Lhe Moroccan strategic consulting giant Southbridge A&I and its partners are launching I3, a $7 million program for HealthTech in Africa sponsored in particular by the Gates Foundation, by American billionaire Bill Gates, and operated in French-speaking Africa by IMPACT Lab, a Moroccan firm specialized in supporting start-ups.
This program is intended to support 30 companies per year over two years, all specializing in HealthTech in Africa, particularly in the health product distribution sector.
The sponsors of this project are the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA NEPAD), the World Health Organization AFRO (WHO AFRO), as well as the pharmaceutical groups of Merck (MSD ) and AmerisourceBergen.
Through this program, I3 says it aims to “identify early-stage or growth-stage innovators across the continent. These companies selected by 4 accelerators will be entitled to a systematic grant of 50,000 dollars as well as a market access program thanks to events organized throughout the continent”.
For Cheikh Oumar Seydi, Africa director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the “innovations locales (African, editor’s note) have the potential to change the way supply chains and healthcare systems work — and it’s time to help them”.
Note that applications for the first cohort of 30 companies are open today and will close on August 14 for the start of the program on September 19.
