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Home Grown Solutions (HGS) Accelerator Africa

Click here to apply if you are a health venture

Click here to apply if you are a climate venture

Deadline: 19th May 2026

The Home Grown Solutions (HGS) is an acceleration programme focusing on African companies across 2 sectors:

  1. Healthcare ventures strengthening Africa’s health systems across any healthcare subsectors increasing resilience including:
    1. Diagnostics & Medical Devices
    2. Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Products
    3. Digital Health & Health Technology
    4. Maternal, Newborn & Child Health
    5. Disease Prevention & Management
    6. Health Workforce & Training
    7. Health Supply Chain & Logistics
  2. Climate-focused ventures driving climate resilience across 4 sub-sectors:
    1. Energy & Power – Ventures focused on increasing access to and use of clean and affordable energy across Africa including:
      1. Decentralized energy systems such as off-grid solar, mini-grids, battery storage and green hydrogen
      2. Innovative access and use models such as pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) clean energy solutions and waste-based clean cooking technologies
    2. Mobility & Transport – Ventures providing sustainable mobility and transport solutions across Africa including:
      1. Low-carbon vehicles and electrification solutions e.g., e-mobility, two-wheelers and fleet electric vehicles
      2. Efficient logistics and transport services including last-mile delivery, low-carbon logistics and green port solutions
    3. Waste & Circular Economy – Ventures that develop solutions that reduce waste and promote circular economy principles across Africa including:
      1. Waste reduction through resource efficiency and packaging optimization, recycling and re-use
      2. Repurposing solutions including e-waste and marine plastics recycling and responsible disposal of hazardous waste
    4. Nature-Based Solutions – Ventures developing solutions that protect, restore and sustainably manage Africa’s natural ecosystems including:
      1. Habitat protection and preservation
      2. Anti-poaching and sustainable tourism initiatives
      3. Restoration and rehabilitation efforts e.g., wetland restoration, coral gardening, forest ecosystem rehabilitation and nature-based carbon removal solutions

The accelerator was originally founded in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to unlock the potential of local private sector solutions to strengthen Africa’s health systems and fill the gap in support mechanisms for specific sectors and mature stage companies. Since the pilot in 2021 and successful Pan-African expansion in 2022, we have supported 46 healthcare ventures across 36 African countries , with the support of a Steering Committee and Advisory Panel consisting of leading experts and investors in relevant healthcare topics.  Together, these ventures have raised $82 M in additional capital, achieved $24M in added annualized manufacturing value, served 48 million patients across the continent and employed 6K+ total staff across Africa.

In 2026, building on this proven track record and recognizing the growing need for climate action in Africa driven by escalating climate risks, the programme expands its mandate for the first time beyond healthcare to also support companies contributing to climate resilience.

The programme is an initiative of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), financially supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and implemented in partnership with Villgro Africa, BCG and other leading private and public organizations.

We are looking for promising healthcare & climate ventures to join our 2026 cohort!

The selected companies will receive highly customized advisory support delivered by a world class panel of experts. We will work in collaboration with your team to design and deliver a customized, four-month acceleration roadmap, to support your company’s specific growth needs across three key areas: Context specific advisory, investor readiness and matching to strategic partners.

In order to be selected for our 2026 cohort, you must meet 3 application criteria per sector:

Healthcare venture eligibility criteria:

  1. You can be described as a Home Grown Solution, meaning you must …
  • Operate mainly or solely in Africa (preference for companies operating across countries)
  • Employ mostly local staff in the markets in which you are active
  • Have strong African representation in your leadership
  1. You are a growth or mature stage venture, meaning you must …
  • Be registered as a for-profit entity
  • Express ambition and potential to scale beyond your current size
  • Demonstrate clear market traction and sizable customer base
  • Growth stage: You have identified a strong product-market fit in your core offering / have proven the core concept of your venture, and are in the process of scaling and growing your venture
  • Mature stage: You have successfully proven that your core offering is viable at scale, ideally across multiple markets
  1. You strengthen Africa’s health system, for example …
  • You manufacture medical consumables or devices on the continent
  • You provide healthcare services to patients, be it diagnostic, treatment or otherwise
  • You provide technology solutions to strengthen health access or delivery

Climate-focused venture eligibility criteria:

  1. You can be described as a Home Grown Solution, meaning you must …
  • Operate mainly or solely in Africa (preference for companies operating across countries)
  • Employ mostly local staff in the markets in which you are active
  • Have strong African representation in your leadership
  1. You are an early, growth or mature stage venture, meaning you must …
  • Be registered as a for-profit entity
  • Express ambition and potential to scale beyond your current size
  • Demonstrate clear market traction and sizable customer base
  • Early stage: You are still proving product-market fit and/or viability of your core offering
  • Growth stage: You have identified a strong product-market fit in your core offering / have proven the core concept of your venture, and are in the process of scaling and growing your venture
  • Mature stage: You have successfully proven that your core offering is viable at scale, ideally across multiple markets
  1. You strengthen Africa’s climate resilience in the focus sub-sectors, for example …
  • You manufacture or distribute clean energy products or services
  • You provide sustainable mobility or transport solutions
  • You manage waste or develop circular economy solutions
  • You develop or implement nature-based solutions

You will find more information about the accelerator and eligibility criteria here. This application needs to be filled in one-go. Therefore, if you want to prepare the answers in advance and discuss with your team, kindly access the full set of questions here (for health) and here (for climate).

Before proceeding with the application process, please have prepared PDFs (max 5MB) that describe the qualifications of your company founders and leadership team as well as any pitch deck or company description document you would like to share.

Questions? Please contact [email protected]

Disclaimer: All information submitted will be kept confidential