24 June 2022.
By the Award program team

The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO) has featured the Africa Young Innovators for Health Awardees and shortlisted applicants on its new African Innovators Network platform to acknowledge their innovative healthcare solutions. The platform showcases over 90 inspirational innovations from across the African region, with the aim of connecting different international and local players in the innovation ecosystem to identify and support ideas emerging from the African continent.

Featured Awardees include Conrad Tankou (GICMED), John Mwangi (Daktari Media), Imodoye Abioro (Mediverse), and Women Innovators Incubator participants Nuriat Nambogo (MobiCare), Marie Chantal Umunyana (Umubyeyi Elevate), and Angella Kyomugisha (Kaaro Health).

Alongside the Awardees, the marketplace showcased innovations from shortlisted applicants: Dysmus Kisilu (SolarFreeze), Emmanuel Kamuhire (A-Lite Vein Locator), Harrison Suhnfor (H&S Technologies), Mohamed Taha Ben Mhenni (Vitah), Peaceman Rwema (PharmaDoc), Richard Seshie (Allo Sante), Sesinam Dagadu (SnooCODE RED), Stephen Ogweno (Stowelink), and Chrispin Akuzwe (Smart Chair).

According to WHO, locally generated innovations harness the rapid growth in information and mobile technology to accelerate better health outcomes, reduce inequities, and drive disease prevention and care. However, innovators still face significant barriers toward scaling across Africa due to limited innovation-friendly policies to support establishing a robust innovation ecosystem in the continent.

To support African innovators and their innovative solutions, WHO AFRO developed a virtual marketplace that showcases inspirational innovations and connects them with international and local players in the innovation system. By identifying promising health innovations, delineating critical paths forward, and working with different stakeholders, including funders and governments, this virtual marketplace can help bring these innovations to scale.

On World Intellectual Property (IP) Day, 26 April 2022, the Africa Young Innovators for Health Awardees shared their experiences as young health innovators during a high-level panel discussion on “Innovating for Better Health: Supporting Young Innovators through IP.” The discussion focused on the critical elements – financial support, visibility with investors, and understanding of IP and incentive systems – needed for a sustainable health innovation ecosystem to function and advance promising, disruptive solutions designed by young innovators.

Awardees Conrad Tankou and Nuriat Nambogo joined Yacine Djibo, Founder and Executive Director, Speak Up Africa; Thomas Cueni, Director General, IFPMA; and other award-winning innovators and global health IP leaders.

Young people are not merely recipients of innovation but co-creators of the future they inherit. “In Africa, we have so many challenges, especially in health that are all around us. We need solutions that are affordable and scalable and we can come up with such solutions,” Nuriat Nambogo from MobiCare Uganda said. Nuriat also highlighted that MobiCare said. explained that MobiCare Uganda explained that “funding is a challenge when it comes to women innovators.

In addition to funding, Nuriat highlighted the limited training and support to not only women innovators, but all innovators in Africa for developing new healthcare technologies and filing for IP protection.

Conrad Tankou, CEO of Global Innovation and Creative Space (GIC Space), highlighted similar challenges in building the proprietary GICMED technology to increase access to cancer screening, testing and treatment for women in rural and peri-urban areas. “Whenever asked who owned the rights to this technology, I used to give a straightforward answer that it was either GIC Space or me. And yet there was no protection for what we were building.”

The Awardees’ challenges are not unique; they reflect challenges many innovators in developing countries face when seeking to solve pressing global health challenges. IFPMA and Speak Up Africa formed the Africa Young Innovators for Health Award and the Women Innovators Incubator to create a supportive platform for young innovators, not only through financial support but also access to dedicated business and IP protection expertise.

“From our first edition, we received over 300 high-quality applications that reflected a dynamism that no one was talking about. But everything we hear and talk about today is reflected in these entrepreneurs and their innovations. These programs offered extra support and visibility of their work,” said Yacine Djibo, Executive Director, Speak Up Africa.

Conrad recommends all entrepreneurs in developing countries take IP seriously, especially at the start of their journeys. “The same way we consider research and development to understand the problems we want to solve in the market should be equivalent to understanding intellectual property because it gives you incredible value and credibility for what you’re trying to build.”

