Villgro Africa is partnering with Ghana Tech Lab in a call for female-led Ghanaian health tech startups seeking business incubation and funding support.
Villgro Africa is an early-stage company incubator and impact investor that aids African health and life science start-ups in developing marketable, scalable enterprises. Their expertise is in novel products and processes that have an impact at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
Their incubation programme helps global health technology and service startups become investable ventures by reducing impact investment risks. This is achieved through a  customised incubation experience that helps startup companies successfully scale their innovative ideas and navigate the African startup ecosystem.
The diverse team at Villgro has extensive industry knowledge that spans the startup spectrum, from manufacturing and financial modelling to business and product development. The organization’s mission is to assist innovators in creating workable and scaleable health and life science solutions that raise the standard of living for Africans.
Ghana Tech Lab (GTL), through its unique curriculum and programmes, collaborates with ecosystem partners to drive tech breakthroughs and advance digital transformation in Ghana. It was created as part of the World Bank-funded E-transform initiative in Ghana’s Ministry of Communications.
In collaboration with Mastercard Foundation, GTL’s work also promotes the aspirations, ingenuity, and abilities of young people in Ghana as part of the Pathway to Sustainable Employment (PaSE) Project. GTL offers a platform for developing straightforward concepts into prosperous enterprises. Their programmes are made to take ideas and turn them into finished goods or services.
Both organizations have come together to identify, incubate and provide funding support for startups that have at least one woman on their executive team.
Beneficiaries of this call will also get grant financing as well as 12 months of incubation support from the GTL and Villgro Africa teams, which will cover business modelling, product development, operations, investment preparedness, governance, and regulatory issues.
Programme Selection Criteria
- Participating companies must be led by women, be preferable, female-founded or co-founded
- Interested companies must be operating in the healthcare sector.
- The companies must have a minimum viable product
- Only health tech startups based in Ghana will be accepted
- Interest applicants must operate a for-profit business model
- Companies should be in the revenue-generating phase of their business
Selected applicants must commit to the entirety of the acceleration programme. However, particular attention will be given to companies with a strong team, that exhibit a strong potential for sustainably improving the health sector, in addition to possessing a strong understanding of the Ghanaian market.
Programme Structure
The acceleration programme will last for a period of 12 months and will comprise a mix of Zoom and in-person sessions. This is expected to hold frequently at the Ghana Tech Lab main office. Successful health tech startups will walk away with a $50k ticket at the end of the incubation period.
Startups are not expected to give up any equity or pay any money to participate in the programme.
Deadline for Application:19th August, 2022
Interested companies can apply here.
There is still some time to apply for the FAO accelerator programme for women-led agritech SMEs in Africa.
