The year was 2016. We saw a referendum for the UK to exit the EU, we witnessed an official declaration from the WHO declaring the Zika virus a “pandemic” and we saw a new era of politics from the Trump administration, which would dominate world news for the next 4 years. This was also the year the seed for LocumBase.com was planted.

In a few short years, LocumBase has blossomed from a scrappy prototype in early 2018 into an award-winning start-up that took the best in their class at the 2020/21 Grindstone Accelerator Program. They have been asked to pitch at the prestigious Plug & Play annual venture capital gathering in front of some of the biggest corporate players and The World Bank. Through ups and downs, they have stayed true to their ethos of women empowerment by growing to a 70% female strong workforce.

August is the celebration of national women’s month in South Africa, and we wanted to speak to each of the team to understand what it means for them to be a part of the LocumBase journey and what their personal ambitions are for themselves and women in business.

Zulé Vuuren, founder of LocumBase had this to say, “We exist to empower those in the medical industry that gives so much to help maintain our health and wellbeing. At LocumBase we support all medical professionals, 70% of which are women, according to 2019 WHO gender survey. This is a workforce ratio we employ in our own office, in Cape Town. What may seem like a small similarity aligned to the medical industry is just a bite-sized piece of what makes our team the best in our mission to innovate, optimise and create efficiencies within the healthcare industry. Now, more than ever, access to continuous quality healthcare is needed in every area of our communities. The mindset of a solutionist is something anyone can cultivate, and I hope to be an example of courage, taking the chance to make a positive change, to young women of our country.”

The other half of this duo is Tanya, a qualified Optometrist and former full-time locum, who recently obtained her Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health. When speaking to her, she said, “Curiosity fuels innovation. At LocumBase we believe in unquenchable curiosity and critical thinking. This kind of open-mindedness is what we need to instil in girls to help them approach the world of work with confidence.”

Tanya is the Head of Client Success at LocumBase and an integral part of her team is Jaime, a Client Success Advisor working with Locums across all fields within the medical industry.

Upon speaking to Jaime about what it means to be a part of the LocumBase journey and ambitions for herself and young women she told us a little bit about how her story started; “I have one sister and between the two of us my Mum always ensured that we understood that we need to be financially independent women. LocumBase provided a platform for me to start my career and path to financial independence. The medical industry is a hugely important industry that requires constant innovation and efficiency, so more people can benefit from quality healthcare.”

Jaime works alongside her counterpart in the marketing department at LocumBase, Sam.

Sam started her journey with LocumBase in 2020 after facing a setback most young people would be able to relate to. Sam found herself at a crossroads, unable to attend tertiary education full-time, she would need to enter the workforce and study part-time or not at all.

She decided to enter the workforce and save up for her studies.

Sam was eager to impart some of her learnings so far; “Just because things don’t work out perfectly, doesn’t mean they won’t work out at all. Gaining actual work experience at LocumBase makes me feel more confident and fortunate than some of my friends that are full-time students. I believe that women in the workplace have a lot to contribute and I am excited about what we can achieve when we set our mind and heart to it.”

Alongside Sam, the marketing department includes a talented creative Jolizé.

Jolizé recently moved from her hometown in Secunda to Cape Town for her role at LocumBase and wanted to share some of her stories, “Cape Town is a visually breath-taking space that allows me to absorb new creative energy from all of what the city and surrounds offer, from its beautiful people, old and new architecture to the glory of its nature. Making the move with my husband was hard, especially leaving behind family members, but necessary for my personal and professional growth. LocumBase is doing great work for people who help to save lives. Having a mother who battled Breast Cancer multiple times over a 15-year period, she won every battle with great strength and with the help of phenomenal medical professionals, it couldn’t have been done without their undeniable persistence to help and care for her. The medical professionals that helped my Mother also had an impact on a woman's physical and mental health, which gave her the fierce confidence boost to never give up and conquer all obstacles in her life. She is now giving back by taking care of other women who are going through the same hardship. It gives me, her daughter, great pride and purpose to form part of a company such as LocumBase, to use my creative skills and to contribute to the future of the medical field. My message for all women; life can be ugly sometimes, but no matter how ugly, the world and its people are beautiful, and we as women can conquer anything, even if we need to redesign our own new world.”

Heading up the marketing department is Jovana, too, who is from the small town of Pietermaritzburg and made the move to Cape Town for her postgraduate studies in 2009.

Just before joining LocumBase she experienced the loss of a parent and was on a two-month sabbatical before coming back into the workforce.

This is what she had to say; “As women, we often feel that it is necessary to fix, support and carry the burden of grief or change. In my experience, I have found that this is not only harmful to the woman trying to carry the load but even more so to the people around her, as they may want to help but can’t interject. My journey with LocumBase is the change I needed to help me understand my greater contribution as a strategic communications professional. I encourage women of all ages to first be kind to yourself before you consider carrying the load of the next person.”

The lasting impact LocumBase will have on the medical industry will be a meaningful one. Long-lasting positive change is the only way we can uplift our people.

If you are a registered medical professional and want to join the Locum revolution, it takes less than 5-minutes to sign up, just click here or you can join the client success team via WhatsApp by adding the number to your contact list, 079 013 3962.