The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) recently held an event to celebrate 5 healthcare startups.
The 5 healthcare startups were feted for their completion of the Home Grown Solutions (HGS) Accelerator for Pandemic Resilience. This is an initiative that aims to accelerate the growth of African healthcare companies to strengthen Africa’s pandemic resilience.
Earlier this year, the initiative was successfully piloted in East Africa, with its first cohort of Home Grown Solutions. These consist of Access Afya, Africa Healthcare Network, Damu Sasa, MSCAN and Revital Healthcare.
Speaking at the event, Hajime Iwama, chief representative of the 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 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.”
On his part, Takeshi Oikawa BCG Managing Director and Partner said, “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 is need for increasing access to early stage, blended and working capital, improving networking opportunities for collaboration and government access.”
The Home Grown Solutions (HGS) Accelerator for Pandemic Resilience has built a supporting network. This includes the World Food Program (WFP), Africa CDC, GIZ, Rwandan Development Board, CSIR, AAIC, Ecobank Foundation, the Aga Khan Foundation, World Health Organization, UNIDO, Afreximbank and others.