How a medical crisis birthed a 'varsity' for a Kenyan nurse

Total Health University founder Alice Munyua. [Courtesy]

When Alice Munyua was taken ill and admitted for nine days in a hospital, she didn't imagine her experience would highlight the gaps within the medical systems, opening up gates that triggered her entrepreneurial spirit.

As fate would have it, her medical crisis was the motivator, leading to her business that focuses on health training. "I had a light bulb moment, so to speak, and I was never the same again. I recovered from the medical crisis quickly and was back to work in two months," she explained in an interview.

"As you can imagine, everything has changed. I never looked at diseases and sicknesses the same way again. I started teaching people the root causes of sickness and how to get complete healing."

The episode that happened in 2017 awakened the family nurse to "notice the gaps in the way many diseases are treated."

She says the medical industry is a beautiful area to work in. The Kenyan-born US nurse who relocated to attend college in 1987 recalls how she started teaching after noticing how the medical model was broken.

"As you can imagine, everything had changed. I never looked at diseases and sicknesses the same way again. I started teaching people the root causes of sickness and how to get complete healing."

Similar venture

This is how her teaching started and Total Health University was born. She says it's a ministry.

"I feel called to teach the root causes of diseases and how to get rid of them. To me, complete eradication of a disease is total health," she observes.

Though she had tried a similar venture in 2013, it did not work! "I was compelled to teach about health and wellness back in 2013, but I was teaching what everyone else teaches. Eat fruit, exercise, drink water, eat more greens, avoid fats and sugar.

Total Health University founder Alice Munyua. [Courtesy]

With the new experience and perspective, she decided to go beyond the basics.

Total Health University dives deep into the invisible forces that cause chronic and incurable diseases.

"We go to the root of the problem and once the root is identified and eliminated, healing is inevitable. That is what is different about the services offered at Total Health University. I go above and beyond the scientific view of disease and sickness," she detailed.

While she was eager to start, the initial stages proved not easy, triggering a change in approach.

"Up until December 2023, I was offering my services for free mostly, but I was able to launch the university on December 10, 2023. This year will be our first year of business and we are planning to present our first class in March of 2024," she noted.

As the university prepares to usher in its first official cohort next month, Munyua is looking into a future full of fortunes as the university captures a global approach of borderless possibilities.

"We just launched but the future looks great. We are yet to realise returns on investment due to the nature and model of running such a business. However, registration to our programmes is going and the numbers keep increasing," she noted.

"A simple seminar session in short courses like weight management goes for 47 dollars (Sh6,838)."

The university exploits social media and technology for its training. Munyua says social media has been a key channel to reach clients, harnessing Total Health Academy which is a free podcast of different topics on health.

"I usually post podcasts on Facebook and WhatsApp, and I have been able to reach my clients like that. Once I post a certain topic, those who are interested usually get back to me with questions and requests for more information. Social media is a wonderful avenue for business."

Alongside this business, Alice is keen to pass information on human health through writing. She has so far authored 12 books covering different sectors of human health.

"The biggest challenge to total health that I have noticed is that people do not ask questions about their health, and they do not like reading, especially reading books concerning health and wellness. I am trying to tackle this problem by encouraging people to read more books. This is why I write books."

Total Health University founder Alice Munyua. [Courtesy]

Foreign country

While health books can be scary and blunt, she tries to make her writing as interesting as possible.

Born and raised in Kenya, Ms Munyua relocated to America in 1987. While her goal was to attend college and move back to Kenya, a series of events made the US her second home away from home.

She however admits doing business in a foreign country is challenging sometimes.

Initially, in her early life in the US, the medical industry was not her preference.

The entrepreneur however developed some interest after securing a scholarship. She trained and got registered to practice.

"While working and going to college, I felt drawn to work in the medical field as a nursing assistant. I cannot say for sure what impelled me to go into this line of work. I won't say that I loved the job," she recalls. "I got a scholarship to go to good schools, got papers to work in the US, and slowly learned to love the profession," she noted.

With her university getting traction and clients across the globe, Alice now plans to expand her venture into Kenya.

"At some point, we will have a branch of Total Health University in Kenya. I plan on holding the first Total Health University conference in Kenya before the end of this year," she noted.