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Ever lost someone close to you due to the bad healthcare system in the continent? Or do you like many others have lost hope in the healthcare sector of your country? Then, there are more ways than one to find solutions and be part of the everyday heroes who restores hope and life to other people and families through the health tech sector. Stay with me as I show you an opportunity to get your startup idea off the ground and saving lives.

The Founders Factory Africa is the African arm of the UK’s Founders Factory. Started in October 2018, FFA works to design, build and scale over 100 technology startups across Africa within five years. FFA is built on the model which includes the experience of a local and international technical specialist, access to a global network of investors and partnerships with the some of the world’s forward-thinking corporates.

Founders Factory Africa (FFA) partnering with Netcare will run an acceleration and incubation program for healthcare startups which will provide funding and support to more than 35 healthcare startups across Africa. In May, the tech hub announced its first set of investments in Africa when it partnered with South Africa’s Standard Bank, five startups – Digest Africa, LipaLater, Kudigo, Allpro, and EazyHire were selected to join its 6-months comprehensive accelerator programme and received funding between £30,000 and £100,000.

Over the next few years, the FFA program will accelerate five health tech startups a year and incubate two. Selection for the accelerator program considers startups with a Pan-African focus. Meanwhile, the FFA incubator program is open for entrepreneurs who want to build a new concept from scratch with benefits including 6 months of support, team building, validated idea, product IP, and £150,000 funding.

Startups in the accelerator program will benefit from Netcare’s support network, technologies and expertise in the healthcare sector. In return, FFA and Netcare will own between 5% and 10% equity stake in each startup. The FFA-Netcare healthcare partnership has emerged at a time when the African healthcare sector is gaining more startup attention. In different African countries, health tech innovators are using technology to address different problems affecting healthcare systems. Innovators like Arone Drones joined Zipline to develop drone technology to deliver blood and other medical supplies to remote locations beyond Nigeria to Tanzania and Rwanda and still looking to expand. Another startup, RxAll develops mobile innovations used to identify fake drugs on the continent. Ghana’s mPharma, which provides financing and inventory management for hospitals and pharmacies, raised over $9 million in January 2019.

The FFA accelerator and incubator program is one way to address the issue of poor healthcare delivery in Africa through technology.

BENEFITS

  • Operational team of local and global specialists
  • A tailored and comprehensive 6-month program
  • Corporate infrastructure and business opportunities
  • Local and global Venture Capital and investment network
  • Global access to wider Founders Family and ecosystem
  • £30,000 cash and over £100,000 in services

ELIGIBILITY

  • Startups that are in-market, with customers/users, post-revenue (not necessarily profit-generating) which means the accelerator program is more suitable for growth stage startups.
  • Strong founding team
  • A business that shows perspective to scale Africa-wide
  • Technology-enabled, but not necessarily tech-focused
  • In sectors including finTech, health, retail, energy, transportation, education
  • Any country in Africa, or outside Africa but wishing to enter/scale into the continent

Application for the accelerator program is currently open till September 6, 2019. Interested? Apply here. Your startup could be one of those accelerated that can provide immediate help to the dire situation of healthcare in this continent.

Sources:

Tech Cabal

Founders Factory Africa

Featured image source: Ventureburn

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This article was first published on 1st July 2019

aanu-olajide

Aanuoluwapo Olajide is a freelance writer who believes that words are fundamental blocks and are the force of life and death. She is a tech enthusiast, fashion designer and a lover of words.

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