2023 Ashoka Making More Health Accelerator for Social Entrepreneurs (50,000 Euros in Funding)

The Making More Health Business Accelerator, is a structured business growth program targeted at social entrepreneurs with innovative solutions in the health sector. The program offers two engagement phases.

Phase 1, called the “Pilot Phase”, runs for 12 months and focuses on supporting entrepreneurs to:

• a) identify strategic challenges and/or opportunities related to the growth, sustainability and impact of their social enterprises
• b) co-create and test relevant solutions.

Phase 2, called the “Scale-up Phase” also runs for 12 months and focuses on supporting participants to scale up successful solutions from the first phase of engagement. In both phases, participating entrepreneurs are provided with access to technical support from Boehringer Ingelheim employees, strategic networks, financial resources, and a platform to collaborate, learn and engage with fellow social entrepreneurs and other ecosystem actors.

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.

Requirements
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.

1. Legal Entity: Company limited by guarantee, Limited liability company, NGO
2. Age: At least three years of operation
3. Sector: Human or animal health related.
4. Country of operation: Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.
5. Revenue: At least USD 100K in annual sales revenue.
6. 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.

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.

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.

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.

Timeline:

Application Deadline: 13th January 2023

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage