If you are an African entrepreneur creating a solution to a health product distribution challenge in Africa, we invite you to apply for the 2023 cohort. You stand the chance of receiving a $50,000 grant as well as access to leading donors, industry and institutional players who will support introductions to customers. Up to 30 companies will be selected this round.
About Investing in Innovation Africa
Investing in Innovation Africa (i3) is a pan-African initiative for start-ups building the future of healthcare supply chains. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and sponsored by AmerisourceBergen, Merck Sharpe & Dohme (MSD), Microsoft and Chemonics, i3 is supporting the commercialization of 60 promising early- and growth-stage companies. The program connects African-led supply chain innovators to donors, industry, and government partners, to power start-ups’ growth and impact.
Benefits
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Access to markets: Investing in Innovation Africa connects innovators to leading local and international industry players as well as to financing, donors, and governments – in an attempt to help companies establish partnerships, pilot projects, contracts and investment.
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Risk tolerance finance: Investing in Innovation Africa provides systematic grants of $50,000 to all participating startups for investments in commercialization and impact.
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Investment readiness support: Investing in Innovation Africa provides participating startups with tailored investment readiness support, delivered by leading innovation experts at CCHub, Startupbootcamp AfriTech, Villgro Africa and IMPACT Lab.
Requirements
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Representative of the business must be a founder / co-founder, and at least 18 years old with a valid ID document.
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Company must be owned, led or operated by an African(s). We define this as having an African national with long-term control and management of the business, an equity stake and an active role in both strategic and day-to-day decision making. Organization does not need to be headquartered in Africa.
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Business must have a legal presence on the African continent.
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Business offerings must be focused on serving the needs of African customers
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Business must be in the early or growth stage as defined below. Nascent/idea stage companies, or mature companies (e.g. mature incumbent distribution businesses) are not be eligible.EARLY STAGEYou must have clearly defined your market, validated customer demand, developed a working prototype and product map, and begun to generate revenue, with a strong plan to scale and sustain growthGROWTH STAGEYou must have strong, well-defined revenue model, sales, and operational capabilities. Your Products and service must be primed to scale, and customer acquisition costs must be declining. You must have evidence of customer acceptance of your products (reflected in sales volumes, beyond early adopters).
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Innovators must offer data-driven products or services focused on the distribution of health products, which includes over-the-counter medicines, prescription medicines, health care consumables, medical devices, assistive health technologies, and the movement of medical waste.
This includes but is not limited to companies that are building data-driven approaches to health product distribution including medicines, consumables, devices, and more; cold chain technology; track-and-trace; direct-to-consumer delivery of health products; online pharmacies; digital marketplaces for product resupply; vendor-managed inventory for health products; counterfeit drug detection; waste management solutions, and more. Business lines do not need to focus solely on health product distribution to be considered. We will also consider non-health businesses with documented plans to offer data-driven products or services focused on health product distribution in the short-term (2-3 months).
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Nonprofits, consultancies, intermediaries, and consortiums are not eligible.
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You must show good management and governance. We are looking for efficient use of funds and a strong plan to generate further income and attract additional investments. Participants must have sustainability embedded within plans and practices.
Companies will be scored by Selection Committee, and top 10 will be pre-selected. Cohort will be harmonized across geographies, and the final 30 companies will be approved by the Steering Committee.
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Company is offering a very compelling service.
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Company is offering a unique product / service.
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Company has very high-potential leadership team
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Size of target market is large.
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Potential for growth is high.
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Potential for impacts on product availability, quality, affordability, accessibility, visibility is high.
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Company is woman-led.
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Company was founded in and operating in Francophone Africa
How to Apply
qualified? Go to Investing in Innovation on vc4a.com to apply!
Applications must be made in English or French and submitted before the 26th of June 2023. If you have concerns or challenges applying, please let us know via mail at [email protected]
visit VC4A website for more details.
Application Deadline
May 22, 2023
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