The Pandemic Resilience Accelerator for African Health-Related Businesses was founded by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), a pan-African institution at the forefront of policy harmonization, in partnership with JICA, the official development assistance agency of the Government of Japan, and with support from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm.

The initiative aims to accelerate African home-grown solutions that are improving pandemic resilience. It provides hands-on, tailored acceleration support to growth and mature stage African health-related businesses that are improving healthcare capacity or reducing reliance on external medical supply chains.

The accelerator is launching as a pilot in the East African Community, following a call for applications in December 2020. Five companies have been selected from a highly competitive applicant pool and after a rigorous assessment process.

 Access Afya Inc.: Provider of low cost, primary health care to people living in informal settlements & remote areas of Kenya. https://www.accessafya.com

Africa Healthcare Network: Provider of affordable high-quality renal care services to typically underserved areas / secondary cities of Tanzania, Kenya & Rwanda. http://www.africahealthcarenetwork.com

 Damu Sasa Systems Limited: Cloud-based end-to-end blood services information management system to increase and manage blood supply in Kenya. https://damu-sasa.co.ke

Mobile Scan Solutions Uganda: Developer of low-cost hand-held ultrasound units to diagnose pregnancy complications in low resource settings in Uganda. https://www.mscanug.com

Revital Healthcare (EPZ) Limited: Manufacturer of over 40 types of medical devices in Kenya which are distributed to Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi & 12 other countries. https://www.revitalhcare.com

These five home-grown companies contribute meaningfully to pandemic resilience, both in the immediate COVID-19 crisis and in their longer term strengthening of healthcare capacity and local supply chains. They constitute the inaugural cohort for this accelerator and will receive support over the six-month pilot programme.

Based on the outcomes of the pilot programme in the East African Community, the accelerator aims to expand to other parts of Africa later this year, with the ultimate goal of improving our continent's ability to respond to future outbreaks through home-grown solutions.

Organizations interested in joining the accelerator network as well as engaging with these exemplary companies by serving as advisors or providing direct support, or qualifying African home-grown solutions, can contact us by reaching out to George Murumba, the accelerator project lead via GeorgeM@nepad.org and pandemicresilience.africa@gmail.com.

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Steering Committee members who provide guidance to the accelerator and helped to decide on the final companies for the pilot programme:

• Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki (Chair): AUDA-NEPAD, Chief Executive Officer
• Mr. Ryuichi Kato: JICA, Vice President
• Prof. Aggrey Ambali: AUDA-NEPAD, Head of AU Development Fund
• Dr. Elizabeth Wala: Aga Khan Foundation, Global Advisor, Health and Nutrition
• Dr. Benjamin Djoudalbaye: Africa CDC, Head of Policy, Health Diplomacy & Communications
• Ms. Kanayo Awani: Afreximbank, Managing Director of Intra-African trade Initiative
• Mr. Carl Manlan: Ecobank Foundation, Chief Operating Officer
• Mr. Mathieu Lamiaux: Boston Consulting Group, Managing Director & Senior Partner
• Ms. Annick Gouba-Guibal: AGC, Founder & Chief Executive Officer