Different paths. Shared questions. A model built in the real world.
Our Story
Expand did not begin as a branding exercise or a business plan. It grew out of real conversations, real experimentation, and a belief that healthcare could become more proactive, personal, and human.
Chapter One
2019
Different starting points
Emilian launches Ilara Health, an Africa-based health technology company focused on making diagnostics more accessible. Jack graduates from the University of Edinburgh with a degree in engineering, specialising in biomechanics.
They came from different paths, one building health systems across emerging markets, the other studying how the human body performs. But both were moving toward the same questions: how do we build better models of care?
Jack Harland
Co-founder
Emilian Popa
Co-founder
Chapter Two
2022
The conversations that started it
Jack is introduced to Emilian and moves to Nairobi, Kenya to work at Ilara Health. What begins as a professional introduction quickly evolves into something deeper, long conversations about what a more preventative, more human healthcare model could look like.
This is where the early thinking behind Expand began to take shape. Not as a polished concept, but as a shared frustration with reactive medicine and a growing conviction that there had to be a better way.
Chapter Three
2023
The first proof of concept
Jack moves to Cape Town and begins building the first Expand proof of concept in Sea Point. The model moves from theory into reality, a small space designed to test whether a proactive, longevity-focused wellness hub could work in practice.
Expand was shaped through experience, not just theory. Every service, every protocol, and every client interaction informed what the model would become.
Chapter Four
2023–2024
Broadening the vision
Jack moves to Bucharest, Romania to help build a flagship European longevity hub under the Expand Labs brand, now a sister company of Expand Health. The experience of launching in a different market deepened the understanding of what the model needed to be.
Meanwhile, Emilian spends time consulting for a longevity clinic in Miami, building networks and learning from the broader global longevity space. The vision sharpened through exposure, expansion, and learning in multiple markets.
Chapter Five
2025
From concept to flagship
Expand Health's flagship location opens in De Waterkant, Cape Town, purpose-built as a longevity hub where science and experience converge. In its first year, the hub serves over 1,000 clients, with strong focus on curating the right team, refining the client experience, and proving real product-market fit.
A second hyperbaric oxygen chamber is added to meet growing demand. What started as a proof of concept is now a real business with real traction, and a model that works.
Chapter Six
2026 & Beyond
What comes next
The focus now is on growth and partnerships, deepening the Expand model and exploring how to make it more accessible. Over time, the ambition is to build a more technology-enabled membership model that brings the best of longevity science into everyday life.
The longer-term vision is to scale access to this kind of care. Not to dilute it, but to democratise it: making proactive, personalised health available to more people, in more places. That is the direction we are building toward.
Come and see what we are building
Book a tour of the Expand Health hub in De Waterkant, Cape Town. Meet the team, experience the space, and see if it is right for you.