Local Health Start-ups Shine At The 2020 Global Vivatech Challenge

Five health start-ups among, them Kenya’s MamaPrime and Uganda’s Teheca, have been selected as winners in the VivaTech 2020 Global Challenge amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The online challenge organized by Sanofi, followed the cancellation of the 2020 edition of VivaTech that was to be held in Paris, France due to the global pandemic. The winning teams will receive partnership opportunities with Sanofi in the realization of their projects and innovations in their local markets.

This year, Sanofi received a total of 268 applications from 34 countries across the continent, from which 11 got the green light to pitch their innovations. The winning five were then carefully picked after a careful selection process.

The selection process was based on five criteria: project maturity, early results, the relevance of their solution, market potential, and business model, as well as the skills and expertise of their team—the selecting team (jury members), composed of both internal and external health experts.

Challenge #1: How to support patients with a digital health book to access information and make a decision  

EYONE, a Senegalese start-up, offers a shared medical file in which patients have their medical records in real-time everywhere and connects to 35 online health professionals that have partnered with the start-up.

Challenge #2: How to help healthcare systems leapfrog from manual to smart logistics solutions at the point of care

Nigerian Mobihealth International, Africa’s first fully integrated telehealth electronic medical records and video app, uses telemedicine to provide patients in developing countries with access to quality healthcare services in the most cost and time-effective ways, anytime and anywhere.

Challenge #3: How to improve financing and impact of innovative health solutions in Africa

Kenya’s MamaPrime, a health fintech company, enables mothers and their families to prepay for their prenatal & post-natal care and child wellness services in instalments throughout their pregnancy.

Challenge #4 - Sanofi Espoir Foundation: How to improve maternal and neonatal health in sub-Saharan Africa

• Teheca, a Ugandan start-up connects new and expectant mothers to qualified nurses for at home post-natal checkups and supports, by using low cost and low-tech solutions. The accessibility increase to post-natal care aims at a timely identification and referral of life-threatening complications during the post-natal period.
• The University Agency Innovation is a hub of Cameroonian scientific, technological, and enterprise-based innovations. Its spin-off AUI Techno designs and produces an interactive infant incubator connectable to doctors’ smartphones, to reduce the neonatal mortality rate.

The initiative aims to continue Sanofi’s commitment to encouraging innovation in the continent, to create a healthy ecosystem that is at the service of the patient. This ecosystem includes all the sector stakeholders such as public authorities, private companies to start-ups.