Twenty-nine African startups have secured a total of Ksh 221.9 million ($1.45m) to enable them scale their solutions which address healthcare supply chain gaps in the continent.
Through the Access to Markets initiative by Investing in Innovation Africa (i3), each startup will get Ksh 7.7 million ($50,000) which will ensure development of the solutions to reach the market.
“Part of what i3 does is to equip the startups with the skills they need to be able to figure out what they need funding for. With that i3 is providing some small grants to each of the innovators, $50,000, to help them address some of the problems we have identified and get them started on the journey because that then positions them to even raise more funds from donors or through direct equity investments,” said Dr Uchenna Igbokwe.
During the Access to Markets event held last month, the second cohort of the initiative had a chance to meet government policymakers, investors and donors with the hope of securing partnerships that will help deliver solution to some of the challenges facing healthcare sector in Africa.
According to MSD’s Vice President, Health Equity & Partnerships, Dr Priya Agrawal, besides proving the innovators with market links, the initiative will also ensure development of local solutions to address local problems and reduce unsustainable aid to the health sector.
“For us it was it was a no brainer. We have amazing inventions and we have people who need them and we had no way to get the inventions to the people and this is the gap that i3 is bridging,” said Dr Priya.
i3 also targets to discover who the innovators in the continent reimaging the supply chain in the healthcare system are, help them build contacts and networks and secure contracts to get the products to the market.
Besides addressing supply chain gaps, the startups will also play an important role in using data analysis to help in policy direction.
“It’s not just the supply chain bits and delivery bits. It is also the goldmine of data that is going to really make ensure we deliver these products to all,” she added.
Of the 29 selected startups, 37pc of them were women-led.
