COVID-19 Response Solutions

FIND OUT WHAT VILLGRO KENYA IS DOING IN RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC

We are a Kenyan based Business Incubator and Investor inspiring a new wave of innovative thinking to solve Africa’s toughest Health Challenges.

Villgro Kenya addresses the lack of access to quality and affordable health services & technologies in Africa by investing in innovations with the potential for scalable and sustainable business models and by offering technical assistance to entrepreneurs. Our Advisory services offers clients looking to advance healthcare solutions in the region access to networks, market entry support, go to market strategies, research, M&E for funding agencies & translational research.

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Our Impact

Since 2015 our partnership with 21 startups has had the following results

$0K

Funding Committed

$0M+

Follow on Funding

0M+

Lives Impacted

$0M+

Revenue Generated

Our Services

Funding

Seed funding and access to Impact Investors

Advisory

Assistance in business model validation

Mentorship

Customized guidance for startups to scale

Ecosystem

Government, private sector and academia

Networks

Which spans across various business sectors.

Our Portfolio

The companies we work with are a blend of medical diagnostic devices, healthcare systems and technologies

Streamline

A real-time system that allows for clinical data collection without extra workload for the clinicians

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Simbona Africa

Locally assembled UVC apparatus fitted with UVC lamps (8 watts) that emit high intensity ultraviolet light that is able to kill microorganisms and pathogens including COVID-19 found on surfaces in the room.

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Medixus

Medixus is a online based communication, collaboration and learning platform for doctors aimed at improving case management and clinical practice.

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Kijenzi

Kijenzi creates local manufacturing of broken down parts of medical equipment, when hospitals need it, at a fraction of the cost of typical supply chains using 3D technology.

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Ilara Health

Ilara Health makes common diagnostics accessible and affordable to the 500 million people in Africa who struggle to access basic blood tests by partnering with companies using robotics and AI to lower the cost of diagnostics, integrating their devices into their tech platform, and selling this bundle to doctors with financing

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Turaco

Turaco offers health loans bundled with insurance so their clients can get care whenever a medical emergency arises. This reduces out of pocket health care expenses which pushes low income earners back into poverty.

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Health-E-Net

Health-E-Net - Improving the quality of PHC through Telemedicine – remote diagnosis and case study to link PHC settings to medical consultants and the Paper EMR which guides clinicians through medical guidelines for treatment and diagnosis of illnesses.

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Clinic Pesa

ClinicPesa is a digital micro-savings and loans platform that provides users with convenient and affordable means to accessing healthcare. ClinicPesa allows users to access their saving and loans for use at registered health services providers therefore reducing out-of-pocket spending for medical bills and purchases of drugs

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Enzi Health

Providing quality and affordable primary healthcare through a Hail a clinic model for primary healthcare capitation model in their clinics and Tiba Mkononi, diagnostic services on call to solve the problem of understaffed, under equipped or simply too far, out of reach healthcare services

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Matibabu

Malaria diagnostic device that is IOT enabled and has potential for non-invasive diagnosis. Able to provide health authorities with information about malaria prevalence using geothermal referencing in real time this will reduce the spread of malaria

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Neopenda

Scalable wireless vital signs monitor for patients in overcrowded, understaffed health facilities. Their solution reduces response time to newborns in distress and helps healthcare workers to save more lives.

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Mama Ope

An easy to use and time saving kit that can aid health workers and practitioners to easily diagnose Pneumonia at a faster rate with increased accuracy.

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Afya Poa

A micro health insurance platform for those not served by NHIF or private insurance; and who are not targeted with existing products. Their platform seeks to provide access to quality & affordable healthcare to cover 85% of people informally employed in the economy with the aim of reducing out of pocket payments for healthcare.

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Testimonials

“Their understanding of and commitment to the health sector in Africa makes them a force multiplier for a small startup like Health-E-Net. Their team has supported us in governance through their diagnostic panels, which acts like a board of directors without us having to make the significant effort into putting together such a board. They have channeled funding to us through different donors, and pushed our solutions to potential clients whenever the opportunity has risen.”

Pratap Kumar MD, Phd

CEO & Co-founder

Health-E-Net

“Villgro Kenya has provided trusted advisors that have advanced our leadership because they are experts in their field and care deeply to see impact. As a result, they have helped us fundraise, redefine company offerings, provided a clearer road map to market, prepare for scale and connected us to the right partners for product design and development.”

