Sanofi Sets Up Innovation Challenge for Techies

Sanofi, a major player in innovation in Africa, is launching four challenges for African start-ups to find innovative solutions to improve access to healthcare and transform the health ecosystem throughout the continent. The select local start-ups will be pitched at VivaTech, an annual technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups, which will take place in Paris, France as from June 11th to 13th, 2020.

The challenge aims to identify, select and support the best start-ups in the health sector on the African continent. They are part of Sanofi's strategy to encourage innovation in the African continent, in order to create a health ecosystem that is at the service of the patient while including all stakeholders in the sector: public authorities, private companies and start-ups.

The 4 challenges include supporting patients with a digital health book in order to access information and make decisions, providing solutions to help healthcare systems leapfrog from manual to smart logistics solutions at the point of care, improving financing and impact of innovative health solutions in Africa and seeking solutions on how to improve maternal and neonatal health in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sanofi will select the start-ups after the closure of the on-line application platform. Start-ups will be evaluated according to 5 criteria: concrete evidence of positive results in at least one African country, project maturity, the relevance of the solution, market potential and business model, skills, expertise and experience of the team and finally scientific evidence if applicable.

The selected start-ups will be invited to present their innovative solutions at Afric@tech, the VivaTech Lab dedicated to the African continent. They will defend their projects in front of a jury consisting of Sanofi representatives and industry professionals and will be able to demonstrate their solutions to the public. Following VivaTech, Sanofi will evaluate with each start-up the potential for a partnership.

In 2018 and 2019, Sanofi received almost 200 start-up applications and 20 were selected to join the Sanofi stand in the Afric@tech dedicated space at VivaTech. As of today, discussions are on-going with over 15 start-ups with some successful initiatives rolled out.

This call for submissions is free and open to all, To register and make a submission head over to the information and registration platform:
https://challenges.vivatechnology.com/en/challenges/sanofi-in-africa?lang=en.

Comments

Narok School benefits from a Dormitory Courtesy of Procter and Gamble

STUDENTS OF OLOIGERO PRIMARY SCHOOL POSE FOR A PHOTO WITH THE P&G TEAM AND PARTNERS OUTSIDE THE NEWLY BUILT DOMITORY Pupils of Oloigero Primary School in Narok County have a reason to smile after Procter and Gamble funded the construction of a girl’s dormitory in the school. The facility, which will accommodate 80 girls, will help support and improve the access to quality education in the area. “Access to quality education is affected by a myriad of challenges in this country. Inadequate infrastructure is one of them. The situation is even more dire for our girls thus the reason we are here today to commission this dormitory. We believe that this facility will be a critical resource to help keep our girls in school and together with other partners we will work to ensure that we change the narrative about girls missing school due to menstruation,” said Anthony Ng’ang’a, Associate Brand Director -Commercial Leader - East Africa at Procter & Gamble (P&G)...

Decentralized finance as a key driver of the financial ecosystem in Africa

Decentralized finance has come a long way from being a term only known to tech insiders. Although still in the early stages of development, Defi has the potential to open the door to a new industry within the African financial ecosystem. Africa is home to some of the world's fastest-growing economies, has a young population and has proven to be a fertile market for digital financial services. The continent leads the world in mobile money adoption, with digital transactions in Africa accounting for more than 45% of global mobile money transactions All these factors make the continent a strong candidate for the adoption of new financial services and technology. As the younger population on the continent grows, the need for financial inclusion increases. As much as banks are crucial to poverty reduction and sustainable growth, they have been unable to fill this gap. As a result, mobile money and open banking platforms are rapidly taking over the role of many banks. Both are leveraging...

Boehringer Ingelheim rolls out training programme for local health innovators

Some of the innovators from Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria during the Making More Health accelerator workshop Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, has called on innovators in Africa to adopt viable business models for their enterprises to ensure growth and sustainability. Speaking during a two-day training workshop for social entrepreneurs Eduardo Lioy, Director Corporate Strategy Development at Boehringer Ingelheim said the firm has invested heavily in training innovators and social entrepreneurs especially in human and animal health in an effort to tackle unmet human and animal health needs. The 'Making More Health’ (MMH) Accelerator programme was launched last year and brings together African social entrepreneurs, Ashoka, an innovators platform and Boehringer Ingelheim's’ leaders from around the globe to brainstorm on ways to enhance the start-ups business models and identify opportunities for strategic collaboration to improv...

Maisha 254

Search This Blog