Thomas Cueni, Director-General, IFPMA, pointed out the need to support the enormous talent pool within Africa, noting that a fifth of Africa’s working population are starting new ventures and willing to take risks to solve the challenges they see in their environments. “Today, we have seen programs propose concrete solutions for challenging the barriers young innovators face. But we have also learned how young innovative ideas are protected and supported by IP. For any innovator, IP is an incentive. IP must also be used to promote access,” he said

He closed the discussion by marking World IP Day as the beginning of a new area of innovation for health progress but only if the full power and potential of young people innovating solutions for our most significant global health challenges are recognized.

Every April 26, WIPO celebrates World Intellectual Property Day to learn about the role that intellectual property (IP) rights play in encouraging innovation and creativity. This year the theme of World Intellectual Property Day is “IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future” and celebrates youth-led innovation and creativity. World Intellectual Property Day 2022 is an opportunity for young people to find out how IP rights can support their goals, help transform their ideas into reality and make a positive impact on the world around them.

Each year on May 25, Africans around the globe celebrate Africa Day to reflect on progress made on the continent. It is a time to take stock of the transformative power of young entrepreneurship and how it is changing the face of healthcare delivery and supporting healthcare workers across Africa. As we mark the end of the first-ever Africa Young Innovators for Health Award programme, it is also an opportunity to celebrate the journeys of our six Awardees: Conrad Tankou, CEO of GICMED; John Mwangi, CEO of Daktari Online; Imodoye Abioro CEO of Mediverse; Angella Kyomugisha, Co-Founder of Kaaro Health; Nuriat Nambogo, Founder of MobiCare; and Marie Chantal Umunyana, Founder of Umubyeyi Elevate.

From advancing clinical trials, expanding teams and resources, improving innovations, refining plans to enter new markets and piloting environmentally-safe clinics, the young, innovative entrepreneurs are thriving and advancing their healthcare solutions with the support of the Award programme’s financial and in-kind support.

Their success on this programme has been transformational. Global Innovation and Creativity Space (GIC Space) has officially put forward clinical trials to show the potential impact of its GICMED proprietary technology on screening, testing, and treating cervical and breast cancer in rural and peri-urban settings. Led by Conrad Tankou, the first prize winner of the Award, GICMED is a telemedicine platform, a smartphone digital microscopy system, a smart speculum device, a simple fine needle aspirate biopsy device, and an intuitive e-learning and training platform. By showing the technology’s impact in an evidence-based manner, he believes this will demonstrate GICMED’s effectiveness and use in more health facilities as he seeks to reach more women living in the most remote settings.

Second prize winner, John Mwangi, has upgraded Daktari Online’s content, user interface, and experience to cater to the growing number of health workers using the platform for continuous medical education and re-licensure. Daktari Online is accredited by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) to provide medical education to over 15,000 professionals ranging from general practitioners, clinical officers, and other primary healthcare professionals in Kenya. He continues to develop his offering and seeks to enter new markets with Daktari Online.

Mediverse, an AI-powered electronic medical records system, has finished testing and improving its word error rate of transcription and is preparing to onboard more than 200 health facilities in Africa. Led by Imodoye Abioro, the innovation allows health workers to input and retrieve patient records with their voices, working with or without internet access on any device. Imodoye has scaled up operations in his home country, Nigeria, with two offices in Lagos and Abuja, coupled with growth marketing efforts on the back of his renewed go-to-market strategy devised through his business mentorship.

Angella Kyomugisha developed and piloted an environmentally friendly version of Kaaro Health’s telehealth-enabled clinics in time for roll-out to some of Uganda’s island communities. This Women Innovators Incubator participant leads the team at Kaaro Health, a social enterprise deploying telehealth-enabled container clinics staffed by a nurse and a lab technician from the local communities in villages with no clinic within a 25-kilometre radius. As a result, the Kaaro Health team provides improved access to primary health care services, especially in rural communities, thus reducing the time and cost burdens of seeking care.

