Zuri Health a Kenyan healthcare startup has emerged as the winner at the Sankalp Africa Awards 2022. This award ceremony took place at the Sankalp Forum.
Sankalp Forum, is an initiative of Intellecap, which is hosting its 9 th Edition of the Sankalp Africa Summit. This is one of Africa’s largest inclusive networking platforms focused on entrepreneurship and the impact investing ecosystem.
Zuri Health works by bringing to its customers, an innovative virtual hospital that allows patients to talk to a doctor, purchase medication from a pharmacy, schedule lab and diagnostic testing, and have a doctor come to their home. So far, they have over 20,000 doctor engagements and 250+ on boarded doctors.
The First Runner Up was Ecodudu, a circular economy startup in Kenya which saw an opportunity in the fact that in Kenya over 38% of the waste remains uncollected due to population growth, costs of waste disposal and lack of necessary infrastructure. This waste-to-
value company makes bio fertilizer and insect feeds for chickens, pigs, and fish using the black soldier fly. The company employs a circular production approach that makes use of small-scale farmers capability in the production process.
The Second Runner Up was Mobility for Africa, a Clean Energy startup from Zimbabwe. It provides a fully serviced three-wheeled electric vehicles (Hamba) that can travel up to 100 kilometers and carry up to 400 kilograms on a single charge. The vehicles are equipped with purpose-built batteries, and MFA provides on-site charging stations for battery swapping, as well as after-care services to ensure that small-holder farmers and other users are always on the move.
Renewable community-based transport solutions for Sub Saharan Africa that are affordable, efficient, and environmentally friendly is an idea which serves a dual purpose on both energy efficiency and the need for transportation services that serves the multitude.
Each year, the Sankalp Summit recognizes and rewards high impact enterprises in the Africa region which are keen to tackle key development challenges. The finalists get the opportunity to pitch their enterprises to a jury panel comprising of eminent business leaders and investors, as well as global investors around the world.
They have also instituted a new innovative category, the Sankalp Africa Ecosystem Award. The winner was chosen by voting by stakeholders and ecosystem players, and the winner was .
Greenpot Enterprises is an environmental startup from Kenya that operates large-scale
nurseries, establishes bamboo plantations, and processes the bamboo into products used in the
construction industry.
Arielle Molino, Sankalp Lead and AVP Intellecap Africa, had this to say, “Sankalp Forum is one of our largest initiatives that aim to bring the community together to help solve the problems that face us through cutting edge innovation and high potential entrepreneurship. Sankalp Awards and the Africa summit, today, in its 9th year in Africa, continue to showcase some of the most innovative and game changing ideas that have shown immense promise and ability to scale, disrupt and transform their respective sectors.”
Finalists at the awards included;
- Crop Nutrition Laboratory Services (Cropnuts) – an agricultural, food safety, and environmental laboratory and agronomy advisory service company that helps farmers achieve long-term profitability by rebuilding and restoring soil fertility.
- Vintz Plastics – a waste recycling company that turns plastic trash into Plastic pellets.
- Steamledge – which provides Primary and Secondary School learners early and affordable access to Technology skills that match the needs of the changing workforce, Natal Cares which combines mobile technology, machine learning and low-cost innovation to combat maternal and infant mortality.
- The Pathology Network (TPN) – which has an online platform-based operations enabling on-demand access to standardized specialized lab diagnostic tests for rural and urban hospitals.
- Swiftlab Limited – a Kenyan manufacturer and operator of drones for medical deliveries to increase access to safe, effective, high quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
The Summit which is running from March 1st to 4th is hosting over 2,000 stakeholders, from 50+ countries around the World, including participants from 30+ African countries.