Venture Spotlight: Emergency Response Africa

The Health Entrepreneurship (HENT) Challenge’s first cohort is getting ready for their upcoming visit to Toronto, where they will continue their implementation phase through activities targeting business development, expanding entrepreneurial networks and facilitating exposure to potential investors. 

In the meantime, the HENT Communications team caught up with the ventures from the first HENT Challenge cohort to learn more about the origins of their companies, what they’ve learned to date, and what is coming up next... 

Emergency Response Africa - NIGERIA

In 2017, Folake Owodunni called 911 after her one-year-old son awoke in the night in excruciating pain. Paramedics arrived quickly to the scene and delivered care. Within an hour her son was safely and comfortably asleep once more. After the incident, Owodunni, who had immigrated to North America from Nigeria, reflected on how different the outcome of this situation would have been back home. Shortly after she met Co-Founder Maame Poku, who had lost a family member in Ghana due to slow emergency response. Together, they started Emergency Response Africa and are saving lives by connecting the largest network of first responders, emergency vehicles, and hospitals to patients in needing urgent emergency care, within minutes of the call. Their solution relies on smart dispatching, seamless communication, and data transfer to make care as quick and effective as possible.

What is the accomplishment to date that your team is most proud of?   

Since launching in 2021, we have addressed several thousand emergency requests for individuals and organizations and trained more than 500 individuals in the community with first aid skills. Our network size has grown immensely.  

If you could give advice to another founder getting started, what would that be?   

Starting a business is a rollercoaster of emotions, with highs and lows, successes and failures. Surround yourself with a supportive network, learn from your mistakes, and stay focused on your passion. Believe in yourself and your ability to succeed and remember that with every challenge comes an opportunity for growth.  

Looking forward, Emergency Response Africa’s team aims to work towards their mission of making quick emergency response services to all of Africa by reducing average wait times by 80%. A second milestone for their team is to launch a major public sector partnership before the end of 2023, a goal which would enable the venture to collaborate with government agencies and other stakeholders to provide improved emergency services to vulnerable populations. 

You can learn more about Emergency Response Africa by visiting their website. 

Venture Spotlight: iWell Bio Tracker

The Health Entrepreneurship (HENT) Challenge’s first cohort is visiting Toronto this summer, where they are continuing their implementation phase through activities targeting business development, expanding entrepreneurial networks and facilitating exposure to potential investors. 

The HENT Communications team caught up with the ventures to learn more about the origins of their companies, what they’ve learned to date, and what is coming up next... 

iWell Bio Tracker - UGANDA

Through their work as medical radiographers, Innocent Menyo and his fellow co-founder Ggayi Noah Ronald had seen the plight of many patients with end-stage kidney disease, which resulted from unknown and uncontrolled hypertension. Knowing that the leading risk factor of cardiovascular disease and associated complications is high blood pressure, Innocent was inspired to develop iWell Bio Tracker, a wearable wristwatch that had the capabilities to remotely measure blood pressure of patients.

iWell Bio Tracker’s goal is to replace traditional means of measuring blood pressure, which often require patients to be physically present in a health facility, often having to wait in long queues before receiving a quick checkup. Their solution will allow patients to ongoingly monitor their blood pressure in their daily lives, simply through wearing a watch. Through generated reports, healthcare providers have access to robust and accurate data to provide patients the care and interventions they need to optimize their health. 

What is the accomplishment to date that your team is most proud of?   

Since iWell Bio Tracker’s launch, the venture is most proud of creating a functional Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Using this MVP, the team carried out a pre-pilot study at Kisugu Health Centre III in Kampala, Uganda in collaboration with technical experts from the hospital. 

If you could give advice to another founder getting started, what would that be?   

“Focus on having a prototype.”  

Looking forward, the iWell Bio Tracker team is raising funds to carry-out a clinical trial on their devices. They are working to acquire a certificate of compliance and commercial license prior to launching their product into the market.