Mobicare, led by Nuriat Nambogo, connects doctors and patients through its mobile-based online platform, bridging the gap between patients and medical professionals through appointment scheduling. The application also helps doctors manage their daily schedules at different health facilities with patient appointments and plan for future reviews. Her team finalized a pilot study to test the viability and implementation of the mobile application. The findings have helped develop an improved version of MobiCare that can be deployed and marketed countrywide.

Marie-Chantal Umunyana finalized her web platform and educational content on parenting, early childhood development, and mental health in Rwanda. This content focuses on supporting soon-to-be mothers and parents along their journeys, right from preparation and pregnancy to parenting. Additionally, Umubyeyi Elevate launched the “Be Space”, a safe space where women can meet and safely share their thoughts, experiences, and motivation and receive advice and empowerment directly from experts and one another.

With a mission to support pioneering young health entrepreneurs across Africa to bring their innovations to life, the Africa Young Innovators for Health Award will continue to shine a spotlight on Africa’s dynamic healthcare innovation ecosystem and celebrate the power of youth-led African innovation.

Exclusive interview with Awa Babington-Ashaye, head of GHF workstreams’ strategy & coordination of GHF organization, on Africa’s representation at the Forum

As part of the ninth edition of the Geneva Health Forum (GHF), themed “Covid-19 Pandemic and Environmental Emergency: Reinventing Global Health in Times of Global Changes,” the Award Team sat down with Awa Babington-Ashaye, head of GHF workstreams’ strategy & coordination and founder of Adenium Healthcare, to talk about how the GHF is promoting and supporting health innovation, specifically African innovators, to solve the region’s most pressing healthcare challenges.

Awa explains that, since its launch in 2006, the GHF has been fostering better access to healthcare, promoting research, and training health actors on a global scale. It is also recognized as one of the largest biennial global health conferences with an average of 1, 500 participants annually (this year 1,698 participants joined in person and 295 joined virtually), bringing together various actors from the private sector, academia, incubators, and financial institutions every two years.

When asked about the importance of innovation and technology at the Forum, Awa refers to the “exciting discussions that were held about how health, innovation and technology can enable better targeting of public health interventions on a global scale to maximize their effectiveness.”

When it comes to Africa, Awa sees the great opportunities that technology has for the continent. According to Awa, “the future of healthcare in Africa relies on multiple factors – one being the ability to seize the opportunities from innovation and new technologies.”

Awa believes that African solutions to African challenges are the best way forward and the way to get there is through African entrepreneurship and a supportive innovation ecosystem. In her opinion, the internet is one of those major opportunities. “Africa has one of the world’s largest penetrations of the internet and smartphones. Sadly, we still observe too many countries where people are dying from preventable and curable diseases,” she said. Therefore, “sustainable solutions can be found by developing adequate, accessible approaches that met the local health system’s constraints hence African solutions are essential.”

When asked about the theme of the session and the opportunity for innovation in Africa it presents, Awa explains that, “The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented catalyst for innovation in Africa. We all observed how young African entrepreneurs developed new initiatives to build resilience in the communities to help tackle the pandemic, including telemedicine, digital platforms to tackle the infodemic, contact tracing applications, or new models to support health workers in the delivery of care. The ability to be creative and serve the health needs of populations in constrained settings is an important example to look at,“ she said.

Awa then discussed with us how African innovators can play a bigger role in shaping global health. “This is why the Geneva Health Forum could benefit from lessons learned from African entrepreneurs to reflect on effective approaches needed to reinvent global health during major health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Africa is undoubtedly leading in so many ways in the health space. It is also important to consider rethinking the paradigm in solving global health challenges and how we see Africa and Africans’ role in that equation. Africa’s representation is fundamental. Beyond ensuring better visibility for Africa in the global health scene, the stakes are higher,” she added.

The Africa Young Innovators for Health Award focused particularly on solutions for healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. On this, Awa said, “African entrepreneurs, through their resilience and remarkable ability to get the most from different local constraints, have supported healthcare professionals, but also whole communities.”

For Awa, the investment in Africa’s health and technology sector is increasing and, particularly in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is another reason for bringing the learnings of those successful ventures to the table at the GHF. She explains that the GHF team conducted workshops focusing on the issue of pharmaceutical distribution in Africa, but also sessions and collaboration on the topic of neglected diseases in Africa , including Noma and sleeping sickness. They also organized a panel discussion on how to drive equity through ‘virtual healthcare pathways.’

