Innovators get $7 million dollar investment to… Leave a comment
A Salient Advisory, a HealthTech Consultancy firm’s market intelligence report, launched recently indicates that 69 per cent of Ghanaian innovators operate in both urban and rural areas, ensuring health products are available nationwide.
According to the market intelligence report, which was funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation a $7 million investment in an innovation programme, has been launched to provide 60 promising early and growth-stage companies with access to markets and commercialization support to power their scale.
Ms Remi Adeseun, the Director of Salient Advisory, explained that 69 per cent of innovators operate in both urban and rural areas, mPharma was identified as the main health tech innovator, having raised 99.8 per cent of the total $87.6 million funding.
Early this year, the team announced a $35 million, making them the fastest-growing innovator with consumer and provider-facing product distribution offerings in Ghana, she revealed.
She said the report also revealed that telemedicine and Online pharmacy have also seen some positivity with local regulation coming to play strongly as 60 per cent of health innovators has adopted this approach.
“The good thing in this report is that 23 per cent of innovators were founded in the last two years and 15 per cent operate in more than one country,” she said.
However, the lack of an all-female-led health tech innovator sparked a conversation around gender-based funding. Ghana recorded a zero per cent share of female-led innovators as opposed to males.
Ms Adeseun was optimistic about the future of the sector and encouraged more women to take up the challenge in the health tech innovation sector of the Ghanaian economy.
“There has been considerable progress over the past year as supply chain innovations work to enhance access to quality medicines. Our report provides investors, donors, and governments with actionable recommendations on engagement strategies to advance companies’ growth and impact.
“With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and along with our esteemed partners, we are excited to be launching the Investing in Innovation program to connect promising companies to customers who can power their impact and scale,” she said.
The report highlights more than 80 health tech innovators in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, and Nigeria. Tech-enabled approaches to digitizing medicine distribution to underserved pharmacies cover drug shops, clinics, and hospitals, pioneered by companies operating in that sector.