Olivia Koburongo

CEO & Co-founder

MamaOpe Medicals Ltd. Uganda

“I appreciate the efficiency of bringing the capital in. For a couple of other organizations it takes a couple of months of diligence for a small amount of the funding to come in, which would inhibit a lot of entrepreneurs. I appreciate the process Villgro Kenya took because that capital is very instrumental to small and large organizations alike.”

Sona Shah

CEO & Co-founder

Neopenda

“The Villgro Kenya team has been instrumental in helping us with healthcare specific contacts and advice, as well as operational support in Kenya, a market which they know extremely well. On top of this, Villgro Kenya has helped us structuring an advisory board, and thus bringing the needed governance support.”

Emilian Popa

CEO & Co-founder

Ilara Healthcare

“Working with Villgro Kenya over the years has been a wonderful experience, and a satisfactory one full of support in form of early investment, investment-ready preparedness, access to their investor networks, playing a very important role in our organization’s capacity building as well as direct access to their team of experts in our different challenges faced. Together we have walked the journey, and are proud to have received growth support from Villgro Kenya.”

Chrispinus Onyancha

CEO & Co-founder

clinicPesa

“Our journey began when we got incubated under Villgro’s COVID-19 Global Response Solutions Fund. We had 200 diabetes patients, online, receiving group nutrition services because they were frightened of attending their usual group meetings in the hospital. Villgro has been instrumental in working with us to convert what was a free (add-on) service into a business. In addition to the $10,000 fund we received, Villgro worked with us to think through our business model, prioritize the revenue models, and explore various partnerships that could lead to growth. The best part of this engagement is the handholding; we have weekly meetings with our assigned mentor, a seasoned entrepreneur – Ankit Anwar, and Villgro’s Senior Program Manager – Moses Waweru, and the discussion is always centered on steering Lishe Living into greater sustainability. We have found irreplaceable value in the engagement we have with Villgro.”

Sharon Olago

CEO & Founder

Lishe Living

Dr. Beatrice Murage is an experienced, results-oriented leader in systems strengthening, healthcare management, entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, digital innovation and exploration/ventures. She has successfully built teams and led strategy, policy formulation, and project implementation in emerging and established markets.

Ordia Akelo holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics Media and Communication from Moi University. She was awarded a Climate Tracker Fellowship as a Climate journalist in 2016 & 2017. She has worked as a writer, editor and managed websites & social media sites for Standard Media Group and the African Network for Internationalization of Education.

Immanuel is a Senior Portfolio Associate on Villgro Kenya’s team. Prior to Villgro Kenya, Immanuel gained multi-sectoral experience working firsthand with businesses throughout Sub-Saharan Africa to develop new business strategies, raise capital, and pioneer innovative products and services. He is an alumni of Zamara Actuaries, Administrators and Consultants and holds a Bachelors in Actuarial Science from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Immanuel likes everything related to nature, cars, and believes gaming is cool.

Rescue by Flare, an emergency response platform in Kenya is using their robust dispatch system to manage all intake and triage at Kenya’s main COVID-19 isolation, testing, and treatment facilities.

As part of the Wheels For Life consortium, they have also partnered with the Ministry of Health Kenya, AMREF, Bolt, Pharmaccess Foundation, Kenya Healthcare Federation, and Telesky to get expectant mothers to the hospital during curfew hours.

Through their network of first responders, the team has fielded 3,714 calls, dispatched 198 taxis, and 60 ambulances. Their fast response rates have helped save the lives of an average of 8 mothers every night, since the initiative began.

Telemedicine platform enables patients to get treatment from any part of the country without having to visit a hospital physically and exposing themselves to COVID-19.

Artificial Intelligence based solutions and data analytics for diagnosis of Covid-19 from Xray images. Have developed a system that detects COVID-19 using AI in real time.
Images can be uploaded to the system via a website portal and diagnosis is returned in real time

Ventilate Africa have developed a ventilator locally for the treatment of COVID 19. This is in line with the impending global shortage of ventilators due to the high number of cases in countries with low healthcare infrastructure.

A functional prototype of a locally manufactured ventilator developed using a wind screen motor. Currently working closely with the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute to develop the second prototype that meets global standards.

Simbona Africa, an Ethiopian healthcare research and development company developed a fully automated UVC room sterilizer for use in hospitals and public spaces.

The UVC apparatus is fitted with UVC lamps (8 watts) that emit high-intensity ultraviolet light that is able to kill microorganisms and pathogens found on surfaces in the room including COVID-19. It has the ability to disinfect up to 40 square meters of a room at any given time.

They have manufactured 14 units and are in the process of delivering 30 orders requested from the Ministry of Health Ethiopia. Villgro Kenya will help scale their production and unlock regional partnerships so that their devices can serve other countries within the region.