Award winners Conrad Tankou (CEO of GICMED), Nyambura Muroki (Head of Operations & Strategy at Daktari Media), Nuriat Nambogo (CEO of Mobicare), and Sesinam Dagadu (SnooCodRed), who was shortlisted for the Award, were selected to present their innovations to hundreds of global health actors at the 2022 edition of the Geneva Health Forum.

Ms Babington-Ashaye is a biochemist by training, and a specialist of virology and molecular biochemistry. Awa has led several public health initiatives related to the prevention and diagnosis of various infectious diseases (Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya, Malaria) in different regions of the world and West Africa in particular. Well-versed in the field, she shared her view on the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa and the role of innovators but also explained why African entrepreneurs’ participation in the Forum was important.

Awardees from the Africa Young Innovators for Health Award showcased their game changing innovations to key actors at the Geneva Health Forum from 3-5 May 2022. Conrad Tankou (GIC Space), Nuriat Nambogo (MobiCare), and Nyambura Muroki (Daktari Online), pictured on News front page, alongside shortlisted applicant Sesinam Dagadu (SnooCODE Red), were present for the Forum.

During the 9^th edition of the Forum, under the theme “Covid-19 Pandemic and Environmental Emergency: Reinventing Global Health in Times of Global Changes,” the entrepreneurs presented their healthcare solutions, which aim to protect, support, equip, and train healthcare professionals who have been working tirelessly to protect and treat the public amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, to various attendees.

Their innovations were part of more than 100 global innovations at this year’s Global Health Lab, an innovation fair and one of the critical elements of the Forum focused on showcasing breakthroughs in healthcare ranging from telemedicine diagnostics and treatment to affordable medical devices.

The Geneva Health Forum brings together more than 1,600 participants in person and over 290 virtually from all sectors – field practitioners, academics, professors from the public and private sector, policymakers, and international and non-governmental organizations – for dynamic conversations on improving health and care access worldwide. The Forum also gives visibility to innovative field experiences, especially by promoting innovative practices that enhance access to care in resource-limited settings.

The Geneva Health Forum (GHF) is the forum that brings together key global health actors. Created in 2006, it is organized by the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and the University of Geneva in partnership with 30 global multisectoral organizations, with the overall goal to contribute to improving health and care access in the world. At the heart of International Geneva, the Geneva Health Forum provides a continuous platform for collaboration and holds one of the largest Global Health conferences every two years. This year’s GHF conference took place from 3 to 5 May 2022, under the theme: “Covid-19 Pandemic and Environmental Emergency: Reinventing Global Health in times of Global Changes.”

The Africa Young Innovators for Health Awardees Conrad Tankou (GIC Space), Nuriat Nambogo (MobiCare), Nyambura Muroki (Daktari Online) alongside Sesinam Dagadu (SnooCODE Red) have been selected to showcase their innovations during the Geneva Health Forum starting today, Tuesday 3rd May 2022.

Under the theme “Covid-19 Pandemic and Environmental Emergency: Reinventing Global Health in Times of Global Changes”, the entrepreneurs will introduce their disruptive solutions aiming at protecting, supporting, equipping, and training healthcare professionals who have been working tirelessly to protect and treat the public amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the 3rd to the 5th of May, the Geneva Health Forum (GHF) will bring together industry players working on global health issues. And will allow them to connect with political decision-makers to further discuss solutions. It will also offer visibility to innovative, accessible, sustainable practices, tools, and critical initiatives.

The Geneva Health Forum (GHF) is the forum that brings together key actors to help find solutions to global health challenges. Created in 2006, it is organized by the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and the University of Geneva in partnership with 30 global multi sectoral organizations, with the overall goal to contribute to improving health and care access in the world. At the heart of International Geneva, the Geneva Health Forum provides a continuous platform for collaboration and organizes one of the largest Global Health conferences every two years. The GHF conference gathers 1600 participants from all sectors – field practitioners, academics, professionals from the public and private sectors, international and non-governmental organizations, and policy-makers. It also gathers a network of actors active in the innovation field from the Health Valley and beyond.

