Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and sponsored by Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, and AmerisourceBergen, i3 brings together major donors, industry leaders and African institutions to initiate a new approach to business supporting health innovations made by Africans. 

Selected startups will receive a $50,000 grant and support to catalyze growth-oriented partnerships with donors, industry leaders, and institutions.

The 30 selected startups come from 14 African countries. These companies, which are in the start-up or growth phase, offer innovative solutions, in particular for the distribution of medicines and medical equipment, the management and financing of stocks, authentication, traceability and the management of medical waste. They demonstrate that made-in-Africa solutions are poised to help transform access to health products in many ways. 47% of businesses are led by women (which the program defines as having at least one woman with an equity stake and an active leadership role), and 30% of businesses operate in Francophone Africa.

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i3 is coordinated by Salient Advisory, SCIDaR and SouthBridge A&I and is implemented by the main technological centers of the continent: CcHUB for West Africa, Startupbootcamp Afritech for Southern Africa, IMPACT Lab for North Africa and Francophone, and Villgro Africa for East Africa. These hubs are responsible for the selection process and monitoring of startups throughout the program.

On this occasion, Ann Allen, Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said that: “Innovations that are digitally based and locally led have enormous potential to help meet the challenges of access to medicines for historically unserved patients in Africa. We are thrilled to see women leaders spearheading many of these start-ups, as we know that innovation ecosystems are strengthened by diversity.”

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For his part, Efosa Ojomo, director of global prosperity at the Clayton Christensen Institute, and member of the i3 steering committee, pointed out that “i3’s emphasis on African ingenuity is long overdue — supporting local, market-creating innovations to scale will enable the continent to realize health gains, generate prosperity and weather future crises.”

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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. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexpert