Meet Dr. Tobi Popoola, the tech-savvy doctor whose 7-year journey shows what sustainable growth looks like in Nigerian health tech
Getting quality healthcare in Nigeria can be tough. Long queues at hospitals, expensive consultations, and the stress of traveling far just to see a specialist – sound familiar? Dr. Tobi Popoola (@popoolatobig) saw these problems and decided to do something about it. In 2018, he launched Liveldy, a health platform that’s now processing 6,100+ consultations monthly with 2,300+ active users who consistently return for medical care.
By integrating AI technology to personalize patient care and optimize doctor-patient matching, Liveldy has positioned itself at the forefront of Nigeria’s digital health revolution.
The Problem Was Real
Dr. Popoola has a PhD in computing and knows his way around technology. But more importantly, he understood the healthcare struggles most Nigerians face daily. With only 4 doctors for every 10,000 people in Nigeria (way below what the World Health Organization recommends), getting to see a doctor when you need one can be nearly impossible.
“What if people could easily connect with licensed doctors without all the hassle?” That simple question led to the creation of Liveldy (a clever combination of “live” and “healthy”) – a platform where patients can chat with real doctors through text messages or video calls.
Strategic Timing Pays Off
Starting Liveldy in 2018 turned out to be brilliant timing. Two years later, when COVID-19 hit and everyone was stuck at home, people suddenly needed ways to see doctors without leaving their houses. While other health apps were scrambling to catch up, Liveldy had already been perfecting its service for two years.
This head start helped the platform build the kind of deep trust with both doctors and patients that takes years to develop – something that became crucial when the market got crowded with competitors.
How It Actually Works
Liveldy isn’t complicated – that’s part of its appeal. You can access the platform in three easy ways: download the iOS app from the Apple App Store, get the Android app directly from the website (liveldy.com), or simply use any web browser to access the platform. This makes it accessible whether you’re in busy Lagos or a smaller town, using any device you prefer.
Need to ask a doctor a quick question? Send a message. Want a proper consultation? Jump on a video call. You can discuss your symptoms, get lab tests ordered by licensed doctors, and even get prescriptions – all from the comfort of your home.
Beyond consultations, the platform also provides practical health tools including a weight checker, pregnancy checker, and period tracker, giving users a comprehensive health management experience.
This flexibility has been a game-changer for many Nigerians who previously had to take time off work, spend money on transport, and wait in long lines just to speak with a medical professional for a few minutes.
The most intriguing part of the Liveldy story is the affordability and easy access to healthcare. Recently, Liveldy launched a consultation subscription package starting from just N1,000 per week, making regular medical care accessible to more Nigerians than ever before.
Real Impact: The Numbers That Matter
Seven years later, Liveldy’s metrics tell a compelling story of sustainable growth and user trust. In May 2025, the platform processed 6,100+ consultations with 2,300+ monthly active users – impressive numbers that reveal something more important than scale: engagement depth.
With an average of 2.7 consultations per active user monthly, Liveldy has achieved what many health tech platforms struggle with – genuine user retention and repeat engagement. This isn’t just about downloads or sign-ups; it’s about people consistently returning for medical care, indicating real trust and satisfaction.
This remarkable retention rate is powered by Liveldy’s AI-driven approach, which learns from each patient history to provide increasingly personalized healthcare recommendations and predict when users might need follow-up care.
Industry experts recognize that sustained engagement in Nigeria’s health tech sector represents significant achievement. In a market where many digital health startups struggle to move beyond initial user acquisition, Liveldy’s consistent consultation-to-user ratio demonstrates proven product-market fit.
Understanding the Nigerian Health Tech Context
To appreciate Liveldy’s success, context matters. Nigeria’s health tech landscape is littered with ambitious platforms that gained initial traction but failed to maintain user engagement. The challenges are unique: inconsistent internet connectivity, payment infrastructure gaps, regulatory uncertainties, and most critically, the trust barrier in healthcare.
Building a platform where users return 3+ times monthly for medical consultations represents a significant market validation. It suggests that Liveldy has cracked the code on user experience, doctor quality, and service reliability – three factors that determine long-term success in digital healthcare.
The engagement metrics also highlight efficient resource utilization. Rather than chasing vanity metrics like total downloads, Liveldy has focused on creating a loyal base of users who actively use the platform for their healthcare needs.
Quality Over Quantity: The Retention Story
The most impressive aspect of Liveldy‘s journey isn’t just the consultation numbers – it’s the user behavior patterns. When users have multiple consultations per month, it indicates they’re treating Liveldy as their primary healthcare touchpoint, not just an occasional convenience.
This level of trust is particularly significant in healthcare, where Nigerians typically prefer in-person consultations with doctors they know. The fact that users are returning for follow-ups, second opinions, and ongoing care management suggests Liveldy has built something genuinely valuable.
The platform enhances this personalized approach with AI technology that learns each user’s health patterns and proactively suggests when they might need their next consultation, creating a more anticipatory model of healthcare.
From busy professionals who can’t spend half a day at hospitals to people in remote areas without nearby specialists, the platform has found its niche by focusing on consistent service delivery rather than flashy marketing campaigns.
Why This Matters Now
Nigeria’s healthcare system faces serious challenges. We don’t have enough hospitals, many of our best doctors have moved abroad, and quality healthcare is often concentrated in major cities. Traditional solutions haven’t been able to fix these problems quickly enough.
Platforms like Liveldy offer a different approach. Instead of trying to build more hospitals overnight, they help maximize the impact of existing doctors and resources. The Nigerian government has noticed too, launching programs to support health tech innovation.
But the real validation comes from user behavior. When people consistently choose digital consultations over traditional healthcare routes, it signals a fundamental shift in how medical care can be delivered and accessed.
The Bigger Picture: Sustainable vs. Explosive Growth
Dr. Popoola’s journey with Liveldy proves something important about the Nigerian startup ecosystem: sustainable growth often beats explosive growth in the long run. While many health tech platforms focus on user acquisition and funding rounds, Liveldy has quietly built a profitable, self-sustaining model.
The platform works because it understands the local context. It knows that Nigerians are increasingly comfortable with mobile technology, that cost efficiency matters, and that people want to connect with real doctors, not just access generic health information.
This approach has created something rare in Nigerian tech: a platform that users genuinely depend on for critical services. The monthly consultation patterns suggest people are using Liveldy for ongoing healthcare management, not just one-off interactions.
What’s Next: Scaling Proven Success
As more Nigerians get smartphones and internet access becomes cheaper, platforms like Liveldy are positioned to expand their impact significantly. The current user engagement rates provide a strong foundation for scaling – when you know users will return 3+ times monthly, customer acquisition becomes much more predictable and profitable.
The development team is currently building advanced AI models to track and monitor women’s menstrual cycles and blood pressure patterns, which will provide doctors with deeper insights into their patients’ health trends and enable more personalized care recommendations.
For Dr. Popoola, who’s proven he can build lasting user relationships, the next phase involves scaling the platform while maintaining the quality that drives current retention rates. The focus remains on sustainable growth rather than viral expansion.
The success also encourages other entrepreneurs to tackle different healthcare challenges using similar principles: solve real problems, build for local context, and prioritize user retention over vanity metrics.
The Bottom Line: Proving What Works
The story of Liveldy shows what’s possible when someone with the right skills decides to tackle a real problem and stick with it long enough to build genuine trust. Dr. Popoola didn’t just build another app – he created a proven model of digital healthcare delivery that Nigerians actually use consistently.
In a country where seeing a doctor can be frustrating and expensive, Liveldy offers something simple but powerful: reliable access to quality medical advice when you need it, where you need it. With 6,100+ consultations monthly and users consistently engaging with the platform has moved beyond the startup phase into something more valuable – a trusted healthcare service.
Sometimes, the most impressive innovation isn’t the flashiest or the largest – it’s the one that solves real problems consistently over time. Seven years in, Liveldy represents exactly that kind of success.
