With a target fund size of $30 million and in collaboration with Jaza Rift Fund, Villgro Africa plans to build an incubator-fund platform with the goal of assisting entrepreneurs who graduate from the incubator.
“Since inception, Villgro Africa has enabled access to healthcare to those at the bottom of the pyramid. In the past seven years, Villgro has steadily invested seed funding in social enterprises with homegrown solutions that solve Africa’s healthcare and lifestyle dilemmas. To date, these enterprises have generated revenues of over $5.2 million, generated 540 jobs and touched more than 2 million lives,” said Wilfred Njagi, CEO and Co-Founder, of Villgro Africa at the launch of the firms’ 2015–2022 Impact Report.
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- The report, which was unveiled at the 2023 Sankalp Africa Conference, claims that 53 health startups have received funding totaling $2,146,401 since the initiative’s commencement. 36 of these firms, which earned the lion’s share of the incubator’s funding totaling $1,317,087, are from Kenya.
- According to Njagi, the company, which is already active in 10 countries, is also establishing a Biotech Innovation Hub to assist researchers who wish to develop marketable products.
- According to Villgro Africa, estimates put the value of the African healthcare industry at $259 billion by 2030. Africa will account for 14% of global potential in the health and wellness sector, trailing only North America, which now represents 21% of those opportunities. –
“As we continue to scale, we are excited about the launch of a Biotech Innovation Hub that will create shared value by leveraging Africa’s genetic diversity to accelerate the development of drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics for the control and elimination of poverty-related diseases, rare diseases, neglected tropical diseases and NCDs,” Njagi explained.
- Villgro’s investments in notable health firms such Lucy Enset ($20,000 in 2021), Simbona Africa ($65,000 in 2017), and Kaffabio, BioTech ($20,000) have made Ethiopia another nation to keep an eye on.
- GAPhealth, Corporate Health Ghana, MOCHcare, and Binyoh all received investments totaling up to $50,000 as part of a conscious effort to promote female inclusion in Villgro’s impact investment activities. GAPhealth received $20,000, Corporate Health Ghana received $15,000, and Binyoh received $5,000.
The potential for investors and startups in the healthcare industry is local manufacturing, according to Robert Karanja, co-founder and chief innovation officer of Villgro Africa.
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“With Africa’s population projected to hit 1.6 Billion people by 2030, coupled with a rising middle-income population, and the emergence of the double burden of disease due to lifestyle-related diseases, investment in the healthcare sector is a no-brainer. Going forward, local sources of funding will be needed. Reduced international funding would allow African governments, corporates, and others to invest in the start-up ecosystem.”
“As we celebrate 7 years of growth and impact, we are incredibly grateful for a pipeline of quality companies, for funders who believe in the vision, our board members and mentors who freely give of their time and expertise and our clients who entrust their plans to our team,” Rob Beyer, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman added.
Commending Villgro Africa’s partners, Njagi said, “While most of Villgro’s strength has been in increasing equitable access to health care, especially to the most vulnerable groups, it is through our partners that we can attribute the last seven years of success.”
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“We sincerely thank all our stakeholders and partners who have walked this journey of transforming Africa’s Healthcare sector with us; AUDA NEPAD, Johnson & Johnson Foundation, AI4D (funded by IDRC & SIDA), Boehringer Ingelheim Social Engagement (BISE), among others. With all the support we have garnered to date, we strongly believe that Villgro Africa is well positioned in mobilizing startup capital and technical assistance to where it’s most needed — to transform 30 million lives in Africa by 2030.”
Villgro Africa Fund Villgro Africa Fund
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard