Women Innovators Incubator
A key lesson from the first edition of the Africa Young Innovators for Health Award was that women were underrepresented and faced additional barriers to breaking into the health innovation space.
In response to this challenge, IFPMA and Speak Up Africa developed the Women Innovators Incubator, a dedicated program in which selected female participants benefited from the same type of support as the winners of the Africa Young Innovators for Health Award. As a learning from the first Awards program, we have amended the program to include a first and second place award for both men and women, for a total of four awards.
Meet the participants from the first edition
Angella Kyomugisha, Kaaro Health Uganda Limited. Uganda
Angella Kyomugisha, a Ugandan Medical Doctor, is Co-CEO & Chief Financial Officer of Kaaro Health Uganda Limited. Kaaro Health is a social enterprise that aims to increase access to healthcare in Africa’s most remote areas. Kaaro Health deploys telehealth-enabled container clinics staffed by a nurse and a lab technician from the local communities in villages that otherwise have no clinic within a 25-kilometer radius. As a result, more people have access to fundamental health needs, reducing the time and cost burdens of seeking care. Since 2017, Kaaro Health has completed over 120,000 clinic visits and facilitated over 8,000 births via 36 container clinics and an additional 40–50 partner clinics.
Nuriat Nambogo, MobiCare. Uganda
Nuriat Nambogo holds a Master’s degree in management sciences, Postgraduate Diploma in Project Planning and Management, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Development Studies. Nuriat is the CEO of MobiCare and oversees the entire development and implementation of the project. MobiCare is a mobile-based platform that bridges the gap between patients and medical professionals through appointment scheduling. After losing her pregnancy due to failure to consult a doctor in time and the long queues at most health facilities, Nuriat developed an innovation that allows patients to access and consult the doctors they need at the right time in their preferred health facilities. The application also helps doctors manage their daily schedules at the different health facilities where they have patient appointments and plan for future reviews.
Marie-Chantal Umunyana, Umubyeyi Elevate. Rwanda
Marie Chantal Umunyana is a final year medical student and the founder of Umubyeyi Elevate, a digital health platform that avails information directly from trusted and verified sources to women on maternal and child health and parenting through web, mobile, and social media channels. “Umubyeyi” which is Kinyarwanda for “mother,” provides young mothers, pregnant women, and prospective parents with essential information that enables them to improve both their health and that of their children. Marie Chantal believes that no woman should go through motherhood without the necessary knowledge and social support.