Yet, young innovators are many times without sufficient support to overcome critical challenges in fulfilling the potential of their innovations – from concept and strategy to implementation and scale. These young entrepreneurs, especially young women and those in low- and middle-income countries, face financial barriers, low visibility with investors and policymakers, limited understanding of IP and incentive systems, and lack of support from business mentors.

On World Intellectual Property (IP) day, Africa Young Innovators for Health Awardees Conrad Tankou (CEO, GIC Space) and Nuriat Nambogo (Team Lead, MobiCare) will showcase their healthcare innovations that are leapfrogging existing infrastructure and embedding change in communities.

IFPMA, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Speak Up Africa, and award-winning young innovators driving innovation and making advancements to improve Africa’s health outcomes on Tuesday, 26 April from 02:00 PM-04:00 PM GMT / 04:00 PM -06:00 PM CEST. 

The hybrid event titled “Innovating for Better Health: Supporting Young Innovators through IP” will highlight critical elements of a sustainable health innovation ecosystem that can advance promising solutions designed by young innovators. The discussions will illustrate how young people are not merely recipients of innovation but co-creators of the future they inherit.

Innovation plays a crucial role in addressing Africa’s challenges, and young innovators are changing this landscape with the power of their ideas and ambitions for the future, including the future of health. 

With adequate support and effective use of IP rights, young innovators can mobilize and provoke change and help advance the fields of science, business, and innovation to improve health outcomes.

Panel 1: Youth and innovation: Protecting our health futures through IP (16:20-17:00 CEST) – Register here.

Moderated by Brian Li Han Wong, Youth Officer, Governing Health Futures 2030, featuring:

Panel 2: Catalyzing innovation in health: Bridging the gender gap (17:10-17:40 CEST) – Register here.

Moderated by Brian Li Han Wong, Youth Officer, Governing Health Futures 2030, featuring:

Marie-Chantal Umunyana and Angella Kyomugisha, participants of the Women Innovators Incubator, recently shared their extraordinary stories about how they are striving to solve some of Africa’s healthcare challenges with WiredUp Africa.

Angella Kyomugisha talks about enabling healthcare access to people living in remote and hard to reach areas in Uganda. After getting a first-hand experience of walking long distances while sick searching for affordable quality healthcare during a field trip, she co-founded Kaaro Health. The social enterprise deploys telehealth-enabled modular clinics in the most remote villages to deliver primary healthcare to underserved Ugandan communities.

While delivering vital primary healthcare to underserved communities, Kaaro Health also supports female nurse entrepreneurs to effectively operate and own the modular clinics within three to five years.

Marie-Chantal Umunyana based in Rwanda talks to WiredUp about her continually searching for solutions to her mother’s constant illness when pregnant with her siblings. As a result, she aspired to be a medical doctor, but this road also led her into entrepreneurship as she finalized her university studies in medicine and surgery.

Both Marie-Chantal and Angella are also passionate about the involvement of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). They believe that with more opportunities, funding, and mentorship programs such as the Women Innovators Incubator, more and more women will be encouraged to engage in STEM and contribute to Africa’s progress to sustainable and universal health coverage.

Improving global health and gender equality is crucial for a healthy economy and a prosperous nation. These two components also actively drive progress towards Africa’s 2030 Sustainable development Goals. It’s on this basis that IFPMA and Speak Up Africa hosted a virtual event titled “Women-led innovation in Africa: Achieving sustainable health and gender equality on the continent” that focused on capturing the contribution of women in driving innovation and development of societies and economies.

The virtual event was part of the Africa LeadHERS Forum in which Angella Kyomugisha, Co-founder and co-CEO, Kaaro Health and participant on the Women’s Innovation Incubator, Yacine Djibo, Executive Director at Speak Up Africa; Greg Perry, Assistant Secretary-General at IFPMA, and a host of distinguished women leaders in healthcare and business management participated in.

The discussion addressed the key challenges women have overcome in their entrepreneurial and career journeys, the available support mechanisms and ways to overcome the gender innovation gap and uplift women in innovation not just on International Women’s Day but every day.

