded MOBicure in 2015, they had a clear vision for their Digital Health Company and the peculiar problems they intended to solve with it. MOBicure was envisioned as a Nigerian start-up that would provide relevant mobile technology solutions to pressing health issues in developing countries, beginning with Nigeria.
Omomi would be their first product, a maternal and child health application aimed at reducing childbirth mortality. After three years and nearly 40,000 users, Charles and Emmanuel felt something was still missing.
According to the WHO, Nigeria accounts for approximately 20% of global maternal mortality. Due to the fact that approximately one-fifth of these pregnancies are unintended, young girls bear the brunt of the problem. While Omomi was actively addressing the issue of maternal mortality in Nigeria, the underlying issue of how unintended pregnancies occur persisted, and worse, festered. Both founders believed the two issues were inextricably linked. To effectively address the former, they needed to address the latter as well.
“Young people in Nigeria lacked a safe space to discuss sex.” According to Dr. Akhimien. “In many ways, sex remains a taboo subject. It is not a subject that is discussed at the dinner table. As a result, Nigeria has a low contraceptive prevalence, a high rate of unintended pregnancies, and ultimately unsafe abortions and death.”
According to Dr. Akhmien, contrary to what Nigerian conservatives would have you believe, the reality was and continues to be that young people are having a lot of sex. Take a random sample of twenty young Nigerians and you'll be surprised at how little they know or care about safe sex.
This is reflected in the dramatic increase in the number of people living with HIV in Nigeria, 40% of whom are between the ages of 15 and 24.
According to Dr. Akhimien, they noticed that while their product, Omomi, served pregnant women and mothers effectively, young people were being left behind. Something needed to be done immediately.
MOBicure launched myPaddi, a new app for young people, in July 2018.
As every Nigerian is aware, myPaddi is a play on the popular Pidgin English slang term "paddi," which essentially means "best friend." This is precisely what the myPaddi app would become for tens of thousands of young adults in Nigeria and throughout Africa in the months and years following its release. The app had 90,939 active users from 16 African countries as of June 2021.
MyPaddi's mission was straightforward: to provide a safe space for young people to anonymously and freely discuss sex. Although this would later expand to include a critical feature that allows users to access accurate and bias-free sexual resources without restriction.
The app was designed in such a way that users can remain completely anonymous and their interactions are guaranteed to be secure. The app includes a vibrant live community called The Zone where users can create posts or ask questions about sex. Finally, young people were openly and safely discussing sex. However, was that sufficient?
“We quickly realized that it was insufficient for young people to discuss sex,” Dr. Owobu recalls. “We recognized that users required accurate information regarding their sexual and reproductive health as well.”
This was the method by which doctors were admitted to The Zone. They were tasked with responding to questions and disseminating factual information about sexual and reproductive health.
The evolution of myPaddi App
As more users registered for the app, a pattern quickly emerged. While users posted questions and created posts on a variety of subjects, some began requesting personal sessions to discuss deeply personal matters they were unable to share in the zone. As a result of user demand, the myPaddi app evolved. That is how the app's chat-a-doctor feature came to be.
Users can now pay a fee to chat privately with doctors. After that, something else occurred.
As users began interacting with doctors via the app, it became clear that young people were grappling with issues other than, and frequently more complex than, sexual and reproductive health. Numerous individuals were battling mental health issues.
Dr. Akhimien recalls instances during private chats in which users sought assistance with depression, sexual abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, impostor syndrome, and gender-based violence, to name a few.
“For us, this realization was equally shocking as it was distressing. It was especially heartbreaking because we quickly realized how ill-equipped we were to assist these users.”
However, the ever-innovating myPaddi team would not let that snag deter them from doing what they set out to do in the first place: assist young Nigerians. A few months later, they launched a new feature in the app that will allow users to connect with certified therapists. Counselors were the term used for these therapists. Additionally, users can now communicate with counselors, just as they can with doctors.
Once myPaddi achieved success in providing a safe space for young people to discuss sex and sexual health issues, another pressing issue arose. Users required a discrete connection to actual sexual health products. Otherwise, the current services would be illogical.
On the one hand, doctors on the app were correctly advising users to seek HIV testing or engage in protected sex. On the other hand, young people continue to face sneers and snide remarks from not only self-anointed moral police, but also from health care professionals who should know better.
Despite the difficulty, the founders were immediately aware of what they needed to do. They would procure test kits, contraceptives, and other sexual health products and deliver them discreetly and promptly to interested users. MyPaddi's humble beginnings began in this manner. Initially, the myPaddi shop intended to sell only test kits and contraceptives.
They continued in this manner for a month, according to Dr. Owobu, until they noticed a disconnect between sexual health and sexual pleasure. While a number of outlets discussed STI prevention and contraceptive use extensively, no one discussed pleasure. They encountered a chasm that needed to be bridged.
They quickly expanded the shop to include sexual wellness products such as sex toys, BDSM kits, and lingerie. During the first few weeks, only a few orders were received. All of that, however, would change in December 2019.
According to Dr. Akhimien, a woman in need of a vibrator 'DMed' them on Instagram to place an order. By the time they had discreetly fulfilled that order, they had spotted a new opportunity.
They realized that in addition to selling sexual products to app users, they could also sell to non-users via their various social media channels. At the risk of sounding ethereal, this was the rebirth of the myPaddi shop. Since then, it's been a rollercoaster.
MyPaddi has made over 10,000 deliveries to 46 cities in Nigeria and four cities on three continents (Cairo, Toronto, Doha, and Nairobi).
You can still order products through the myPaddi app, the myPaddi online shop, and all of their social media channels. You can place your order anonymously, and they will ensure that it is delivered in a discrete manner. They accomplish this in a straightforward manner.
“Assume you've already selected a product from the shop and made a payment,” explains Kachi Nwizu, myPaddi's Head of e-retail. “Once we've received confirmation of your payment, we'll package your time in an unassuming package. Ascertain your location. It will be sent to you. Then I'll send you the tracking number.”
“You will obtain it within a short period of time. And no one but you is aware of what you ordered. Your secret is safe with us,” Nwizu added, with the assurance of someone who has done this countless times successfully.
Dr. Akhimien believes that the decision to open a shop was one of the most intuitive decisions the company has ever made.
When pressed for an explanation, he simply smiled and stated, "It's all in the numbers."
UnboxED games
To further advance sexual health education and the practice of safe sex, the myPaddi team has designed and released three editions of the myPaddi UnboxED game. The first is the Family Edition, which assists parents and guardians in teaching their adolescents and teenagers about sex education in an open and non-threatening manner, effectively removing the awkward edge.
Then there's the 18+ Edition, which, in keeping with myPaddi's mission, encourages young people to talk and learn about sex in a safe and enjoyable environment. The 18+ Edition quickly became a popular choice at house parties, picnics, university circles, and generally anywhere young people gathered to have fun.
The Couple Edition is the third and most recent edition. It assists in reimagining sex and reigniting intimacy between lovers while they enjoy themselves.
All-new audio feature
Additionally, the myPaddi app now includes an audio feature. Currently, three podcasts are available: Erotika, Mental Health Podcast, and Love & Relationship Podcast.
The EROTIKA is a collection of erotic audio stories available in English and Pidgin English. The Love & Relationships and Mental Health podcasts, respectively, delve into various aspects of romance and mental health.
Moving forward
In less than three years, myPaddi has evolved from an app that provided a safe space for young adults to discuss and learn about sex to a comprehensive platform that meets the sexual and reproductive health needs of young people in Nigeria and throughout Africa.
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