At Equals this June, we are thrilled to highlight the inspiring journey of our Founder of the Month, Merel Rumping. In 2016, Merel embarked on a remarkable journey with a Dutch foundation that supported entrepreneurs in emerging economies. With a rich background in Colombia, including creating a theatre play with street children and former child soldiers and working with the Women’s World Bank in Medellín, she proposed launching a project in Colombia to address a critical need: prosthetic care.

Colombia, affected by diabetes, accidents, and decades of conflict, had a significant demand for prosthetic care. Merel began raising funds and, together with a team of engineers and academics, developed an innovative medical device to automate the creation of prosthetic sockets. This breakthrough led to invitations to pitch to Bill Gates and appearances on NOS media.

When the foundation collapsed in 2019, Merel faced a pivotal moment. Leveraging extensive knowledge of prosthetic care and a robust network in Colombia, she identified a key issue—while 95% of Colombians are insured, healthcare is centralized in capital cities.

In response, Merel launched Care Within Reach B.V., a company with a plug-and-play franchise model that empowers orthopedic practitioners to open their own centers in secondary cities. These centers focus on client needs and custom orthopedic devices, while Care Within Reach handles business operations, sales, contracts, certification, and more.

In January 2020, investment was secured to launch the first center in Tunja. However, the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020 brought immense challenges. Travel restrictions and a busy certifying agency delayed progress. Despite these hurdles, she persevered, securing a crucial loan. By June 2024, Care Within Reach had supported over 2300 people and reached the break-even point—a significant milestone.

The company is currently facing other challenges because the Colombian healthcare system may soon undergo profound changes. They are not sure how this will impact the company, but if Merel feels upset, she thinks of all the impact the company makes, and the people the company serves. The people are often very poor, and are super grateful for the service and for the fact that they don’t have to travel that far anymore. Also talking to the team-members always motivates her.

One of the lessons she learnt – apart from that you as an entrepreneur continuously have to overcome obstacles- is that a the team is key! So remember that an A-product won’t be sold by a B-team, but an A-team can sell anything!

 In the past month, she prepared the legal part to open more orthopedic centers. She raised a new investment to open a second clinic in Montería, another city with no orthopedic care available. She still looks for more investment, because it is the company’s plan to open 4 centers by 2029, so let her know if you are or know an impact investor who may be interested! 

 To encourage aspiring entrepreneurs, she finalizes by sharing a quote by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf former & first female president of Liberia: “The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.”