Ronda.vet co-founder Ibra Hernando during his days working as a locum across Europe

Frustration To Innovation: The Shaping Of Transformative Hiring Platform

5 days ago
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5th March, 2026 15h42

It’s a warm June morning and locum vet Ibra Hernando is preparing for the first shift of an agreed two months of summer work. 

With five minutes to go before the start of his shift, the practice manager informs Ibra that, suddenly, his rates are too expensive and he must slash his prices by 40 per cent otherwise the whole deal’s off. 

It was while driving away from the practice, with two months’ planned work in the bin, Ibra knew something had to change. 

This moment of profound frustration proved to be the catalyst for the creation of Ronda.vet, a transformative SaaS platform simplifying locum work for vets, registered veterinary nurses (RVNs) and practices. 

Of course, the story of Ibra’s love for all things veterinary and passion for progress begins much earlier, with a childhood love for medicine and animals, and a spirit forged across continents. 

The seed for a career in medicine was sewn by his father, a human surgeon. 

“My inspiration to become a vet came from him, I guess,” Ibra reflects. “And I always loved animals. So, basically, I kind of mixed my love for the animals with my love for the medical side. I used to watch the surgery videos with my father when they were VHS cassettes.” 

This passion led to a remarkably peripatetic training, shaping a global perspective for Ibra, 37. 

“I started my studies in 2006. I completed my degree across five universities. I did four student exchanges one after the other in Leon, Barcelona, Slovakia, Chile and Murcia in the south of Spain.” 

This wanderlust is a family trait. “We are five siblings and us three brothers, especially, we have always enjoyed traveling and being expats.” 

His career post-graduation was no less dynamic, with two years spent working in the Canary Islands, three years in Brighton and two more in a Dutch referral hospital, before returning to the UK where he spent three of the next four years as a locum. 

“My final 18 months spent as a locum was in Leeds, Manchester and Belfast,” he says, gathering the first-hand experience that would one day fuel his pioneering and transformative business. 

It was during these years that Ibra experienced the systemic inefficiencies and occasional outright disrespect endemic to the traditional locum hiring process. The June morning stand-off was the starkest example but far from the only one. 

The logistical chaos was draining: “I remember once I arrived at a practice as a locum, they didn't even know that I was arriving! The practice manager was on holiday and when I arrived there, they basically said who are you?”  

'EVERYTHING AT YOUR FINGERTIPS'

The opaqueness of the agency model, seen from both sides, was also starkly revealing. After starting his own business and needing to hire a nurse, he saw the disconnect. 

“When you call agencies as a locum, they tell you, ‘ah, don't worry, the practice pays everything’. Then you call as a practice or as a business owner and they tell you, ‘yeah, this is the fee, but don't worry, you don't pay for it because we are going to push the locum to drop the price.’ So, then I was like, so both parties are thinking the other one is paying!” 

The daily grind of finding work was equally antiquated, with Ibra adding: “You get sent all the shifts and it basically is just a massive list of the whole country. It took me hours.”

The absurdity hit him. “It’s the United Kingdom 2026 and we're still doing spreadsheets and papers and things to get shifts for locums. It's mad. You want a taxi, you use an app. You want dinner, you use an app. 

“Everything is at your fingertips – everything apart from the most important thing for vet professionals.” 

That clarity – the need for a modern, transparent and equitable platform – was the founding principle of Ronda.vet.  

Launched in the summer of 2025, Ronda strips away the friction, connecting vets and vet nurses directly with practices. Clinicians create a detailed profile, set their own availability and rates and browse vetted shifts. Practices post their needs and manage bookings seamlessly, with contracts and payments handled securely in-platform. 

“We thought, why don’t we create an app for this,” Ibra explains. “As we knew there must be a way to streamline the process because I was wasting hours and hours to make the plan for the month.” 

Even the name carries layered meaning. “Ronda is kind of inspired by vet rounds. So, the rounds the locums do going from one place to the other in the country, then also the rounds when you have the handover in between shifts in the hospital. It's also the name of a Mediterranean city, so gives us a little bit of a Mediterranean touch!” 

The response has been resounding. Since its launch, Ronda has swiftly grown a community of more than 1,300 veterinary professionals and almost 90 UK practices who are tired of the old way of doing things. They are embracing a system built by a vet who’s lived the frustrations, for people who live them every day.

The platform is designed for the user, informed by real-world pain points. It eliminates last-minute rate changes, forgotten arrivals and hours lost to spreadsheet management. It fosters transparency, accountability and respect for both sides of the hiring equation.

For Ibra and his team, this is just the beginning. “In general, we have had very good feedback, but we know that the platform can grow and improve as no-one ever launches a perfect product so getting feedback is how you make a good product.”

The immediate focus is on strengthening their UK foundation. “We hope to hit critical mass in between the summer and the end of the year,” Ibra states. But the vision looks beyond British shores. “Once we hit that we will explore options to maybe expand to other countries,” with Europe a clear and logical next step.

From a disheartening drive away from a cancelled shift, Ibra Hernando has channelled his firsthand experience into a powerful solution, Ronda.vet is more than an app; it’s a mission to bring dignity, efficiency and modernity to the vital work of veterinary locums. 

It’s the platform the industry didn’t know it was waiting for, built by someone who knew exactly why it was needed. And for thousands of vets and practices, it seems the feeling is wonderfully mutual.

Ronda Vet is now actively inviting veterinary practices and locum professionals across the UK to join its growing community and experience its modern, streamlined and cost-effective approach to temporary staffing. 

To sign up, or for more information, visit https://www.ronda.vet/. 

Ibra Hernando CV and background

• 2006-2013: Veterinary degree
  • 2006-2009: University of Leon (Spain)
  • 2009-2010: University of Barcelona (Seneca Grant)
  • 2010-2011: University of Kosice (Slovakia)
  • 2011-2012: University Mayor of Chile
  • 2012-2013: University of Murcia (Spain) 
• 2014-2016: First opinion small animal vet in Tenerife (Spain) 
• 2015-2017: Certificate Small Animal Surgery (CertSAS) Improve International 
• First opinion small animal vet in South of England
• 2017-2021: Locum Southeast of England
• 2019-2020: Internship at Dick White Referrals
• 2020- 2021: Advanced Certificate Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery
• 2020-2022: Referral surgeon in referral hospital (Netherlands)
• 2022-2024: Locum referral surgeon UK (Manchester and Belfast)
• 2023: Founded Precise VetPro
• 2025: Co-founded Ronda.vet

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