'eTobb' the 17th Team to Qualify for this Year's MIT Semi-Finalist Round

by Naharnet Newsdesk 26 February 2013, 12:26

Lebanese “eTobb” has been selected as one of the semi-finalist teams for this year’s MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab Region Start-Up Competition for the Start-up Track.

eTobb is a web application that allows users to ask health related questions to doctors and get answers in a short period of time for free. Users can get as many medical opinions as they need for free with a click of a button. The recently launched company aims at growing the largest medical expert network in the MENA region allowing users to make better decisions and receive the information they need the most.

Idea Inspiration

“The idea emerged from a need; a need we all feel in our daily lives. The lack of medical information out there, let alone the inaccuracy of this information is a huge dilemma. Sometimes people just want to ask a question about a benign condition and get an accurate answer without going through the hassle of doctors’ appointments, waiting rooms and paying large sums of money. The internet isn’t much help either because we don’t always find the right information. eTobb solves this problem by giving people access to a pool of top medical experts who will answer their concerns for free. “ says founder Paul Saber

Empowering Patients

eTobb’s mission is to empower users with medical knowledge to help them make better informed decisions when it comes to their health. The company’s goal is to provide users with the right tools to maintaining a good health and connecting them with top doctors in their local area. eTobb is the first web and mobile application to introduce a “ Q&A” feature which allows users to ask their questions directly to doctors instead of the traditional method of surfing online and going through medical articles without any professional guidance. eTobb’s services are free of charge and users are not limited to a specific number of questions and can request as many different opinions as needed. Users can also see how many doctors have endorsed a doctor’s answer giving more credibility to the answer previously provided.

How it works

Each user will have a private medical profile on the application where he can sign in and view his past feeds. His identity will remain anonymous to other users at all times.. In the future, users will have private one-on-one sessions with doctors and share their medical files with them . This will enable them to get a more detailed and customized answer to their condition.

Doctors also have a personal account that will be public for patients to see. It includes their specialty, education and professional background. By collaborating with eTobb, doctors can increase their online presence, build their reputation and expand their customer base to reach the entire MENA region.

Advice for Entrepreneurs

“Once you launch a startup, it becomes your life which entails working 24 hours a day, reading a lot of articles about your industry, watching tutorials that are relevant to your startup and always trying to be a step ahead of your competition.” Advises Paul.

eTobb will attend a two-day workshop in Qatar in April 25 along with 49 other teams, where they will receive coaching, training and network with other entrepreneurs from the Arab region and meet the region’s major players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Semi-finalist ideas or startups in ICT, digital media, and mobile will automatically qualify for the Oasis 500 training and acceleration program http://www.oasis500.com/ , which is a six-day training program that covers all business aspects, including business modeling, financials, pitching, facilitation and marketing.

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