During the event, Yacine Djibo, Executive Director at Speak Up Africa, stated, “Unfortunately, we have seen that women are excluded from decision-making spaces and programs that affect their well-being and health for a long time. And today, we know that their voice, participation, and leadership are critical to women empowerment .”

While speaking, she explained the primary goal behind the Africa LeadHERS Forum initiative that supports the inclusion of women and girls on public platforms and leadership roles to encourage their participation in decision making spaces for improved health. “We will be able to demystify the notion that women have a limited role in business and innovation and that we will inspire future generations of an African woman to break the bias and embark in this field,” she continued.

Speaking in support of the forum, Madi Sharma, Founder, Madi Group said, “You cannot have the economic impact and sustainability that we need for development unless women are healthy and each woman and girl needs to be healthy because each woman and girl will go on to help more people.”

In line with the African LeadHERS initiative is the Women Innovators Incubator, a flagship program launched by IFPMA and Speak Up Africa to address the gender imbalance in Africa’s health innovation landscape. The program supports female innovators with financial support, mentorship, media training, expert advice on intellectual property protection, and access to the rich network of Africa Young Innovators for Health Award supporters. Angella Kyomugisha, the co-founder of Kaaro Health and a participant on the incubator, noted, “We have an Africa full of energetic young people, and if they are sick or unhealthy, they will not be productive.”

Angella leads the team at Kaaro Health, a social enterprise driving healthcare access to the most remote areas through deploying telehealth-enabled container clinics managed by nurses on a lease to own basis. The enterprise also trains these nurses in financial and business management to sustainably operate these clinics. But this isn’t without challenges. She highlighted that as a woman innovator, “one of the things I experienced personally was not having a person to provide mentorship and tell me how to address issues around management and product development.”

With the support of the Women Innovators Incubator, Angella continues to overcome some of these challenges through adopting a “No Excuses” approach, breathing life into her ideas and surrounding herself with the right team and people along her entrepreneurial journey.

Besides the work of the forum and the incubator, the virtual event also suggested broader avenues and ways to support and propel women’s participation and inclusion to achieve Africa’s desired health impact.

“Nobody can do it all alone. So it’s important to design platforms that bring governments, development partners and the private sector together to align on policies, programs and resources in support of women-led innovation,” said Jean-Philbert Nsengimana, Chief Digital Officer, Africa CDC.

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Start small. And then you’ll start to realize that it takes baby steps to get to where you were. And by the time you look back, you’ve achieved so much by taking those little steps. Finally, have a long term perspective,” said Jennie Nwokoye, CEO/Founder, Clafiya.

“Anyone can do what you do, but no one can be who you are. So there might be a million versions of a healthcare startup, but you’re no one is going to run it the way you do. So if you’re listening and there’s something that you’re thinking of doing, and you feel like the market is saturated, there’s no place for you. There’s a place for you because none of us will, you know, each one of us is born unique,” said Desiree Joule-Adam, Deputy Director of Communications & Development for the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Cooperative (AWEC).

In closing, Greg Perry noted the spotlight around stories from amazing African women in innovation, entrepreneurship and diversity that show the possibility of women doing and achieving great things propelling Africa forward. He noted a renewed focus on the importance of youth and women leadership coupled with building skills in Africa to strengthen the ecosystem and push forward innovation and access.

“Of course, what comes from all this is the burning flame and desire to make change and innovation, given African women are the most entrepreneurial in the world. And through avenues like these, it’s important to build networks for everyone to share their stories,” he continued.

The African LeadHERs initiative was launched on the Generation Equality Forum, which took place from 30 June to 2 July, organized by UN Women and co-chaired by the governments of France and Mexico in partnership with civil society and youth. The event aimed to make concrete commitments to gender equality, following the previous ones made in Beijing in 1995. African LeadHERs supports the inclusion of women and girls on public platforms and in leadership and aims to encourage women and girls, in all their diversity, to participate in decision-making spaces for improved public health significantly. Gender Equality is paramount to achieving every one of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. At Speak Up Africa, we are committed to transforming this belief into meaningful action and engagement. Through the African leadHERS program, we partner with leaders from all sectors of society, including sports, fashion, culture and art, to creatively build a more robust, fairer and more inclusive world.