Africa Young Innovators for Health Award

The Africa Young Innovators for Health Award is IFPMA and Speak Up Africa’s flagship program to support young African entrepreneurs working on innovative health solutions reach their full potential by providing them with financial, social, and human capital support.

The Africa Young Innovators for Health Award is a new IFPMA intiative, together with Speak Up Africa, that provides mentorship, financial support, visibility and support with intellectual property protection of young African entrepreneurs’ healthcare innovation. For its first edition, launched in 2021, the Award focused on supporting innovations that can make a real difference to healthcare workers, a critical backbone of a well-functioning healthcare systems.

The Award is supported by AMREF Health Africa, BroadReach, Ecobank Academy, IntraHealth International, Microsoft4Afrika, the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle, the Ouagadougou Partnership, the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, and Social Change Factory, alongside media partners: Africa.com, Télésud, and SciDev.Net.

Africa has the youngest and fastest-growing population on the planet. By 2050, Africa’s youth population (aged between 0 and 24 years old) will increase by nearly 50 percent. Twenty-two percent of Africa’s working-age population are starting businesses – the highest entrepreneurship rate in the world.

Youth populations offer the potential of rapid social and economic transformation, especially if they are supported by a favorable ecosystem that uplifts and empowers them. Yet more investment in human capital is needed for this demographic potential to reap the development rewards.

The Africa Young Innovators For Health Award is an investment in the human capital of Africa’s promising young entrepreneurs. The Award provides financial and in kind support to three winners of the Award so they can advance their healthcare solutions and develop their potential as enablers of change, both in their communities and worldwide.

Launched in 2021, the first edition of the Award concentrated on innovation for healthcare workers. The COVID-19 pandemic amplified our awareness of the critical role doctors, nurses, healthcare professionals, and community care workers play, not only in providing essential services that treat and prevent diseases, but also in promoting health and delivering healthcare services to individuals, families, and communities. The shortage of human and financial resources across the continent put a strain on healthcare workers and the healthcare system. New solutions can be found and three young African entrepreneurs were awarded for finding them.

The winners of the first edition of the Award are:

First prize – Conrad Tankou, CEO, GIC Space (Cameroon)
Second prize – John Mwangi, CEO, Daktari Media (Kenya)
Third prize – Imodoye Abioro, CEO, Healthbotics (Nigeria)

Award winners received a total of $75,000 in financial support and access to business mentorship programme, media training and technical support with intellectual property protection, plus exposure to a renowned network of global health leaders.

Recognising that only one fifth of applications came from women, IFPMA and Speak Up Africa launched the Women Innovators Incubator, an initiative aimed at addressing the gaps in female-led innovation and tackling the additional hurdles women have to face to help take their business ideas from concept to implementation.

Amongst the 15 finalists of the Awards, three female applicants were selected to participate in the Program.

The participants of the 2022 Women Innovators Incubator are:

Nuriat Nambogo, CEO of MobiCare
Marie Chantal Umunyana, CEO of Umubyeyi
Angella Kyomugisha, Co-Founder and COO of Kaaro Health

As part of the Program, they benefit from financial support, a business mentorship programme, media training, and access to an expert network of supporters and partners working across, digital, healthcare, and media.