5 Start-Ups Shaping East Africa’s Healthcare Celebrated

The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) held an event to congratulate 5 burgeoning start-ups who are shaping East Africa’s healthcare sector.

This is off the back of the Home-Grown Solutions (HGS) Accelerator for Pandemic Resilience, an initiative that aims to accelerate the growth of African healthcare companies to strengthen the continent’s pandemic resilience.

Earlier this year, the initiative was successfully piloted in East Africa, with its first cohort of Home Grown Solutions consisting of Access Afya, Africa Healthcare Network, Damu Sasa, MSCAN, and Revital Healthcare (more about these start-ups can be found in the notes to editors below).

H.E. Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki said,” Infectious diseases remain a great threat to Africa’s aspiration to achieve its 2063 developmental blueprint: ‘‘Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.’’

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa has learned how fragile international cooperation can be when the world is collectively threatened and challenged by a common disease threat.

Hence the need to strengthen the continent’s epidemic preparedness and response by fostering collaborative partnerships on having Home-Grown Solutions Accelerator for Pandemic Resilience that aims to strengthen Africa’s ability to respond to future disease outbreaks.”

During the event, Mr. Hajime Iwama, Chief Representative, JICA Kenya Office said, “Health, as a development issue, continues to have a significant impact on the economic and social security of countries and regions across Africa. Africa’s underlying burden of endemic diseases is the largest in the world. JICA values the concept of the Home-Grown Solutions (HGS) Accelerator as it tries to amplify the development impact through supporting the private sector in the healthcare sector. JICA will continue to support AUDA-NEPAD for leading Africa’s development with Africa’s own solutions and ownership.”

According to Takeshi Oikawa BCG Managing Director & Partner,” One of the greatest lessons learned by Africa is the urgent need to invest in its healthcare systems as a critical instrument to secure its economic development as it implements flagship projects of Agenda 2063.

To achieve this, there are a need for increasing access to early-stage, blended and working capital, improving networking opportunities for collaboration and government access, finding innovative ways to deliver business or technical support, and clarifying and streamlining regulatory, procurement and trade processes as highlighted in the Joint publication by AUDA-NEPAD & BCG on barriers to healthcare entrepreneurship in Africa.

Home Grown Solutions (HGS) Accelerator for Pandemic Resilience has built a supportive network that includes the likes of World Food Programme, Africa CDC, GIZ, Rwandan Development Board, CSIR, AAIC, Ecobank Foundation, Aga Khan Foundation, World Health Organization, UNIDO, Afreximbank, and others.