Innovate for Life fund 2020 for African Innovative Healthcare Entrepreneurs

The Innovate for Life (I4L) program is centered around developing shared value partnerships between Amref country offices and health innovators to support health innovations from around the world scale in SSA and address major health challenges in the region. Through this mission, I4L aims to catalyze innovation for the creation of lasting health change in Africa, which supports the overall vision, mission, and promise of Amref Health Africa. I4L combines health knowledge, capacity, and networks, business and leadership coaching, and partnership acceleration for innovators in the program.

The program will leverage a combination of in-person and remote work, online courses and workshops, and independent learning and co-creation. The program will be composed of three key phases:
- Phase 1: Scouting – Over 3 months, I4L will understand Amref country office programmatic needs, source global innovators based on these needs, and select and match innovators to country office programs
- Phase 2: Core Programming – Over 5 months, I4L will hold an orientation, lead business and leadership coaching, and co-create partnerships between health innovators and Amref country offices. These activities will lead to the development of a partnership proposal that can be signed during the completion of this phase
- Phase 3: Follow Up – Ongoing after completion of the core program, I4L will monitor the progress of I4L innovators and the developed shared value solutions from the core program and continue to provide support through pilot implementation and/or alumni programming

Benefits

I4L’s value proposition will be centred around leveraging Amref’s strengths as a leading health NGO in Africa to support the scale of innovations, specifically:

Affiliation with the Amref brand to gain industry credibility;
Access to Amref experts and entities;
In-country health knowledge, capacity, and networks;
Business and leadership coaching from an experienced Amref business partner;
Development and implementation of strategic partnerships with Amref programs;
And an alumni network and access to Amref conferences and events on an ongoing basis.

Innovate for Life fund 2020 for African Innovative Healthcare Entrepreneurs

Requirements

They are looking for passionate health innovators who have a proven business and health impact model, have tested their innovation for scale in SSA, and fit the needs of Amref country offices to enable a demand-driven innovation program and strong partnerships for scale. In specific, the future I4L innovator should:

Have an innovative solution in Ethiopia in any of the following areas: 1)NCDs, 2)CDs and 3)WASH;
Have an innovative solution in Kenya in any of the following areas: 1)HIV/TB/Malaria/NCDs, 2)RMNCAH and 3) WASH & NTDs. Special interest to innovations targeting behavioral change and data collation in the aforementioned thematic areas;
Have a proof-of-concept innovation with demonstrated business viability;
Have proof of testing the innovation in the Kenyan or Ethiopian market; for example, a feasibility assessment, registration, and/or launch of the innovation in this geography;
Be interested in scaling their innovation through a partnership with one or many Amref program(s).