Call for African Women Innovating in Healthcare (AWIIH) 2025 Cohort – YOA

Deadline: June 15, 2025

Are you a lady entrepreneur reworking healthcare in East Africa? Do you lead a excessive-impression well being innovation that’s bettering lives in your group? Are you in search of a supportive atmosphere to refine your resolution, speed up your group’s impression, deepen your understanding of the startup ecosystem, and sharpen your entrepreneurial expertise? Do you worth entry to networks that empower and encourage feminine founders to achieve their full potential? Then apply for the African Women Innovating in Healthcare (AWIIH) 2025 Cohort.

Female founders face quite a few challenges, from an absence of begin-up assist applications tailor-made to their pure strengths in collaboration and networking to restricted backing from household and pals and biased evaluation approaches when pitching for funding in any respect phases, from pre-seed to progress. Recognizing these obstacles, Villgro Africa launched a devoted program for feminine founders in 2024, designed with intentionality and perception to handle their distinctive wants in the healthcare sector. In its first version, this system supported 31 feminine-led ventures throughout 11 African international locations, offering funding to 26 by way of grants and fairness investments.

The 2025 name builds on this momentum and integrates key learnings from the 2024 cohort. It is part of their continued dedication to growing the participation of feminine founders throughout the continent. By providing tailor-made assist all through the application course of and proactively sharing related info, they intention to empower much more ladies to guide and scale healthcare improvements in Africa.

Benefits

Selected firms will undergo a 9-month incubation and acceleration program throughout which they are going to be provided personalized assist primarily based on their wants, together with:

• Support networks – Access to a ladies-led group and peer studying alternatives.
• Mentorship and steerage – Access to inspiring and applicable position fashions in your area.
• Technical experience – Customized enterprise and know-how assist by Villgro Africa and companions.
• Sponsorship – Curated entry to potential exterior companions and different gamers in the beginning-up ecosystem.
• Funding – A good OPPORTUNITY to safe funding to develop your resolution.

Eligibility

• Open to ladies-led progressive ventures tackling key challenges in healthcare in East Africa. Innovations supporting frontline well being staff are particularly inspired. 
• A feminine nationwide of an African nation or holds indefinite depart to stay in an African nation.
• Domiciled in an East African nation in which they should be a authorized resident.
• Developing the proposed well being innovation in their host East Africa nation.
• Holds lengthy-time period management and administration of the enterprise, and an lively position in each strategic and day-to-day determination-making.

The enterprise should be:

• Incorporated in East Africa.
• A for-profit group represented by a feminine founder/co-founder who’s at the least 18 years previous and a citizen/nationwide with a authorized presence on the African continent.
• Owned/led/operated by an African lady (ladies). They outline this as having a lady with lengthy-time period management and administration of the enterprise, an fairness stake, and an lively position in each strategic and day-to-day determination-making.
• Proven traction in at the least one East Africa nation and potential to develop throughout Africa.
• Scalable distribution channels.

Selection Criteria

The choice committee will meet to pick out the highest startups in the preliminary screening and harmonize the cohort primarily based on: 

• Team: Strength of the present group 
• Product: They are in search of options which might be tackling key healthcare challenges in healthcare like strengthening and equipping the well being workforce by way of employment creation, addressing Africa’s heavy burden of communicable and non-communicable illnesses and bettering entry to high quality medicines and medical tools.
• Geographic relevance: An organization registered and working in East Africa  
• Impact: High-impact well being improvements that enhance lives and drive significant enhancements in healthcare fairness, entry, and high quality. 

Application

In addition to the knowledge on the application kind, candidates should submit the next:

• An up to date firm pitch deck. 
• A 2-minute pitch video or product demo if accessible. 

Click here to apply

For extra info, go to AWIIH.