Cecilia and James Robinson are co-CEOs of their health tech startup, Tend Health, which launched in October 2020 with a mission to revolutionise that most essential and core element of healthcare – your general practitioner clinic.

Known for launching and scaling startups – including My Food Bag, a business fronted by chef and dietician Nadia Lim which became New Zealand’s third-largest food retailer – the co-founders say Tend has become Aotearoa NZ’s third-largest primary healthcare provider.

Tend is a hybrid primary healthcare provider, blending physical clinics with digital services through an in-house app.

It currently has 145,000 patients whose care is provided by a team of 500 across 24 clinics, 14 of which are integrated into the Tend platform.

Table talk

BusinessDesk technology writer Peter Griffin, describing the scale of what Tend is trying to achieve, says it is “at the forefront of trying to modernise GP healthcare”. He points to Tend’s equity partnerships with iwi groups and its innovation in telehealth.

Not every husband and wife can work together, but the Robinsons say they talk about work constantly. 

"It’s part of our life, not separate from it. It might not always be balanced, but it’s authentic to who we are. Some of Tend’s biggest ideas, from service design to health campaigns, were discussed in the bathroom, the bedroom, and at our kitchen table,” they say.

Cecilia tends to attract more of the attention, but is staunchly loyal to James, and theirs is a true partnership.

Drive and commitment

The Robinsons are shortlisted finalists in the startup category of the inaugural BusinessDesk CEO Index.

The judging panel especially rated Cecilia’s formidable principles and drive and said she "personifies what drive and commitment can achieve".

“She is a highly motivated leader. She wants to improve the New Zealand health system through a bold move. She cares about her team, her investors, and NZ Inc. She is not afraid to rock the boat if that's what it takes to achieve good outcomes.”

BusinessDesk asked the Robinsons about their experience in dealing with the five criteria in the CEO Index: vision, impact, innovation, resilience, and influence.

Vision: The couple are clear about what they are trying to achieve. “Our purpose at Tend is simple but powerful – to help New Zealanders be the healthiest people in the world.”

This was their stated intent at the outset and remains their purpose, they say. “Our beliefs are that healthcare should be equitable, accessible, and designed for every person and whānau. And our greatest imaginable goal is to build a 100-year healthcare company that creates lasting impact for future generations.”

Impact: The Tend co-founders gauge their impact by monitoring a number of changes for people, particularly those who have traditionally been, or felt, left out of the healthcare system.

“Across Aotearoa, the results are clear. In regions where access was most limited, Māori and Pasifika enrolments have increased by more than 60%, and in some areas by over 180%,” they say.

“Clinics that once faced month-long wait times are now seeing patients within days. Patient experience scores have lifted from around 65% to consistently 95% across the group.” 

The Robinsons have also launched online 24/7 healthcare services, with appointments available within two hours.

Innovation: The couple believe their leadership is bringing fresh energy and capability to the health sector, and they encourage their teams to experiment and learn fast.

“For too long, there’s been an assumption that only ‘health people’ can solve health problems, but we’ve proven the opposite.”
They say Tend brings together world-class clinicians, engineers, designers, and health experts for its solutions.

“We fundamentally believe that while not all of us are clinicians, we are all patients, and that perspective is equally important. We experience the system, we fund it as taxpayers, and we have a shared responsibility to ensure that investment is directed where it makes the greatest impact.”

Innovations that Tend has brought to the health sector include Tend Scribe, an AI-powered note-making tool that frees clinicians to focus on patients, the OnlineNow 24/7 healthcare service, and Virtual in Clinic, which makes healthcare accessible anywhere, anytime, they say.

Resilience: The Robinsons have had their own health crises that they’ve had to come back from, including the heartbreak of having a stillborn daughter as well as a late-pregnancy loss.

Those experiences tested them deeply, they say, and they had to go back to work and face their teams and businesses soon after.

“What helped us through was honesty, vulnerability, and leaning on each other. We learned that true resilience isn’t about putting on a brave face, it’s about being open, authentic, and allowing others to support you.”

Their personal loss shaped their decision to start Tend. “Tend exists because of what we lived and learned within the healthcare system.” 

Influence: After My Food Bag, Cecilia and James – serial entrepreneurs – could have stepped back, but that was never an option for them.

“Our influence, we hope, is seen as courage in action, leading with purpose and conviction to fix something fundamentally broken,” they say. “We didn’t choose the easy path; we chose the meaningful one.”

Good books: Cecilia recommends Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear, and Leading: Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United by Sir Alex Ferguson. She says both are about purpose, mindset, and building habits that create long-term success. James has enjoyed Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe novels.

Sliding doors: “If we could swap jobs, it would probably be with someone in a more fun role,” say the Robinsons. “Healthcare is deeply meaningful, but it’s relentless and high stakes, and sometimes it’s hard to pause and celebrate the wins.”

James has always loved art and once dreamed of being a potter, and Cecilia’s parents are teachers, so, she says, her passion for education runs deep.

● Cecilia and James Robinson are finalists in the startup category of the inaugural BusinessDesk CEO Index. The category winner and overall winner will be announced on Nov 18. 

● Read more of the BusinessDesk CEO Index here.