NEWS9 June 2022
Fiona Sweny, founder of SETsquared Surrey company Ingo Health, has made an exciting move to Holland & Barrett, the next step in her mission to address health inequalities by improving access to affordable healthcare. In this newly created role, Fiona leads the Science and Expert vision of the Journeys team.
The Journeys Team are creating two apps, Meno and Gut, each intended as a companion to anyone experiencing symptoms related to either menopause or gut issues. The products and information being created are science and evidence backed and will leverage Holland & Barrett’s significant brand authority and wide reach, providing trusted sources of information at scale. This will enable the company, both through its core business and its Beyond Retail brand, to champion consumers, informing, empowering and educating them to live healthier lives.
Fiona says, “Holland & Barrett invests heavily in staff training of store colleagues and it’s a good place to go to seek wellness advice. We want to give all consumers this advice at their fingertips through our apps. We are at the MVP (minimum viable product) stage and have great plans for the future, including scaling access to experts in an affordable and accessible way. More and more private menopause clinics are popping up but a consultation journey can cost well over £500. Similarly, pelvic health experts, physiotherapists, nutritionists and psychologists are all scarce resources in the NHS and can cost well over £100 a session privately. We are exploring innovative, and ways to bring these services to more people.”
Fiona was a clinician for over 12 years, first as a British Army Officer, followed by roles at England Rugby and at the Royal Ballet School, becoming aware of the health research gap in underserved groups, particularly women. She transitioned into health-tech via a Surrey MBA in order to move from providing 1:1 care as a clinician, into a role scaling access to specialist care. Addressing health inequalities by improving access to care was one of Fiona’s driving factors for starting Ingo Health.
Fiona’s work at Ingo Health, testing and iterating a number of different business models, provided her with a really quick education into fast-paced start up thinking and a focus on the importance of health economics when it comes to building health tech.
Fiona concludes, “Working with SETsquared Surrey, and undertaking the Surrey MBA, has enabled me to understand how university partnerships can accelerate potential. SETsquared Surrey provided excellent knowledge and awareness of the health tech mindset in the UK, particularly within key stakeholder groups such as NHS and Innovate UK. I feel privileged to have had these opportunities, both with SETsquared Surrey and Surrey Business School, and look forward to working with the Journeys team at Holland and Barrett, leveraging the strong brand to help people live healthier, longer lives.”