Finca Ventures has scaled up its investment commitment in Africa after awarding grants to several startups that competed in its inaugural competition held on Mar 28 2024.
- •The FINCA Ventures Prize Competition, which was announced in January this year, awarded brilliant innovators in healthcare and agricultural categories, appreciating the social impact of these sectors in the continent’s empowerment.
- •Angela Odero, founder of Rio Fish, and Ashley Speyer from Kazi Yetu in Tanzania won the two Agricultural categories; winning US$70,000 each.
- •In the two healthcare categories, Naom Monari of Bena Care and Sona Shah of Neopenda won $70,000 in grants to calcify their operations.
“We made the choice to invest in social entrepreneurs with bold visions, disruptive business models and new products or technologies seeking to create meaningful impact for poor and low-income people,” FINCA Ventures CEO Andrée Simon said.
When FINCA Ventures was founded 40 years ago, its founders believed that small loans and grants could transform Africa and alleviate poverty by bridging the gap between innovation and financial resources. More than 300 individuals applied for the competition but only 12 were assessed in the final round by a panel of judges. Interestingly, 10 out of 12 startups in the finals were either founded or co-founded by women, with all winning startups being female-led; this signifies the growth of female entrepreneurship and its accompanying support structures.
“We know that about 2-3% of venture funding worldwide goes to women. It cannot be the case that women only have 2-3% of the good ideas. We need to find better ways to get capital to women so they can invest in their good ideas. But we also need to find ways to buy women time so that they can actually realize those good ideas,” said Greta Bull, the Director of Women’s Economic Empowerment at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Innovative Female Startups
Angela Odero founded Rio Fish to support small-scale fish farmers to access refrigeration facilities and markets. Kenya faces a scarcity of fish production, only satisfying 30% of its national demand. She realized that these fish farmers, especially women, were exploited in their desperation to get these services and earn an income. The funding boost will essentially help her to streamline her services and eliminate technical challenges that persist.
Ashley Speyer’s ‘Kazi Yetu’ purchases herbs, tea, and spices from Tanzanian farmers which are then processed and packaged in a female-dominated factory in Dar es Salaam.
Other notable startups in the agricultural category were Togo-based ‘Baobaby’ and Kenyan-based ‘Sprout’, which utilizes AI to help coffee farmers navigate climate change adversities. The first-runners were granted US$ 20,000, with the second-runners getting US$ 10,000.
In the healthcare category, Kenya’s ‘Bena Care’ uses technology to connect health workers with their patients. Its founder Naom Monari thanked FINCA Ventures for the grant, acknowledging that the money would go a long way in setting up useful projects that she intended to accomplish.
“We’re going to purchase hospital equipment like beds and ventilators that will reduce healthcare costs for more than 300 families every year… Organizations like FINCA are creating a movement and that is what we need because a do-it-alone approach will not work,” Monari said.
Neopenda, on the other hand, employs technology that helps patients wearing monitoring devices to receive medical attention when complications begin. The product called ‘neoGuard’ alerts healthcare providers to respond to these cases. The money, Sona Shah said, would help accelerate the program.
The healthcare category was quite competitive, witnessing Renee Ngamau and Moka Lantum’s ‘CheckUps’ taking the second position. This innovation allows users to access micro-insurance that would help them get necessary drugs. The US$20,000 grant they received would go a long way in expanding their operations and fanning their goal to achieve universal healthcare.
Technovera, a health startup operating in Southern Africa, also received awards for its thoughtful innovation that involves stocking crucial medication that saves chronic patients unnecessary delays in public health facilities.
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