Over the course of two years, 60 health technology businesses will get funds and commercialization assistance from the pan-African “Investing in Innovation” program.
The latest market intelligence report from healthcare consultancy company Salient Advisory, which highlights prospective African health tech start-ups in the supply chain, has just been released.
With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and in response to these results, a group of international and regional organizations is excited to announce the beginning of a pan-African project to promote businesses’ impact, access to markets, and commercialization.
More About Africa Health Tech StartUps Funding
More than 80 health tech innovators from Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, and Nigeria are featured in Salient’s paper, “Innovations in Digitising Distribution of Health Products.” Companies like Lifestores, Maisha Meds, and Shelf Life pioneered tech-enabled methods of digitizing medicine distribution to underserved pharmacies, drug stores, clinics, and hospitals.
These methods have seen rapid growth in recent years, mirroring trends in B2B e-commerce on the African continent. Additionally, innovators are displaying a growing interest in supporting rural supply chains, enhancing the accessibility of medications, and enhancing the resilience of supply chain operations.
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Investor interest has also been high; 36% of total investment revealed by innovators in the healthcare supply chain analyzed was raised in the previous year. Only 2% of recent funding, or $1.6 million, was raised by Black, female founders, demonstrating the persistence of exclusionary funding tendencies.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, AUDA-NEPAD, and AmerisourceBergen are launching a $7 million pan-African initiative to offer 60 promising early- and growth-stage companies risk-tolerant grants along with commercialization support to enable their impact at scale. This initiative is inspired by the progress and potential of African innovators in supply chain.
Salient Advisory, SCIDaR, and SouthBridge A&I are in charge of organizing the Investing in Innovation (i3) initiative, which is operationalized by CCHub, Startupbootcamp, IMPACT Lab, and Villgro Africa. Applications are currently being accepted for the first batch of 30 companies. Mid-August marks the deadline for applications.
What They Are Saying
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Africa Director, Cheikh Oumar Seydi, stated: “African health entrepreneurs have demonstrated an increased capacity to harness technology to streamline supply chains and advance access to medications.” It is time to promote these local innovations since they have the potential to alter how supply chains and healthcare systems operate. In order to collaboratively enhance African health systems and hasten the transition to universal health care, we are glad to be working with strong global and regional partners.
AVP for Global Market Access and Sustainable Access Solutions at MSD, Dr. Abdullahi Sheriff, added the following commentary: “Technology-driven innovation in the distribution of health products across Africa has advanced significantly. To increase access to medications for everyone, the health supply chain must be stimulated and scaled for disruptive innovation. We at MSD are thrilled to work together on the i3 initiative because of this.
AUDA-Dr. NEPAD’s Janet Byaruhanga, Senior Programme Officer for Health, added the following commentary: “The COVID-19 epidemic showed African inventors’ ability to use tech-enabled solutions to revolutionize drug distribution. In order to foster partnerships that strengthen the evidence, deploy innovation, improve policy environments, and facilitate crucial investments while generating worthwhile and significant employment across the continent, AUDA-NEPAD will continue to take advantage of its mandate and comparative advantage.
Director of Salient Advisory Remi Adeseun commented on the report and the i3 program’s introduction
As supply chain innovations work to improve access to high-quality pharmaceuticals, there has been significant progress over the past year. Our research offers tangible suggestions on engagement tactics to promote businesses’ growth and impact to investors, donors, and governments.
We are thrilled to introduce the Investing in Innovation program, which will link promising businesses with clients who can fuel their impact and scalability, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other distinguished partners.
Applications for the initiative can be submitted here by start-ups that distribute health products throughout Africa.