Medixus is a case management platform for medical practitioners which also has a tele-medicine interface for patients. In response to COVID-19 they have incorporated daily fact based updates on COVID-19 for clinicians.

Using the platform, clinicians can share case studies of patients securely, professionally discuss, debate, ask questions and share their insights.

The platform has helped improve case management and clinical practice.

Lishe Living is offering chronic disease management via an online platform to reduce risk of COVID-19 mortality and morbidity from pre-existing conditions. With social distancing requirements in place reduced hospital visits have been recorded leading to a burden on patients with non-communicable diseases to manage their conditions. With Lishe Living they are able to reduce the risk of infection as they can manage their conditions from the comfort of their homes. Villgro Kenya’s support will help net the right partnerships with key stakeholders while giving them appropriate mentorship from our pool of mentors well versed in the sector.

Neopenda, a remote vital signs monitor for low resource settings is modifying the Neoguard device so that it can measure vital signs in adults and children, with potential to help with the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With adequate technical support, the device will help medics respond faster to medical emergencies related to COVID-19 It can also help in identifying suspected cases who are being monitored.

The remote vital signs monitor which helps reduce the burden of a high patient to doctor ratio in rural Uganda will also help lower their risk of contracting the virus as it reduces the frequency of physical monitoring.

Kijenzi uses 3D technology to manufacture spare parts of broken down medical equipment locally and at a fraction of the cost of buying new equipment. Kijenzi’s manufacturing hub in Kisumu is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by producing PPE’s like touchless door handles and face shields for hospital staff and other essential workers. With the technical support from Villgro Kenya, the team has delivered over 2100 face shields to 24 medical facilities.

Ms. Snider Mugese is a BSc. Financial Engineering graduate from Jomo Kenyatta university of Agriculture and technology (JKUAT). She is also a certified Public accountant (CPA K) currently pursuing a certification in Finance and Investment analysis. She previously worked as an accountant at NewQuest Consulting Limited, an accounting firm where she handled various companies in Bookkeeping and Tax and held a team supervisory role.

John Masanda is an astute entrepreneur and business executive with experience and expertise to lead diverse teams with multiple skills and multicultural background.

John has successful participated in various enterprises start-up and growth, diversifications, new products launch, new markets entry, business consolidation, mergers and acquisitions, funding and investment decisions.

John is Founder & CEO of Malfini Capital Ltd (MCL) which is investment and stockholder in Malfini Gas Ltd a distributor of BOC GASES; a leading global brand of gases and process engineering services, Malfini Energy Ltd a distributor of petroleum products Fuels & CALTEX LUBRICANTS; a leading global brand and Malfini Logistics Ltd a 3PL logistics service provider, commodity trading and FMCG distributor. MCL is an investor in Malfini Gas DRC Sarl a joint venture company participating in development of the Lake Kivu Methane Gas Project to produce methane gas for both domestic use, industrial use and power generation. John does provides advisory services to; FasterCapital LLC a virtual incubator co-founding and cofounding start-ups with innovative app-based or online based solutions, Villgro Kenya an incubator of innovative ideas on healthcare and biosciences and Capital One Group a corporate communications agency with East Africa operations and Ugavilla Development Co. Ltd a developer of affordable housing.

John has been CEO of Kenlloyd Logistics Ltd; which grew to be regional network partner and franchisee of DB Schenker of Germany; a leading global logistics service provider, negotiated and performed Fuel Supply Agreement with Jacobsen Elektro AS of Norway supporting seamlessly their 50Mw power plant in Uganda for 7 years, negotiated and signed a PPP concession with Government Of Uganda through City Authority and a subsidiary; Pioneer Easy Bus Ltd to operate public transport passenger services for 5 years. John has been instrumental in negotiating and introducing into East Africa innovative construction technologies and alternative building technologies; Probase Road System (‘’PRS’’) for roads and Lightweight Concrete Methodology (‘’LCM’’) for housing.

