Democratizing Mental Health

Freeing the bears in all of us

The birth of Panda

Panda was co-founded by Allan Sweidan and Alon Lits. Allan, a clinical psychologist, built what was to become the largest psychiatric hospital group in Southern Africa, Akeso. When Akeso was eventually sold to Netcare (JSE:NTC) in 2018, it was treating upwards of 22,000 patients a year across 13 sites. Allan served on the Netcare Exco until mid-2019.

Alon was Uber’s first employee in Africa. In his 7 years at the helm, Uber was launched into 7 countries, generating millions of rides and changing the face of transport in Sub-Saharan Africa. Alon left his role as Director for Uber in Sub-Saharan Africa in August 2020.

Introduced by a mutual friend, Allan and Alon embarked on a mission to disrupt the global mental health industry, where it's estimated that up to 80% of people who need mental healthcare don't get it because of issues including affordability, access to care and stigma. Applying their unique skills, and pulling together an incredible team of like-minded social entrepreneurs intent on making a difference, they have developed an app that has the potential to democratize the provision of mental healthcare.

Panda has grown into a cost-effective, multi-functional platform that improves exponentially: it becomes more useful to more users the more that it is used.

Pandas have a universal appeal with their playful, yin yang energy. The name also resonates with a book Allan read a hundred years ago, wherein bears, symbolizing the strong, playful human spirit, were set free from a European Zoo with dramatic consequences. Panda sets out to free the bears in all of us.