The Home-Grown-Solutions Accelerator for Health systems resilience, now in its 4th year is excited to announce the 2024 pan-African cohort. The accelerator is an initiative aimed at accelerating the growth of African healthcare companies to enhance the continent’s health systems resilience. Aligned with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 aspirations, the accelerator provides hands-on, tailored support to both growth and mature stage healthcare businesses.
Launched in 2020 by AUDA-NEPAD in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the initiative receives operational support from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm, and Villgro Africa, an experienced Pan-African Accelerator.
Over the past three years, the HGS Accelerator has supported 28 alumni who have collectively served over 13 million patients, employed over 4,600 workers, raised over $46 million in capital, and realized over $20 million in annualized manufacturing value. These achievements underscore our commitment to fostering home-grown innovations that drive significant health impacts across Africa.
This year, we are proud to support 8 new healthcare ventures alongside providing continued assistance to 2 of our alumni, demonstrating our long-term commitment to nurturing and empowering local innovators.
The Steering Committee convened on 28th June 2024, chaired by Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO of AUDA-NEPAD, to deliberate on the shortlisted companies and select the 10 ventures to be part of the 2024 cohort. The Steering Committee, whose members can be found at the bottom of this page, reflected on the increased awareness of the program and improved diversity of the companies. This was highlighted by the 102 applications received over a shorter sourcing period and good geographical representation of companies from across all parts of Africa.
Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO of AUDA-NEPAD, remarked, “There is a need to further the already impressive impact of the accelerator program by supporting even more companies, including our promising alumni group.”
With 17 Home Grown Solutions shortlisted for deliberation, the Steering Committee has chosen 8 new companies and 2 alumni to be supported as part of the 2024 cohort, all of which will receive the Accelerator’s support and are described below:
New HGS
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Jacaranda Maternity [website] is a Kenyan-based maternity-focused hospital that offers affordable quality maternal, child and general care across their 3 branches in densely populated peri urban settlements in Nairobi. |
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Pharmakina [website] is a DRC-based manufacturer using their vast lands of cinchona trees to produce quinine active pharmaceutical ingredients(APIs) and contribute 10 million quinine cures annually to the 40 million cure deficit DRC market. |
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Vula Mobile [website] is a South African-based app that health workers use to refer their patients to specialists, ensuring better healthcare outcomes, especially for the rural populations who have lower access to the specialized care. |
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KPN Teleradiology [website] is a Kenyan-based solution addressing the shortage of radiologists and reducing turnaround times by offering a system of increasing access to radiologists for accurate interpretation of reports and integrating AI in their teleradiology system. |
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Talamus [website] is an Nigeria-based 3-in-1 telemedicine software that combats high medication costs and counterfeit drugs with POS & supplier application, patient application for ordering medication, & EMR solution for providers. |
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Sammante [website] is a Senegalese microinsurance digital solution that enhances healthcare access among a majorly informally-employed population through employer sponsorship. |
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Deepecho [website] is a Morocco-based technology that utilizes AI for real-time ultrasound video diagnosis, reducing newborn deaths and disabilities. |
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Syndicate Bio [website] is a Nigeria-based genomic lab aiming to build a library of genomic datasets from the African populations to advance precision medicine and drug discovery, easing the burden of non-communicable diseases and cancer. |
HGS Alumni
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Africa Healthcare Network [website] is a Tanzania-based renal care provider, setting up centers that offer quality dialysis at an affordable cost. |
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Access Afya [website] is a Kenya-based franchise clinic solution that offers low-cost, high-quality primary healthcare in informal settlements and remote areas. |
For more information, please consult our internal microsite: Home-Grown Solutions (HGS) Accelerator for Pandemic Resilience
For information on the composition of the Steering Committee, please see the below:
- Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas (Chair) (AUDA-NEPAD, Chief Executive Officer)
- Mr. Toshiyuki Nakamura (JICA, Special Advisor to the President)
- Dr. Elizabeth Wala (Independent, Global Advisor)
- Dr. Benjamin Djoudalbaye (Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Head of Policy, Health Diplomacy and Communication)
- Ms. Kanayo Awani (Afreximbank, Managing Director, Intra-African Trade Initiative)
- Mr. Mathieu Lamiaux (Boston Consulting Group, Managing Director and Senior Partner)
- Ms. Annick Gouba-Guibal (AGC, Founder and Chief Executive Officer)