Daniel Ohonde is a dynamic, strategic and visionary leader with more than 25 years of exceptional leadership experience in CEO / COO and investment stewardship roles managing high performance teams. He has a combination of international development experience and broad commercial experience gained from diverse markets. His experience in the provision of patient capital to small and growing businesses (SGBs) is extensive across Africa and, as a member of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) Global Executive Committee, he also brings on board a deep understanding of the SGB landscape in other developing and emerging markets globally. He is former CEO at the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF). His passion is in supporting and catalyzing early stage (and scaling) innovative enterprises and business models that can sustainably deliver social change.
He has a rich mix of human resources, operations, strategy, finance, investment, governance, resource mobilization and portfolio management experience having previously worked (across various locations internationally) with African Development Bank, Real People Financial Services, African Management Services Company (AMSCO), USAID, Plus Consultants, ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola Africa, and WestConsult.
Daniel has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from University of Nairobi, MBA in Strategic Management from USIU-A and an MSc in Finance from the University of London. He is an avid tennis and cricket supporter, is married and blessed with two sons

Dr. Abdi Mohamed is an award winning serial entrepreneur who was voted as one of the Top 40 under 40 men in Kenya. He is the co-founder and CEO of Ladnan Hospital which has been acquired by a PE Fund. Dr. Abdi has been elected into leadership positions by his medical professional colleagues. Dr. Abdi has strong entrepreneurial acumen with a leaning towards social enterprises.

Wesley Ronoh is a seasoned Pharmaceutical Sector Development Expert having worked and consulted for leading International Development Agencies within East Africa and beyond. He has a deep understanding of the health technologies landscape in the developing world having been involved in developing regional and national policies and other strategic interventions aimed at improving access. He has core competencies in Life Science Product Development including technology transfer management, commercialization, manufacture and delivery to market. Wesley is a Registered Pharmacist with postgraduate degrees in Medicinal Chemistry and MBA.

Mr. Basil is Founder and CEO of Villgro Innovations Foundation. Over the last decade, Mr. Basil has incubated over 130 innovative enterprises, creating over 4000 jobs, touching around 5 million lives in villages across India.

Mr. Basil also co-founded Menterra Venture Advisors, a seed stage, impact fund that makes venture investments in for-profit, impactful enterprises.

Apart from the core of his mission, which is incubating early stage, innovative businesses, Paul also has contributed to building the social enterprise eco-system in India. Unconvention, India’s leading conference on innovation and social entrepreneurship is organized in 15 cities across India, a Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at IIT-Madras that focuses on research and education, the ANDE India Chapter (Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs) a network of intermediaries that support small and growing businesses etc., are some of his achievements in building the eco-system in India.

Mr. Basil was awarded the Ashoka Fellowship in 2002 for his outstanding social entrepreneurship in setting up Villgro. He has also been conferred the Samaj Seva Bhushan Award and the Star Entrepreneur Award

Paul Belknap is COO, Villgro Kenya. Paul has diverse experience in both product development and social business incubation. He spent three and a half years building the Villgro India health portfolio by sourcing pipeline, leading diligence and portfolio management for multiple companies.

Rob brings a unique combination of seasoned experience in business and social entrepreneurship, education and technology. Rob is a visionary leader who has lived in Kenya for the past 11 years and is fully aware of the unique challenges that Kenyans face seeking sustainable livelihoods within the East African context.

Robert serves as the CEO, Villgro Kenya where he is spearheading the replication of the Villgro incubation model of social entrepreneurship and impact investment in the healthcare and life sciences industry. He has over 10 years of experience in global health R&D as a biomedical scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) where he discovered his passion for impacting peoples’ lives through science and innovation.

Wilfred brings in diverse experience having lived and worked in Middle East, Asia and Africa and travelled to 8 countries. His first immersion into startup and incubation world came while pitching his idea to a Jordanian based incubator, OASIS500. He went on to do a one year Villgro fellowship in India after which he took up the challenge of scaling Villgro to Africa.

Dr. Kevin Muite is an Investment Manager with Villgro Kenya. Kevin holds a PhD in Immunology from the University of Chicago and a former consultant for large pharmaceutical clients. He began his scientific career in Durban South Africa researching HIV at the Doris Duke Medical Center at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal during his undergraduate years. He spent a year conducting research at Virginia Tech as an NIH post baccalaureate fellow researching mucosal immunology.

Gibson holds a Bachelor’s degree in Arts (Economics) from the University of Nairobi. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA K) . He previously worked as a freelancing Accounts and Tax Consultant for SMEs and a junior financial analyst at Fledge-Africa, a financial consulting company providing investment readiness and fund raising support for Villgro Kenya’s portfolio, where he discovered his passion for due diligence and financial modeling

Moses holds an MSc. in Global Health from the University of Manchester and a Bachelor of Business Administration specializing in entrepreneurship from the Kenya Methodist University. He has diverse experience in managing health research and intervention programs covering areas such as substance abuse, mental health, HIV/AIDS, health promotion and behavior change programs. He has held senior roles in several non-profits including the Private Sector Development Trust, The Institute of Quantity Surveyors of Kenya and SCAD.