A partnership between Southbridge A&I, Salient Advisory, and SCIDaR has led to the creation of i3, a US $7 million initiative that will annually fund and support 30 African e-health firms.
The pan-African “Investing in Innovation” program, supported by the Gates Foundation, will give 30 African e-health startups each year access to a regular grant of $50,000 USD, market and government access events across the continent, and connections to a top-tier global ecosystem in the healthcare industry.
A joint study on the financial difficulties faced by African e-health delivery enterprises was released about a year ago by the Moroccan consulting firm Southbridge A&I and its Canadian affiliate Salient Advisory. They suggested two continental platforms to offer pooled working capital solutions in Africa and to better steer foreign investment in African businesses. The first recommendation of this study is put into practice through the i3 initiative.
The pan-African initiative, worth US $7 million, will support 30 businesses annually over the course of two years that are focused on supply chain and e-health in Africa. The goal of i3 is to find early stage or growth-stage innovators throughout the continent who can have a real influence on public health, whether in terms of the accessibility, availability, quality, or transparency of health supply chains.
These businesses, who were chosen by four top accelerators on the continent, will be qualified for a systematic grant of US $50,000 as well as a market access program through conferences held all throughout the region. Startupbootcamp AfriTech in South Africa, Villgro Africa in Kenya, Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) in Nigeria, and IMPACT Lab in Morocco serve as the accelerators for Southern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, and North Africa, respectively.
Applications for the initial round of 30 firms are now being accepted here and are due on August 14.
