Innovate For Life announces finalists for 2020

Innovate for Life in partnership with The Elsevier Foundation, Mettā Nairobi and Accenture Development Partnerships announced the finalists for Innovate for Life 2020 Cohort program.

For this edition, the program will be run in Kenya and Ethiopia with a cohort of 4 entrepreneurs (2 from each country). The finalists will for the next 6 months receive training and mentorship to bring to scale their unique healthcare solutions.

Innovate for Life is an initiative of Amref Health Africa’s Institute of Capacity Development (ICD) in conjunction with the Elsevier Foundation, Mettā Nairobi and Accenture Development Partnerships that aims to support health innovations.

The Program is centered on developing shared value partnerships between Amref Health Africa country offices and health innovators to support health innovations from across the region to address underlying health challenges.

Maurice Otieno, General Manager of Mettā Nairobi, “We remain resilient in supporting and enabling a conducive environment for startups to thrive & are honored to be part of Innovate for Life that is up-skilling health innovators for a better tomorrow.”

The finalists include:

Shayashone PLC

Shayashone (SYS) is a private limited company engaged in agricultural commercialization and supply chain development for social impact products, agribusiness advisory, and consultancy and import of industrial raw materials and manufacturing.

SYS was established in 2010 and has implemented over 50 investment and development projects from donors in the USA, Canada, Netherlands, and Germany. Some of their partners are Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), USAID, Canadian IDRC, Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl), Embassy of Kingdom of the Netherlands in Addis Ababa, Purdue University, Wageningen University, Maastricht School of Management and University of Saskatchewan. The company was established by Mr. Yared Sertse.

Strategies for Northern Development

Strategies for Northern Development (SND) provides an integrated maternal and child mobile health care service for pastoralist women who are unable to access pre/postnatal services, by utilizing an improvised, culturally and socially acceptable Global Positioning System (GPS) ornamental pieces in form of bracelets.

The GPS technology enables health care workers to pinpoint and track pastoralist mothers and provide them with critical services, which help reduce maternal mortality, improve infant survival and ANC uptake, and enhance health-seeking behavior change.

SND has a wealth of experience in implementing several health projects particularly, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis among vulnerable pastoralist communities under the leadership of its founder, Dahabo Adi Galgallo. With maternal and infant mortality being aggravated by limited access to both pre and post-natal services, SND endeavors to bring these services closer to the pastoralist community through technology.

Rohobot Nursing Service

Established in 2017, Rohobot is a home-based health care service that strives to create a suitable environment for chronic and elderly people in Ethiopia and Africa. The company provides home-based health care services to elderly people living with chronic illnesses, to help them attain the highest level of independence by offering them support and their families.

They administer medications as per the physician’s instructions, perform personal care, monitor vital signs, provide advice on nutrition, collect the sample for diagnosis, offer terminal and nursing care among other services.

Over the last three years, RNS has provided services to over 85 households and serves an average of 25 families per day through support from over 50 staff members. Rohobot’s Founder/General Manager, Nebiyat Demeke Fiseha received the title of Laureate of Women in Africa 2019 in recognition of the accomplishments of Rohobot Home-Based Health Care Service.

The Grace Cup

The Grace Cup promotes and sells reusable menstrual cups and cloth pads since 2017. The company has so far worked with over 2,000 girls and boys across Kenya training them on menstrual hygiene.

The Grace Cup partners with NGOs, county governments, corporates and individuals to supply cups and pads, and have worked with Finn Church Aid and UNHCR in Kakuma, Kakamega County Government, Mugie Conservancy in Laikipia, just to mention a few. The Grace Cup was founded by Ebby Weyime, a Menstrual Hygiene Management Trainer certified by the Ministry of Health.