From air ambulances to fertility care: How one resignation gave birth to Wakamedics

After medical school, Victoria Duru’s fascination with aviation led her to the air ambulance sector, where she worked across multiple roles, from flight physician to administrator. However, after three years of marriage without getting pregnant, her career and personal life collided, and she had to resign. 

Four months later, she became pregnant. But the experience left her questioning why women had to put their careers on hold just to build a family. And so, Duru founded Wakamedics, a mobile fertility clinic that brings fertility care closer to patients through technology. 

In this edition of After Hours, she shares how a childhood curiosity for computers evolved into building a startup where telemedicine, AI, and digital tools are helping make fertility care fit around people’s lives. 

My first interactions with technology

My earliest memories of technology take me back to a cyber café. Long before I owned a mobile phone, my parents enrolled me in computer training. I remember learning how to create an email account and using it to communicate with my uncle in the United States. I can still remember the email address I created back then. 

At the time, I wasn’t fascinated by technology itself; I simply wanted to travel. Learning how to use a computer felt like one step closer to the bigger world I imagined. As I got older and entered university, technology became more than something I was curious about. It became part of the work I was doing.

While I was still an undergraduate, I worked with UNICEF on a campaign against female genital mutilation. I eventually became one of UNICEF’s social media partners, documenting the work happening in communities and helping amplify those stories online.

That changed how I saw technology. It wasn’t just about using a phone or…