Background Since 2011, Ashoka – one of the world’s largest networks of social entrepreneurs and Boehringer Ingelheim – a family-owned world leading and research-driven Pharmaceutical company, have collaborated to co-create and grow the global initiative – Making More Health (MMH). Making More Health brings together actors from the healthcare ecosystem, including social entrepreneurs, corporations, impact investors, government agencies, foundations, and local stakeholders, among others, to engage and collaborate on ways to increase access to healthcare for underserved populations around the world.
Focus areas The accelerator broadly focuses on supporting social entrepreneurs with innovative solutions aimed at advancing access to healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa. Solutions may be both in the animal or human health field. The specific countries from which we are currently selecting participants are Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Ghana. Human health Human healthcare care solutions of interest broadly include any innovation that is tackling barriers to awareness, access, affordability, and availability of healthcare services in underserved communities. Of particular interest are innovations that are addressing non-communicable (NCDS) as the main area of focus or as a core part of a broader intervention scope. NCDS include diabetes, hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, respiratory disease, and cancers. Animal health Animal Health is a critical part of healthcare, and we are interested in supporting the most innovative solutions tackling barriers to awareness, access, affordability, and availability of animal healthcare. Of particular interest are solutions at the last mile as well as those tackling issues related to human-animal transmission.
Program criteria You should apply for the program if you have an innovative human or animal health solution that fits the description provided above and if you meet the criteria below. Legal Entity: Company limited by guarantee, Limited liability company, NGO Age: At least three years of operation Sector: Human or animal health related. Country of operation: Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. Revenue: At least USD 100K in annual sales revenue. Impact: Evidence of social impact with clearly defined impact metrics
Benefits Knowledge Access: The program offers participants multiple opportunities for professional growth and development in their entrepreneurial journey. Includes in-person and online workshops and seminars on topics about operations, systems change, replication and transfer, social finance, among others. Technical expertise: Participants have access to experienced employees at Boehringer Ingelheim who volunteer their time to provide hands-on technical support across a variety of professional disciplines. Engagement with BI employees may take place virtually or in-person through an Executive in Residence program that has experienced executives placed within the social entrepreneurs’ organizations for between 2-4 weeks to work on specific aspects of the projects. Additionally, the program engages a number of consultants to offer tailored expert support to participants in areas such as investor engagement, communications and pitching. Strategic networks: Accelerator participants become part of an ever growing and closely knit community of ecosystem actors including impact investors, foundations, philanthropists, government agencies, corporate executives, social entrepreneurs, experts and multinational healthcare companies all committed to improving health care access for humans and animals across Africa. Successful applicants will also be able to tap into the newly launched Making More Health access network that will potentially leverage the expert engagement and support between the social entrepreneurs and the Boehringer Ingelheim employees. Financial and Investor access support The program provides each participant with a grant of 50k Euro for pilot implementation, with the possibility of additional scale up funds at the end of a successful pilot. Participants also receive expert-led investment readiness coaching and support before and after the program to facilitate access to third party investors. In addition, the program gives program participants a platform to showcase their innovations and engage a growing community of impact investors at MMH’s annual investor showcase event as well as other external investor access events. Additionally, entrants into the business accelerator community will have opportunities to apply for extra funding via the just launched Boehringer Ingelheim Social Engagement Fund. Business Collaboration Where there is a timely and strategic fit between Boehringer Ingelheim and an accelerator participant, there is the potential for a strategic business collaboration to be formed with the promise of significant long-term benefits for both organizations.
FAQ How does the accelerator define a social entrepreneur? An entrepreneurial leader who is driven to solve a social problem through either a for-profit or non-profit enterprise. The accelerator primarily targets social entrepreneurs with for-profit enterprise models which we also refer to as social enterprises I don’t have revenues over $100K, can I still apply? $100K in annual revenue is one of our basic criteria and social enterprises generating this amount or more will be prioritized. A rare exception may be made for social enterprises that a close to hitting the $100K mark and have a sure path to getting there in the near-term. My social enterprise makes over $1 million a year, can I apply for the accelerator? We are primarily interested in social enterprises generating between $100K and $500K in annual revenues. This represents a class of business that is neither at the earliest stage of start up nor an advanced stage that would diminish the value of our offering. We believe we are able to add the most value to social enterprises stage between early start-up and growth stage. My organization operates in one of the five countries of interest to the accelerator but is headquartered a country outside the five? Does this disqualify me? As long as you have operations in one of our countries of interest i.e Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana or Rwanda, even if you are headquartered elsewhere, you can apply. What does success mean for the Making More Health Accelerator? Beyond financial sustainability and growth of the social enterprises in the accelerator, we are keenly interested and invest in their capacity to deliver and grow their impact. After two years of engagement, what we see is businesses that have expanded their market reach, increased their revenues, build stronger teams, improved the efficiency of their operations and increased the social impact they are delivering. How does the accelerator define social impact? We look at social impact on three levels. On one level, we look at the number of beneficiaries of the services or products a business produces. On another level, we look at qualitative metrics such as the economic and healthcare benefits generated from the use of delivered products and services. On a systemic level, we are interested in seeing how the businesses in the accelerator are contributing towards improved access, quality, awareness and affordability of care. How is IP produced through co-creation handled? The accelerator provides technical support through co-creation to businesses in the accelerator but does not maintain any interest in any IP that is generated through co-creation engagements. Does the accelerator take equity in my company in exchange for the financial resources it provides? No. All financial support provided through the accelerator is done in the form of a grant. Does the accelerator recruit and work with competing companies? Collaboration is a key component of the accelerator’s philosophy. We expect the businesses in the program to collaborate and support each other to do better. As such, were it is clear that a business does not embody this collaborative spirit, they we will not be recruited into the accelerator. On the other hand companies in a similar space that are open to working together and collaborating may be recruited into the program. Does engagement stop after the two years of engagement in the accelerator? Engagement only changes but does not stop after two years. Engagement is most intense during the first 12 months of the accelerator and then slows down after that. We have various activities, support services and events that are open to companies in the program regardless of what cohort they were a part of. Has a business been ejected from the accelerator after getting enrolled before? Although this is extremely rare, it has happened. The reasons for taking such action have to be pretty serious like misrepresentation during the selection process or when it becomes evident that the commitment and/or capacity needed to engage in the program is lacking in a business. Does the accelerator dictate how the funds that it provides are used? Use of funds is limited to the project co-created and implemented during the accelerator. The specific allocation of funds within the project is decided by the social entrepreneur. How much time in a week will participation in the accelerator take? Most of the work involved in the accelerator is connected to day-to-day operations. As such we require a full-time project manager for the accelerator related activities. With a full-time project manager in place, other members of the team can put in a few hours a week/day as needed. Can an employee who is not the founder of a business apply to join the accelerator? Yes. A non-founding team member can be the point person for engagement in the accelerator. What is critical though is that this person is a senior enough to make strategic decisions. My innovation indirectly contributes to healthcare but doesn’t involve direct delivery of medical services to patients. Can I apply? As long as your innovation can add value to the healthcare value chain, we are interested in it. We have innovations in our portfolio in fintech, data analytics, logistics and supply chain management, education, and waste management. What they have in common is a clear and deliberate link to healthcare. They either increase affordability of care, quality of care, availability of care or accessibility of care for humans, animals or both.
Unlock startup acceleration with VC4A’s latest updates Greetings! As we enter Q2 of 2023, we’re eager to share highlights from VC4A’s first quarter. We’ve launched innovative programs, hosted dynamic events, and… read more