Kilkenny bio-entrepreneur pioneering a new frontier in Latin American healthcare

A Kilkenny man’s pioneering medical diagnostics company is leading the way on a new frontier for healthcare in Latin America.

Blaine Doyle, a molecular biologist from Graignamanagh, is thriving in his adopted home of Mexico City, where he has recently been elected President of the Irish-Mexican Chamber of Commerce.

His company, ChektAhora, has just secured €2.5 million from investors such as Randox to continue and expand its mission. The company is based in Mexico and employs 80 people.

It was a major player in the rollout of Covid testing in a country where restrictions during the pandemic were few and far between.

“The Government didn’t shut the borders really,” explains Blaine. “The most inhibitive restriction that was put in here was that the bars had to shut by 10pm.”

For a number of reasons, including its cash-based economy, it was very difficult for the Government to find a balance in terms of trying to shut the country and not have entire sections of society experience catastrophic deprivation and proverty.

A robust private testing programme was therefore in high demand across a wide variety of business and industry.
The company assisted by helping in the reopening of factories of up 15,000 people, building up to direct consumer issues, working with the likes of Burger King and Starbucks.

As well as Covid testing, they helped with employee vaccinations for influenza.

Blaine’s story is an interesting one. He studied biotech in DCU, and worked in the industry for a while before studying in UCC and starting a community biolab in Cork City.

He ended up in Honduras studying Dengue fever and ended up contracting it while there.
When the Zika virus broke out, he moved into that field.

It was his journey to Mexico when he saw an opportunity to go into HPV testing and the company was established. That was 2018. He built infrastructure including a lab in Mexico City, but then in 2020, Covid arrived. And PCR was the ‘weapon of choice’.

“So we’ve basically spent the last two years hitting that as hard as we can,” he says.

The company is now ransforming its portfolio once again.

“Coming out of the pandemic, we invested a lot in infrastructure, warehousing, a second laboratory,” says Blaine.

“Now we are opening a new clinic, which is to be a boutique women’s clinic. So basically an end-to-end, full stack clinical healthcare experience for women, so that no matter what part of the journey they start with us, we can see it right through to the end, the outcome, whether it be medical or cosmetic.

“It’s something that’s not being done, I think anywhere in the world, but certainly not Latin America.”

“So now what we are doing is transforming the business from a very heavy Covid-focused testing company to rebuilding our sexual health business which was booming before Covid and is now back moving again in the  right direction in terms of double digit growth,” he says.

“Likewise, vaccinations — HPV, Hepatitis, Meningitis, Herpes and various other things. We are doing that right now and are adding in .

“Soon, this will become a complete primary care platform within the company.

“We are moving into those spaces within the next six months. We’re mainly focused on the major cities of Mexico and then we have an international expansion plan for Latin America, including Brazil and Colombia,” Blaine says.

The company works with some of the world’s largest insurance firms, with a focus on private healthcare, because there is an unmet need there — and a lot of people end up going from public hospital to a private laboratory and then come back with the results.

The main three things the company is focused on right now are:
1 Diversification — adding new tests, new treatments and vaccines and bringing them to people’s homes. The business started as a home testing company and Blaine wants to continue on that trend;
2 Regional expansion - to new Mexican regions, but also Brazil and Columbia are in the picture;
3 Focusing on bringing genomic testing into Latin America for things like hereditary diseases, or cancer.

NEW HOME
Until this year, for three or four years, Blaine had been working from Ireland with the occasional commute to Mexico.

He took up residence there in February. He is now part of an Irish and Irish-Mexican community that is changing the way business is done, with Ireland seen as the gateway to Europe, and Mexico as the gateway to Latin America.

“I think Mexico is a part of the world where there are a lot of really good Irish who have networked really well,”he says.

“There’s guys here I can pick up the phone to. There’s a strong Irish network here. We’ve got an embassy then who is just so connected in with the business networks that makes it easy to do business here.

“I think Latin America is the next frontier for technology in terms of global business even. We’ve had a fintech revolution here arguably from 2017 right up to the pandemic.”

When he first arrived in Mexico, his plan had been to network and connect with people online. But it wasn’t that straightforward.

“You had to go to two breakfasts a day and a lunch, and dinner to meet people and pick up that culture,” he says. “You have to physically go to things.”

He had next to no Spanish and had to learn it on the fly.

“ I haven’t done a class yet! I think I’m about 80% there. But I think I talk enough to pick it up!” he says.

That’s where the Chamber proved its true value. The Chamber has existed unofficially since 1995 — created by a group of Irish and Irish-Mexican businesspeople. The idea was basically to connect Mexico to Europe and Europe to Mexico.
“It’s evolved over time and in 2017 it was formalised so it wasn’t just a club or group, it was registered as an association,” Blaine says.

“I had the amazing experience of landing into this network. It was only finding its structure really.”

It helped him overcome a number of key early challenges.

“One, I didn’t know Spanish. And two, I was relying on the goodwill of some Irish people here before me to give me correct directions and advice to make this  happen,” he says.

“So it was amazing for me. That’s the beauty of the Irish network, and that’s the most important thing for me. So they asked me to get more involved and I said yes, I see the value in this. It’s all altruistic — none of us are getting paid. It’s literally for the love of Ireland we do it, and for helping companies like us that came in, and pull them along with us.

“I became a board member and it brought me close to some amazing Irish and Irish-Mexican people.”

The Chamber continues to grow as more Irish companies come in, the likes of Irish Whiskey companies and brands.

Blaine says there has been a lot of support from Bord Bia, the IDA and Enterprise Ireland in bringing other companies and building connections.

He sees a lot of potential for more in sectors like fintech and the food space, and encourages Irish companies to get involved and find out more.