In a bid to empower women to take control of their fertility journey and make informed decisions about their health, Torkia Mahloul and Majd Abu Zant co-founded the Abu Dhabi-based HealthTech start-up, Ovasave.
Ovasave aims to simplify the often complex and anxiety-inducing process of navigating healthcare systems, connecting women with suitable medical professionals, and offering transparent pricing for egg-freezing procedures.
The co-founders advocate for women to begin testing their ovarian reserves as early as age 30, allowing them to better understand their fertility and improve their chances of future pregnancy.
Ovasave’s digital platform enables women to take a self-administered hormone test at home, choose a doctor from a vetted network of fertility clinics, arrange a free tele-consultation, and make decisions about freezing and storing their eggs based on eligibility criteria.
Mahloul and Abu Zant sought to streamline and digitize this process on their platform to address the current challenges in the fertility services market.
Mahloul explained, “Access to fertility services is a major issue. Women are delaying having children, so their fertility is declining, but they are not acting on it because of a lack of awareness … and because the fertility journey is fragmented and complex.”
She added, “Women don’t have access to transparent prices, honest reviews, and real ratings. It’s difficult to make decisions about health without all this information.”
The option of freezing eggs to extend reproductive time is increasingly explored by women worldwide and is gaining popularity in the UAE.
In the UK, egg-freezing cycles rose by 64% from 2,576 in 2019 to 4,215 in 2021, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
In the US, the number of healthy women freezing eggs increased to 12,438 in 2020 from 7,193 in 2016, according to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology.
Recent changes to UAE laws on reproductive health, implemented in January 2021, permit single and married women to preserve their fertility for social or medical reasons.
Torkia Mahloul, formerly a banking and tech executive, conceived the idea for Ovasave after her own challenging and complex journey as an egg-freezing patient, marked by uncertainty and difficulty.
Recognizing the underserved nature of the fertility preservation market, especially in terms of support and innovation, Mahloul was introduced to Majd Abu Zant, CEO of UEMedical, a medical facilities operator in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, including fertility clinics.
“We both realized that there was a lot of pain, struggle, and frustration for women like me to start fertility testing and to pay for it … something needed to be done to empower women to make decisions about their fertility,” Mahloul said.
Ovasave was founded in November 2022, with a soft launch in July 2023, aiming to simplify, streamline, and make the fertility journey more accessible and affordable. The start-up joined Abu Dhabi’s Hub71, backed by the Abu Dhabi government and Mubadala Investment Company, providing support, incentives, and access to investors and mentors for tech start-ups.
Majd Abu Zant emphasized, “What I’ve learned over 20 years in healthcare is that when it comes to fertility, the system is broken. Women come to a clinic when they have difficulty conceiving and when it’s too late. We want to turn the table and make it more proactive: it’s about applying modern-day digitization tools to the technology of egg-freezing that’s existed for 15 years.”
Ovasave is on a mission to empower women to make informed decisions about their fertility, simplifying the process, and bringing transparency to a previously complex journey. With the support of Hub71 and a commitment to proactive fertility care, Ovasave aims to revolutionize the way women approach their reproductive health in the UAE and beyond.
