Villgro Kenya announced an investment of $50,000 to The Pathology Network, a digital referral platform for pathologists in Kenya
Kenya has over 47,000 new cancer cases and 33,000 cancer-related deaths annually with a limited number of cancer diagnosis centres and Pathologists translating to delays in diagnosing cancer early enough for treatment.
The Pathology Network-An Artificial Intelligence-powered digital platform linking small labs to specialized labs for seamless tests referral with access to specialists remotely to shorten the turn around time for diagnosis, promoting early medical intervention for prevention and treatment.
Through The Pathology Network Platform, small labs refer the specimen to specialized regional labs for processing and slide digitization in readiness for a Pathologist to diagnose and report on the cases remotely.
Dr Joshua Kibera, Chief Executive Officer at The Pathology Network Limited termed the investment as catalytic and stated that the company would also greatly benefit from the technical assistance and business coaching offered by Villgro Kenya team.
“On behalf of everyone at The Pathology Network, I would like to thank Villgro Kenya for a meticulous and transparent due diligence process and for choosing to invest in our company. We are excited to partner with VK and look forward to revolutionizing the diagnostic space together.”
“This investment comes at a time when most investors are scaling back on deals due to the business slump being experienced in many parts as a result of COVID-19. At Villgro Kenya, we strongly feel that this is the time that enterprises need all the financial support that they can get to cushion themselves against the negative economic impact of COVID-19. We are proud to play a small role in ensuring that startups outlive the pandemic.” Wilfred – Co-founder at Villgro Kenya.
Villgro Kenya has awarded $150K in grants to 12 innovative startups from East Africa with technologies and innovations that could help in testing, monitoring, and managing aspects of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Following the call for local innovations to fight the novel coronavirus, there has been a wave of new inventions emerging from the East African ecosystem. We have seen an array of solutions ranging from 3D printed PPE, rapid testing kits, locally manufactured ventilators, emergency response platforms, and a rise in the uptake of telemedicine.
The companies selected for funding and technical assistance include:
Funding will also go to three entities locally manufacturing ventilators, including:
The grant will go towards product development, scaling up production to meet local and regional demand, and improving systems to ensure more people get access to quality and affordable healthcare during the pandemic. This is in line with Villgro Kenya’s goal to transform product and process innovations into viable and scalable businesses that impact those at the base of the pyramid (BoP).
Speaking on the grant awards, Villgro Kenya CEO, Dr. Robert Karanja said, “Innovations like these show the true resilience and grit communities have to fight health challenges in the African continent. We have come out to support these solutions because we believe they will have the greatest impact on the fight against coronavirus in Africa.”
He further added that medical diagnostics and devices are very critical in the management of the disease, which is able to significantly reduce the cost of treatment and prevent further infections of various diseases. The coronavirus has shown the world the need for more investment in this area.
“As Villgro Kenya we continue to champion for medical devices and diagnostics designed for local African markets. We need a sustainable health system geared towards point of care diagnostics to reduce the need for labs to perform medical tests. This will go a long way in reducing the workload of frontline workers and bringing down the cost of healthcare.” Dr. Karanja added.
The Villgro Kenya team will work closely with the innovators to ensure their products and services support frontline workers and widen the options to quality treatment while encouraging social distancing in low-income communities.
Gibson Murikui and Snider Mugese have been chosen to participate in the NextGen Ecosystem Builders Program alongside 45 other participants across Africa.
The management training program launched by Village Capital and the African Management Institute with support from the Dutch Good Growth Fund aims to equip mid-level management with both technical and soft skills to help them deliver better outcomes to the entrepreneurs and enterprises they serve.
According to Village Capital’s 2019 report Unlocking Pipeline Entrepreneur Support Organizations like Villgro Kenya face barriers to sustainability and growth. These barriers include talent attraction and retention, the ability to absorb increasing amounts of capital from donors, impact measurement, efficiency and productivity of internal operations, and time/budget to develop, test, and enhance products and services.
As Entrepreneur Support Organizations put most of their efforts in ensuring the success of the enterprises they support, little time is left for skill enhancement of critical team members. Programs like these equip key management with the necessary skills to deliver better outcomes.
Gibson, an Investment Manager with Villgro Kenya says this opportunity will give him an opportunity to develop both personally and professionally.
“The NextGen Ecosystem Builders program will give me an opportunity to focus both on personal improvement at a professional level and ecosystem interaction, collaboration and Improvement, which will see African enterprises not only getting the required support to move to the next level but also increased success stories with strong attribution to African Ecosystem builders.”
Speaking on her selection, Snider the current Finance Officer said the training came at the right time as she is transitioning to portfolio management. “I believe that the NextGen Ecosystem Builders management training will be a good opportunity for me to learn and grow professionally while interacting with different cultures. It will offer me a chance to understand the ecosystem better in order to engage the right stakeholders for pipeline generation, fundraising activities and connecting entrepreneurs to the right networks for mentorship.”
The management development program includes training on both technical skills and soft skills for participating mid-level team members and includes;
Participants will also have the opportunity to connect with and learn from a network of peers and mentors across the continent, dedicated to the same vision of an integrated African ecosystem. Read More
The Innovators Forum held on 28th February 2020 at the 7th Sankalp Africa Summit drew participants from Academia, policymakers, R&D funders, regulators, investors and entrepreneurs under the theme Harnessing the 4th Industrial Revolution (Hardware Innovations) to drive UHC in Africa.
The session hosted by Villgro Kenya focused on building a vibrant community and ecosystem for medical devices and diagnostics innovation and manufacturing in the region.
Fadhili Chacha CEO & founder Enzi Health (an on demand health service) and Stephen Tashobya CEO & Founder Wekebere (a prenatal diagnostic device) shared their innovation journey and how various partners helped move them to the next level to scale.
Participants were then encouraged and facilitated to reflect on their needs/goals, identify partnership opportunities that are immediately actionable and to network and pitch these opportunities.
The general consensus from the forum was that if we are to achieve UHC in Africa, we have to assess the immense potential the 4th Industrial Revolution has to drive it home and embrace partnerships as an avenue to accelerate our progress.
Villgro Kenya portfolio company Ilara Health won 1st runners up of the Sankalp Africa Awards 2020.
Led by Emilian Popa, Ilara Health provides affordable, tech-powered medical diagnostics & essential tests to patients & providers across peri-urban Sub Saharan Africa who are currently unable to access these basic life-saving tools.
The company sources for quality affordable diagnostics and leases them as a bundle to peri-urban and rural clinics. This serves as a source of revenue for them. For the leasing model, the clinics can choose to go for the subscription or pay-per-test option.
“With just a $500 (51,830 KES) deposit, doctors can more than double their daily revenue with our diagnostics bundle as against spending $5,000 (518,300 KES) on a traditional lab device or $25,000+ (2,591,500 KES) for a standard ultrasound device,” says Emilian in a previous interview
Their innovative service model helps bridge the gap between affordable diagnostics and low resource clinics. Apart from providing access to medical equipment, they train on how to use these devices, which comes with insurance cover, at no additional cost.
Beyond helping clinics in the country digitize their records, the startup is also working on the possibility of allowing them to exchange medical records, with the approval of patients, via SMS.
This year Agrocenta from Ghana clinched 1st place and Riby from Nigeria secured the 2nd runners up. The Sankalp Africa Awards supports emerging high-impact African SMEs through a rigorous program that sources scalable businesses across six impact sectors and showcases them to leading investors.